Patrice Sarath's Blog, page 22

WorldCon Day 1

The Workshop panel.

Two panels, three parties, plenty of conversation about books, movies, sf, and more. An excellent start to WorldCon.

The panel on workshops with Walter Jon Williams, James Patrick Kelley, and Adam Troy-Castro and me was informative and fun. Even though I have stated that beginners shouldn’t workshop, we spoke about the different levels of workshops, some of which would be suitable for beginners. However, I remain adamant that getting the writing basics down concerning grammar and basic sentence and paragraph construction is essential before workshopping.

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College-bound

Parenthood is the act of letting go.

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FINAL WorldCon schedule

Here’s my final schedule for WorldCon. And yes, some things did change. I have an autographing session on Saturday from 10 am to 11 am, but I’ll be available for signing books whenever. No reading this time around, but as you can see I’ll be on plenty of panels. I am really looking forward to it.

Complete WorldCon programming information can be found here, with panels broken out by tracks. It looks pretty amazing.

Contaminating Other Worlds

Thursday 16:00 – 17:00

NASA verified that microbe thermophilic geobacillus hitched a ride to Mars. How much cost should we incur to ensure we do not bring a piece of ourselves to other worlds where there might be native life, even if it’s just bacteria?

Charles Walther (M), Patrice Sarath , Charles Radley, John K Strickland Jr.

 

Getting the Most Out of Writing Workshops

Thursday 20:00 – 21:00

How do you choose which type of workshops are best for you? How do you make the most of the experience once you’ve decided to attend and your application has been accepted?

James Patrick Kelly (M), Patrice Sarath , Adam Troy Castro, Walter Jon Williams

 

Yellow Roses: Texas SF/F Authors and Traditions

Friday 13:00 – 14:00

Women writing sf/f in the Lone Star state talk about their work, including their influences and challenges.

Elizabeth Moon (M) , Lillian Stewart Carl, Patrice Sarath , Stina Leicht

 

Autographing:

Saturday 10:00 – 11:00

Patrice Sarath , Paige E. Ewing, Mark Oshiro, Max Gladstone

 

Horses Are Not Jeeps: Bringing Reality to Fictional Worlds

Saturday 12:00 – 13:00

Battle axes don’t weigh 20 pounds. Rocket ships don’t instantly crash when you turn off the engines. A writer can break the illusion by getting something wrong, even in speculative fiction. We’ll be discussing how to make your fictional worlds seem realer-than-real by getting these things right

Patrice Sarath (M), Fred Lerne, Amanda Downum, Elizabeth Moon, Taylor Anderson

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Toastmasters

Since I often speak on panels and give readings, I decided to join Toastmasters at work. It’s pretty cool. The formality of the organization has a certain antiquated charm, and my fellow Toastmasters are into it in a sort of laid-back way. Everyone wants to get better at formal speaking, but no one wants to be too geeked out about it. And make no mistake — Toastmasters is geeky. That antiquated charm with the rules and the customs (like shaking hands to transfer control of the meeting between speakers) are exactly what Toastmaster members get geeked out about. It’s like a comic book convention with far less cosplay.

Today I gave my first speech — the “icebreaker.” My topic was “The care and handling of the writer.” I had five to seven minutes and I went over. I had only a few “ums” and other stumbles, which was great, because my goal was to keep the “ums”, “ers,” “sos,” etc. to the single digits.

Everyone laughed in the right places, and although I did go over by about 30 seconds it was partly because, as the timer person said, I didn’t take the laugh breaks into account. I have mentioned before that I have super supportive coworkers, so the ones who didn’t know me were excited about me being a writer, and two people mentioned that they wanted to talk about getting started as a writer themselves and were sorry that my speech didn’t include that. I loaned Gordath Wood to one of my coworkers.

Since we are supposed to speak from notes, rather than from a complete text, I don’t have the exact contents, but in a later post I’ll write about what I talked about.

I’m glad I did well. I do have to speak in public fairly often, and being able to speak extemporaneously is important. Ever since joining Toastmasters I’ve been appalled at how often I say “um.” Really, if I want anything out of this endeavor it will be to eliminate that particular hesitation word.

Toastmasters is important for another reason. I am serious about stretching myself professionally, and I could tell by how reluctant I was to sign up and commit to this that it was going to be worth it for me. I am basically lazy unless I push myself or someone else does, and it really isn’t that attractive to have to be pushed to do the right thing when you are an adult.

So. At the next convention — in two weeks! — I will get to show off my new speaking confidence.

Or I’ll just fake it like I always do, but it’s the next best thing.

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One writer, three lives

Convention treasures.

What is it like to be a writer of fantasy whose family isn’t into fantasy? Here’s how I do it.

I sometimes envy the couples and families I meet at cons. When I go to cons, I go solitary. I meet my friends and fellow fans of course, so it’s not like I “wander lonely as a cloud” or anything, but cons are very definitely part of my writing life that doesn’t have much to do with the rest of my life. In my case, my conventions are one aspect of my identity as a writer that is separate from the other parts of my life. I am compartmentalized, and I’m not sure if that’s good, bad, or just is.

Conventions

“How was the con?”

Generally my husband asks this on Sunday afternoon in August, when I’ve come back from Austin’s ArmadilloCon. I am usually dragging, weary, yet buzzing from the contact with friends and fandom, loaded down with books and art, and excited over bar conversations, book sales, exciting panels, great art, and the whole atmosphere of my tribe. If you came into my house, you would see very few examples of my participation in sf fandom. Some art in small spaces is pretty much all. I share a house with three other individuals, so the house has to speak to all of us. I don’t hide away my shiny, pretty things but they are part and parcel with the clocks, the upright bass, the saddle on the arm of the rocking chair (okay, that’s mine too), and once upon a time, the hockey gear.

I try to explain how the con was, but for my husband, it’s a foreign land. He came once to go out to get dessert with a bunch of people one time, because he’s a good sport, but for the most part, cons are my thing, not his.

Work

“So what are you working on?”

My coworkers are amazing. My day job doesn’t look askance at my fiction writing, possibly because my day job is writing (business and industry analysis). My immediate coworkers know what it’s like to be creative people. So many of them are musicians and artists too, so they get it. When my first novel debuted, they came out and supported me at my first book signing.

I am often asked when my next book is coming out, which is a bit uncomfortable because of the pressure, but the question itself is unwitting. I think a lot of people don’t know how long it takes to write a book, and publishing news is doled out in small, irregular doses.

Home

We’re entering a new phase here. The oldest is launched, the youngest goes off to college. The days of being a mom (Aidan’s mom, Kim’s mom) as my sole identity to teachers, pediatricians, and other parents, are slowly fading into the sunset. We’ve shared birthday parties, babysitting, school events — I’ve known some of these parents for nearly 20 years. And just like I know only vaguely what some of them do, they don’t really know what I do. That’s okay, I hasten to add — parenthood is a different kind of fellowship.

(Side note: Despite having a full life of work, writing, friends, and hobbies, this whole “empty nest” phase is killing me. I don’t want to cry when we drop off the freshman, and I will try to hold it til we get back into the car, but damn, I know it’s going to get me. The good news is I have friends who will totally let me be a blubbering idiot about it and pat my hair and say “there there” and ply me with alcohol.)

I never really thought of how compartmentalized all my writing aspects are. I’m used to it — I’ve been doing this for a long time. But I get a little bit envious when I see families and couples at cons and realize they have a closeness that I don’t. They don’t have to be asked, “How was the con” because their family already knows.

So, to my friends who go to cons by themselves: are you the only fan in your house? How does that work out for you?

And to my friends who go with their significant other and their kids: What’s that like? Am I romanticizing it?

How do you structure your lives?

 

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Why we buy

I just bought a book. This is hardly unusual, but I thought it was interesting to tell you how I came to decide to purchase the book within all of 15 minutes from start to finish because it shows a confluence of factors that help book sales.

Why we buy is as important as what we buy, and these decisions are so emotional as to be inexplicable. I’ll try to explicate it anyway.

The discovery

On July 31, Apex Publications posted on its blog, Bag of Holding: Top 5 Necessities for Con Survival, a timely article because WorldCon is coming up.

I read it, liked it, and shared it on my Gordath Wood Facebook page. One of the authors profiled in the post is LaShawn M. Wanak, an author I hadn’t heard of before. And this is where emotion kicks in. I liked what she had to say about cons and what to bring (I’m a sucker for snappy and self-deprecating, plus Totoro badgeholder, and where can I get one?).

The decision

Then I followed an Apex link to a fragment of her poem “All this pure light leaking in,” which was published in their anthology, Dark Faith: Invocations, and I wanted — needed — to read the rest.

I followed the buy links and the book is waiting on my Kindle for me.

If it’s shelf-worthy, I may do what I tend to do, which is buy it in paperback so I can get it signed. (Yes, I’m that kind of book buyer. Would that there were more of us.)

Why it was easy

Even though I’ve been telling myself to hold off on book purchases, since I am going to the biggest science fiction convention in the world in a few weeks, I still bought. Here’s why:

I like Apex — they bought one of my short stories years ago — and they have a good reputation. So I already knew I was going to be in good hands.
The price was right. We don’t like to think about it, but it’s true — we’ve been conditioned by the downward pressure on pricing to buy only at certain price points. Apex hit the sweet spot with its e-book pricing.
I really wanted to read the rest of the poem, and the table of contents convinced me that I wouldn’t be disappointed with the rest of the anthology.

So there you have it — the anatomy of a purchase.

What we write has to hit someone at an emotional level. Then they have to find it. Then they have to be ready to buy, so we have to make it easy to do so. That moment used to be in a physical bookstore, where people could browse to their heart’s content. Now the browsing  is online.

The conversation

Many times authors feel that it’s like shouting into a wind tunnel to promote their work. And a lot of times it is futile. There’s a lot of noise out there, and getting your signal out to rise above it contributes to someone else’s noise.

But sometimes the signal does get through, loud and clear. And then our readers buy. I am convinced that it’s just as important to try to have a conversation as well as an efficient marketing presence to help readers find us, meet us, and when they are ready to try our books, to put it in their hands at the right moment. I’m still working on that with my web presence. Apex shows how it can be done.

 

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My First Con

At this point I’ve been to several Texas conventions, plus one World Fantasy Con (in Calgary). The last WorldCon I went to was in 1997, also in San Antonio. It was a blast. John Norman (Gor) was there, in all his controversial, unrepentent glory. I met Jim Van Pelt there too, though I doubt he remembers me (Hi, Jim!). I only had one day since the kids were small and my husband worked weekends, so my sister-in-law watched the little ‘uns so I could try my best at networking, but even so, it was a great day.

I’ve been to a lot of conventions since then, but I had only been to a handful of cons before that. Even though I played D&D in high school and college, cons were outside of my realm of experience. That is, until HatCon, in Danbury Connecticut, in the mid-1980s.

I dressed up in faux RenFair (prairie skirt, elf boots –cute suede ankle boots — ruffled peasant blouse) and I meekly carried around a folder of my scribbled short stories and waited for Shawna McCarthy (Note: does anyone have a better reference? This is woefully out of date, and Shawna’s agency doesn’t appear to have a website) to ask to see them…. I talked to her a bit about becoming an editor, and she was kind and talked to me, but what I really wanted her to do was ask about the battered folder. And she never did, because she has a fine sense of self-preservation.

There was filking and an art show, a costume show, and people sleeping in the hallways, and panels, though I remember none of the content. I went with a friend (hi, Paul!) and he was there for gaming, so we sort of split up and took separate paths, and it was the best thing ever.

Sigh. So young. So innocent. I wrote many of those stories in high school and college for my friends. They were D&D adventures, fanfic, fantasy, science fiction, all labors of love, all meticulously typed on onionskin or handwritten on lined notebook paper. Oh! The one about the me who owned a castle in Ireland and going into a fairie mound to rescue my changeling child! I wish I still had that one, but it was sacrificed to the gods of moving, which claim their tribute,  but I have a few others, including the dying Earth story, the Mars horror story, a kick-ASS Han Solo fanfic (I wrote a lot of that), the spunky princess story (a few of those), the soulful orc story (D&D)…

Children, don’t throw away anything. Clear? (Disclaimer: I do not and never will condone hoarding.)

The next convention I’ve forgotten the name of. It was in Austin, and I had only been here about a year, so late 80s, maybe 89? It was at the Driskill Hotel, and I don’t think it was an ArmadilloCon. But Bob Asprin was there (Mythadventures! Thieves World!) and Lynn Abbey and I think GRR Martin. Wow, it was like royalty. I didn’t dress up that time but there was a costume contest, and a blonde wearing an old wedding dress rescued from Goodwill won, just like in Sharyn McCrumb’s Bimbos of the Death Sun.

It was several years later before I went to an ArmadilloCon and became a regular. Then it became like an annual reunion with my people. My husband and children aren’t into spec-fic, which has its pros and cons (another blog topic for another time).  I’m a veteran now. But it’s different going as a writer. It’s work. Even if I am not on panels, I’m always “on.” It happens to be work that I enjoy though so that’s okay.

And to think it all started at HatCon, a little convention in Danbury, Connecticut.

What was your first con? What was that experience like?

 

 

 

 

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WorldCon schedule

Here is my WorldCon (LoneStarCon 3) schedule.

WorldCon

WorldCon is August 29-September 2. I have the privilege of being on panels with some of my favorite writers. One or two are even friends. ; -)

Contaminating Other Worlds

Thursday 16:00 – 17:00

NASA verified that microbe thermophilic geobacillus hitched a ride to Mars – how much cost should we incur to ensure we do not bring a piece of ourselves to other worlds where there might be native life, even if it’s just bacteria?

Brenda Cooper, Patrice Sarath, Charles Radley, John K Strickland Jr.

Getting the Most Out of Writing Workshops

Thursday 20:00 – 21:00

How do you choose which type of workshops are best for you? How do you make the most of the experience once you’ve decided to attend and your application has been accepted?

Adam Troy Castro, James Patrick Kelly, Patrice Sarath, Walter Jon Williams

Horses Are Not Jeeps: Bringing Reality to Fictional Worlds

Saturday 12:00 – 13:00

Taylor Anderson, Fred Lerner, Patrice Sarath, Elizabeth Moon, Amanda Downum

 

Hope to see you there.

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From a Farther Room — New Yorker short story

 

The only thing Gordath Wood and From a Father Room have in common is that both take place in North Salem, NY.

The New Yorker doesn’t often publish speculative fiction, so when it does it’s an event. David Gilbert’s short story, “From a Farther Room” falls into that category, but unfortunately the story suffers from a failure of nerve and backs off from a great premise to provide instead a pretty lame metaphor for suburbia and the wasting power of a stale marriage.

Oh, how the ghost of John Updike still haunts the editorial sensibilities of New Yorker fiction editors!

The story: Robert, temporarily a bachelor because his wife and kids have gone to visit her parents, goes on a bender with Stearns. When he makes it home, he pukes up a baby. Well, sort of a baby — it’s definitely sentient. Anyway, he does the sensible thing — he buries the puke-baby alive. Then he digs it up and most of the story is a hilarious exercise in caring for the puke baby. He buys diapers, formula, baby food, etc. He’s good at parenthood — he has kids. He can do this thing.

Me to husband: OMG! I’m reading a story about a man who pukes up a sentient puke baby! And then takes care of it!”

Husband:

So what happens? Well, David Gilbert gets scared by his own fantastic setup. He Updikes out, opting instead to bring in a tired metaphor of a broken-winged bird to reflect on the staleness of his protagonist’s life and the paths not taken and the tired suburban marriage with a competent and loving wife. You know, people complain that science fiction is “literature” for stunted men-children who can’t handle reality, but isn’t it time for so-called mainstream literature to hold up its collective hand and say, “Enough! Enough bad marriage stories! Enough of the sad middle-aged old-young man who is in a marriage that doesn’t thrill him anymore? Enough of the ‘woe is me’ of the white guy who doesn’t like his wife or his life or his kids.” Lay John Updike to rest, for God’s sake!

I wanted to shake Gilbert by the lapels. “Dude, remember what your AP English teacher told you? Ask the question: ‘And then what happens? And then?’ ” Keep asking the question and you’ll find your ending.

So, as if anyone cares what I say in my quiet little backwater of the Internet. And I know all about failure of nerve, because I have committed it in plenty of my stories. If anything, “From a Farther Room” reminds me of what happens when writers let their fears get the best of them. Gilbert opened up an intriguing can of worms with this story; if he had only looked all the way into the bottom. Instead, he looked away, went for the comfortable. Basically, he choked. And that was a shame — up until the last 250 words, it was a great story.

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Streamer from The National Atlas

Streamer, a tool from the National Atlas, lets you track the flow of almost every river in the US, including its upstream tributaries and its downstream course.

Streamer by The National Atlas

I’ve always been fascinated with rivers and their mysterious headwaters that are the source of myth and legend and great adventure. That’s why there’s a great river in Gordath Wood, which is as influential to the books as the forest itself. In one deleted scene from an early draft of The Crow God’s Girl, long before it was even titled that, Kate goes on a journey to find the headwaters of the great Aeritan River, and I researched the Hudson River as an analogue to the Aeritan River; they’ve always been twinned in my imagination anyway so it’s not so offbeat. But that scene didn’t work for a bunch of reasons, although there’s no reason that something similar won’t occur in later books.

Back to rivers. I could play with this interactive map all day. You select a region, a river, and choose upstream or downstream, and it gives you an image of all the ways water is interconnected in the country.

The map doesn’t really show where each river originates, and that’s okay. I like a little mystery. Maybe someday, I tell myself, I can take journey to the headwaters of the Guadalupe River.

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