Curtis C. Chen's Blog, page 4

My #Nebulas2023 Schedule

I’m looking forward to going back to the SFWA Nebula Conference this year–the first time they’ve happened in person since 2019–and I love that most sessions will be streamed live and archived online! Here’s my panel schedule for next weekend:

WRITING SCRIPTED SCI-FI/FANTASY PODCASTS
May 13, 2023 – 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm (Pacific timezone)
Want to know how authors are writing podcast audio dramas and finding their audience? Join writers who have broken in to this space to discuss storytelling, c...

Free Advice on Writing Samples

…for writing workshop applications, specifically!

I was a reader for this year’s Clarion West six-week summer workshop (please don’t ask me if I read your application or how I scored anything, I mostly don’t remember anyway) and now that this year’s class has been announced (congrats y’all!), I need to vent about a very personal pet peeve.

NOTA BENE: This is a very specific idiosyncrasy (it’s not you, it’s me), and it also did NOT affect how I judged anyone’s actual writing–so if you’ve done t...

Moderately Disturbing Movies Involving Food

We didn’t intend this to be a double feature over the weekend, but… life found a way? I don’t have a clever reference here.

The Menu (2022)Fresh (2022)

Both recommended, but probably not right before or after you eat, for fuck’s sake.

Movies with Yellowjackets Vibes

And were actually shot on location in real weather conditions:

The Mountain Between Us (2017)Fall (2022)

Maybe don’t watch either of those right before you go on vacation, but I highly recommend both, and finding them on DVD/Blu-ray to see behind-the-scenes footage of the respective productions.

My Norwescon 45 Schedule (2023)

I’ll be in Seatac from Thursday evening through Sunday midday this coming Easter weekend, but only on programming Friday and Saturday:

Friday, April 7th

Generation to Generation: Talking Writing
Olympic 3
2–3 p.m.

Hear from writers of all ages at various parts of their authorial journey as they talk about how the genres have evolved and what that means for the future. For Tweens and Teens.

Curtis C. Chen (M), Benjamin Gorman, Cait McKinzie, Carol Berg

Managing Parasocial Relatio...

TEH OSCARSS

I’m not sure why I still care about the Academy Awards, but I do. No, actually, I do know why I still care: because it continues to be, warts and all, a pretty good representation of what Hollywood cares about. And that’s important, insofar as that small group of people exports culture to the rest of the world, and it says something about what stories are deemed important right now.

Up through 2016, the AMPAS would publish a “view by film” count on their official list of nominees for the year...

My #Nebulas2022 Schedule

I’ll be on two panels at the SFWA Nebula Conference (ONLINE) next weekend:

“Finding the Right Literary Agent & Maintaining Your Sanity Along the Way” (Sunday, May 22, 2022, at 3:00 PM Pacific time) also with Emmeline Duncan, Stina Leicht, and Samantha Mills; moderated by Kate Heartfield.

“Cyberpunk in the Asia Pacific” (Sunday, May 22, 2022, at 6:00 PM Pacific Time) also with T. R. Napper, Chris McKinney, and Victor Manibo; moderated by yours truly.

And I’ll also tell you a secret… ...

My Norwescon 44 Schedule

It’s been more than two years since my last in-person convention, but I’m headed back out there next month. Norwescon’s concom has been consistently transparent about their safety policies, including drawing a hard line at requiring all attendees to be fully vaccinated and masked while indoors in con spaces (overriding any local mandates, or lack thereof). I’ve passed on other opportunities to attend events recently, but I feel good about this one.

The schedule below is a draft, and I’ll upda...

Lucky Thirteens

In the spring of 2008, I changed my life.

I was 34 years old, and for the previous 13 years–starting when I graduated from university with a bachelor’s degree in computer science–I had been working in Silicon Valley as a software engineer, mostly coding web apps, making decent money but not feeling fulfilled creatively. What I really wanted to do, what I’d dreamed of since childhood, was to be a professional fiction writer.

2008 was when my wife and I made “the writer move.” We saved up so...

My CoNZealand Schedule

Most of us won’t be in New Zealand for Worldcon this year #becauseofthepandemic but there will still be plenty of online programming to overwhelm everyone, as per usual. Here’s what I’m up to next week (links go to Grenadine):

17:00, Tuesday 28 Jul 2020 PDT
Workshop: Pitch Perfect
(Perfection not guaranteed) The purpose of an “elevator pitch,” or something you might share to a Twitter pitch contest, is not to summarize your entire story; that’s impossible in such a short length. The goa...