Writing Activities at Arisia 2019
Jan. 21st, 2019 01:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
disgruntled_owlThis past weekend I attended Arisia 2019, an annual sci-fi and fantasy convention in Boston. The con program has a number of different tracks, including one specifically about writing with panels that include both writers and editors (more details in the pocket program here). I enjoy this track because it's like writer-advice speed dating. For the price of a one-day workshop at a writing center or adult-education school, I can get perspectives and ideas from lot of different people, who vary in terms of genre, experience, and role in the writing process. Here are some of the panels I attended and lessons I learned.
Tricks for Self-Editing: This leader of this small-group seminar described an approach where writers use colors and symbols to mark up hard copies of their manuscripts. She suggested that writers color code their sentences (or in novels, paragraphs) to make sure each sentence or paragraph is helping to achieve one of two key story story elements: 1) developing character or 2) advancing the main plot. It should also achieve one of these other elements: 3) advancing the setting, 4) advancing a subplot, or 5) establishing an emotional theme. She also suggested putting boxes of various shapes around potentially problematic words or phrases: adverbs, filter words, uses of the progressive or past-perfect tense. These uses may not be problematic in specific situations, but the boxes can help identify when certain techniques are being overused. As a very visual person, I like this sort of thing.
Writing Outside of Comfort Zones: This was probably my favorite session from the whole conference. The moderator,Smith College professor Andrea Hairston, did a great job of setting the stage by describing the importance of narratives to individual identity, how the narrow American mythology leaves the stories of some groups out and commodifies the stories of others, and how caricatures and stereotypes can become so ingrained that it can be difficult to distinguish them from character. The other panelists shared their experiences being black, queer, legally-blind and with having ADD or non-visible physical disabilities, experiencing sexual assault, or being an "invisible bisexual" (I know a thing or two about the last one). This prompted a lot of useful questions for me to think about in terms of creating three-dimensional characters.
Tricks for Self-Editing: This leader of this small-group seminar described an approach where writers use colors and symbols to mark up hard copies of their manuscripts. She suggested that writers color code their sentences (or in novels, paragraphs) to make sure each sentence or paragraph is helping to achieve one of two key story story elements: 1) developing character or 2) advancing the main plot. It should also achieve one of these other elements: 3) advancing the setting, 4) advancing a subplot, or 5) establishing an emotional theme. She also suggested putting boxes of various shapes around potentially problematic words or phrases: adverbs, filter words, uses of the progressive or past-perfect tense. These uses may not be problematic in specific situations, but the boxes can help identify when certain techniques are being overused. As a very visual person, I like this sort of thing.
Writing Outside of Comfort Zones: This was probably my favorite session from the whole conference. The moderator,Smith College professor Andrea Hairston, did a great job of setting the stage by describing the importance of narratives to individual identity, how the narrow American mythology leaves the stories of some groups out and commodifies the stories of others, and how caricatures and stereotypes can become so ingrained that it can be difficult to distinguish them from character. The other panelists shared their experiences being black, queer, legally-blind and with having ADD or non-visible physical disabilities, experiencing sexual assault, or being an "invisible bisexual" (I know a thing or two about the last one). This prompted a lot of useful questions for me to think about in terms of creating three-dimensional characters.
- What does the character want? What motivates them? (Questions that should be answered for all well rounded characters.)
- What is the character's full range of emotional experiences and responses? How do they use them to navigate their world? In some cases, they will deal directly with the boundaries they experience as a member of a marginalized group, and they may choose play into or defy stereotypes to achieve their goal. How might they make that choice and why do they choose one way or another? That said, a character’s life is more than just their experience being marginalized. How do they behave in other situations?
- What does the character think about their culture and their place in it?
- Is the character intersectional?
- What happens to a marginalized character that appears to have achieved some success? Many characters can feel ousted from a marginalized group when they seem to have "made it," even though they may still be perceived as too different from the privileged group to find acceptance there. How would this particular character react to that situation?
The panelists emphasized the importance of being brave and trying new things and that everyone almost certainly gets some things wrong in their depictions, citing examples from their own work. The important thing is to own, and not deny, your bullshit, and to focus on your next project and opportunities to do things better. The group also talked about how to find, vet, and appropriately use sensitivity readers (and the importance of not generalizing from one person's experience). They also reminded everybody to take advantage of museums and their staff: these are professionals that want to share the histories and experiences of particular groups.
The Past in Present Tense: Escaping Flashbacks: This was the most technical session I attended. Two grizzled veteran sci-fi writers and a novice writer moderator debated when, if ever, to use flashbacks and flash-forwards, and how else to successfully deal with time jumps.
- “Make sure your front (main) story is as interesting as your back story.”
- If you use a technical trick to convey backstory, such as letters or time jumps, do it boldly, so the reader recognizes it as a technique (and not a hiccup).
- Think about why you might not just tell the reader the backstory directly. Are you using the flashback to reveal the character in a new way? Are you trying to convey emotionally resonant information?
- Use the past perfect to transition into a bit of backstory, write the body of it in past tense, and then use past perfect again to transition back into the main story.
- Does your point-of-view choice allow you to do anything to convey a character’s backstory? For example, what do they choose to focus on when they are observing the world?
The con also features a lot of other sci-fi and fantasy activities: book, movie, music and video game panels; costume contests; video and board games; movie, TV, and anime screenings; and the like. They also have some maker stuff. I attended a block printing workshop, which turned out to be another highlight of the con for me. I cut a mold and printed this design befitting my namesake.
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