Gloria

10:00am The Art of Writing Fight Scenes

Guests: Sean McMullen (10 books, four dozen short stories, 11 awards. Karate Instructor, also does fencing, and teaching) Mark Tiedemann (writer and award winner), Fiona Avery (Does anything from Prose to Screenwriting to comic books), Keith R A DeCandido (Author/editor-Spiderman Novels, Star Trek, etc)

This one we had a lot of discussion and a number of demonstrations from Sean McMullen. (I really enjoyed him.) Will put down notes and comments made during the panel.

Real fighting--a blow from a sword on a person wearing chain mail would normally crack ribs and cause internal bleeding or snap their spinal cord.

Men in combat have been known to lose bladder and intestinal control because their bodies and minds are so concentrated on the combat the brain lets go of unneeded functions. Because of the quick and dirty reality of life, fight scenes in books needs to be semi-realistic.

The pursuit of martial arts is a good way to get information on fighting, the sensations, muscle fatigue, what happens to the body in general. Real fights can be very boring.

Fighting for Women -- should resort to wrist locks, pressure points, strangle holds. These things are much more effective for women than smashing and hitting. Disabling the opponent and giving him/her extreme pain is the goal.

In a real fight -- there's a moment of panic (this is experienced by everyone. A lot of the time the person who wins is who gets over it first). It's inelegant, clumsy. Momentary blackouts, pain, blood squirting from the nose, mouth, loosened teeth.

Banging your head into someone is a last resort! There are too many nerves on the face and it will leave you disoriented.

A forearm, especially for women, can be a formidable weapon at close range, especially when aimed at the face. 

When attacked, move in, not out. Very effective since normally the assailant is expecting the victim to recoil away from him. 

Elbows and knees can be effective weapons as well. If someone rushes you, don't try to kick them, but bring the knee up and let them ram into it. Depending on your height and theirs, they will either get hit it the groin or the gut. Go in and take control, move the person where you want them to be. Twists, locks give pain and drive the person where you want them. 

Talk to martial arts people if you can't take any classes or fencers or whoever. 100% realism is not desired for it spoils dramatic effect, but you have to make it real enough to make it believable.

3 minutes is a long sword fight. And you sweat buckets. (That's for damned sure -- MMF)

Exhaustion sets in, making things short, quick, draining, and unglamorous. Yet you can factor these things in for realism. 

Fights make more of an impression if the reader feels the hero has actually accomplished something or are having to work to win. 

Arm bands can be used to slide off an attacking blade then you pin the flat side and spin it away from you and them.

Really good warriors don't fight a lot because it's damaging. The shorter the battle the better. They are confident, which can turn people away, and don't fight unless they can't help it. Only fight when desperate and cornered. Damage their legs if you can, bring the opponent down. 

Shock value of a surprise move will get you out as others don't react due to shock. Humor is great to diffuse a situation and get you out. Make your opponent turn their back to you if you can. There's 8 points of damage there.

Miss Congeniality is a film with good realistic fighting. Shows how to stop a knife, use the elbows. You must work to gain supreme confidence over your own body and practice, practice, practice.

For writing, fill in details during the fight, thoughts, flashbacks if needed. This will stretch the scene even if the fight itself is short.

Steven Barnes -- great fighting scenes in his writing. 

A good fight scene is like a seduction -- build up, build up.

Keep in mind equipment, weight, running and exhaustion. 

Legs have two types of muscles -- slow twitch and long twitch. Slow twitches are used for marching, jogging, walking -- not used in fighting. Long twitches are used for lunges and fighting. So using one set does not mean the other is tired.

Character Empathy--this helps set up the fight. It's foreplay.

11:30am Basics of Publishing

Guests: Karl Shroeder (Part author of the Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing SF), Joshua Bilmes (Owner of Jaberwocky Literary Agency), Susan Allison (Editor In Chief of Ace Science Fiction and Fantasy), Laura Anne Gilman (Executive editor for Roc Books), Jaine Lavine (Editorial Director for Warner Aspect)

This panel went a few directions. They started out with some main questions to tackle then comments.

What do you do?

Meetings mostly. Putting a word in to the art department, publishing or sales department. The job of the editor is to sell a book to the rest of the company. They read manuscripts out of the office on their own time. During the day they are answering phone calls, tracking agents, answering email, queries, doing royalty statements. The writer is waiting, doing lots of waiting.

Who the heck are these people?

Sales, publicity, production, managing editorial (day to day running once editor is done, fixes comas, follows the manuscript through the stages.)

TLC -- The relationship between the editor and the writer is equal parts your personality, theirs, and how they feel about the manuscript. It's a partnership. Remember to be professional. The publisher is not out to get you. Don't drive them nuts on purpose. Respect one another. Do not call them everyday.

Flow of Publishing: Acceptance of manuscript, gets edited, art department hold a cover conference, the copy department has meetings for the ads and cover copy. This is the first time other departments are hearing about the book. 3 or 4 of them are involved at once--art, marketing, advance promotions (launch or focus meetings). They look at the author's background, see if the book has any controversial elements. They don't actually want to know what it's about, only about what makes it different and what can be used to sell it.

Sales -- they decide the size of the 1st print run. The writer is clueless on most of this (depending on their editor) until they see a flap cover (long paper that has the cover of the book and a flap with general info--used to entice booksellers.) The writer does not get a choice on the cover.

It is helpful for the writer to give the editor a synopsis/outline. If you can't the editor can manage it, but be upfront about it. The same for your marketing skills.

What kind of info do you want from the author?

Manuscript, writer background, possibly a page of names for characters and places to help route out typos. Character fact sheet--coloring, style of dress, setting, etc.

How can someone become an Intern?

Penguin has a paid internship program for college students.

Assuming the writer has expertise, how much input can they have in marketing the work?

Not a lot. Though if they go an do stuff on their own, they should keep the editor advised so no duplication takes place. 

Don't arrange your own bookstore signings as some expect the publisher to pay for the provilege.

Books get pigeon holed because the editors only have a short spiel to sell the work to the other departments and by comparing it to something else, it gives more info in less time. 

Books are put out in pairings of veteran and newbies so one will drag the other. Same type books are not put out at the same time for obvious reasons. 

Publishing is a business, not a charity. They have to justify on profit and loss.

1:00pm Promotion and Publicity

Guests: Pat Murphy (SF and Fantasy writer, award winner), Kristine Smith (Chemist and author of a 3 book SF series), Steven Barnes (Writer of books, screenplays, comic books, TV, newspapers), Robert J Sawyer (6 time Hugo nominee, international award winner, SF writer), John Grant/Paul Barnett (Author of over 60 books (20 fiction, 40 non), co-editor of the Encyclopedia of Fantasy)

Another free for all type panel. Once more I will transcribe the highlights, etc. Steven Barnes was an absolute riot. It was also a strange contrast to the previous Publishing panel.

If possible, send your books out to get reviewed about 6 months before the actual release date. Send postcards with the cover and blurb to generate interest as well.

Question to keep in mind--what is it that separates you from the rest of the market? What is it about your work that is like no one else's? Communicate this. Generate enthusiasm for your work.

Author's Guild Midlist Study--depressing info. Basically says author's need to work on promoting their own books rather than have it rest solely on the publishers.

1.    Band together with other authors. Mailing to bookstores on flyers and letters. Make teams like the Brazen Hussies where your buddies will praise or push you rather than you doing it for yourself and come out looking self-centered. 

2.    Be prepared to give downloads of the book or chapters of it. The more you give, the more the consumer is likely to give out for you. (On this they are going partially under the premise that a downloaded book only able to be read on the PC will spark enough interest that the person will want a hardback/softback copy to finish it so they can take it around.)

3.    Don't take it personally that the Publisher does not promote you. The bad part is the universe doesn't care about you. The good part is that the universe doesn't care about you. Be willing to create an image of yourself for the public. People want a hero. You need to reflect a refined version of yourself--clean, something worth their time. Talk to individuals to gage the buttons to use when in an interview. If you seem interesting, then they'll go get your books to be with you because they liked you. Represent the feelings you are selling in the book. Never lie.

4.    Analog serialized novels are free in the magazine but are also a great push when the book/compilation is finally released. Your book is not for everyone. Don't try to sell it to everyone. You'll get backlash if you do. If you get an advance, use it to give your books away to fans and at conventions--the corresponding word of mouth advertising from it will be priceless. 

5.    You can hire a publicist to promote you and your work. Or suck it in and do self promotion. You're a professional performer--like it or not. Treat conventions as trade shows. Everyone is a potential coworker or boss. Don't go out in public if you feel moody or bad. Dress up--this is a job. 

6.    Radio/TV: Figure out some good sound bytes and get those into the conversation. The Radio & TV Interview Reports magazine has a listing of shows you can try to get into. Unfortunately, there's no real way to tell the impact of such publicity. Though some use the book rankings at Amazon.com. Make sure you don't get sent to the boondocks, to places where you will not have any readership or people with interest. This is a waste of your time better spent elsewhere. Success is a matter of being able to go from failure to failure without giving up. Radio--be warned--some people in that bizz want to use you to climb over your dead carcass--some will try to shoot you down. Turn that type of thing around--use humor, be clever. Do promoting because it has to be done. Think of it like changing cat litter. Train to do it. You will out perform someone with no ability to sell themselves. Persistence and enthusiasm in the face of rejection. If you don't think your work is good, why should they? You can't promote yourself as a novelist--no one cares about that. You need to push yourself as a specialist. Tell them why they should read your book aside from entertainment. Newman Communications Publicist is for writers who want to get on the radio. Make sure to remember that being on radio does you no good if the books are not available locally. Amazon is the one saving grace for this, so make sure to mention them if you don't know if the book is available around town. If you get on TV, make sure to have something more than the book to show. Use an intriguing prop. Also take it with you for book signings. It will attract people who otherwise might not give you a second look. Call ahead to the chain stores to let them know you'll be doing a local radio spot so they can stock up.

7.    Other promotion tips can be found at <http://www.broaduniverse.com/>www.broaduniverse.com though this site is mainly aimed at promoting women writers. Also try <http://www.sfwriter.com/>www.sfwriter.com, which is Robert J Sawyers site for more promotion tips.

8.    Websites: Make a presence for you and your books by having a website. Offer a free pdf copy of sample chapters or the book if they email you. Use these to compile a mailing list. Or just have a section asking if they want to be added in for news. Always make sure to give the people an opt out clause on your mailing list. It's only proper. And make sure to update it! Also, if you send out a newsletter, don't just talk about yourself, talk about things out in the world, or maybe get a buddy group going and promote others as well. Include quotes, TV shows, anything exciting. Con reports as good as well!

9.    Internet Promotion: Search for sites that do reviews then send them letters to get some in about your books. Do searches by your name and see what pops up. Send thank you notes to anyone doing reviews on you and keep track of them. On interviews--tell the people up front that you own them so you can keep them and then put them up 6 months later on your web site. If you have answers to generic questions, keep them around and reuse the answers--no sense reinventing the wheel every time. 

10.Bookstore signings: Chat with whomever you can get. Mall store shops are a bad scene, specialty books stores do better. Also be aware that some bookstores want to charge to let you do book signings. 

2:30pm Cat Vacuuming: Things writers do when not writing.

Guests: Brenda W Clough (Published 8 novels. Knits), Rosemary Kirstein (Steerswoman series), Harry Turtledove (Alternative History writer, escaped historian), LE Modesitt Jr (Authored 36 novels, short stories, and technical and economic articles), Tad Williams (Writer Guest of Honor -- author of two series and one stand alone).

This was a free for all and great fun. Brenda W Clough and Tad Williams are quite funny. Pretty much this took the slant of what do writers do when they are avoiding writing. Once more I will site highlights.

You are always writing even if not doing it on paper.

Worst thing to do when you hit a bump is to stay and try to force it -- yet this is not for everyone. Slightly distract yourself, go for a walk, knit for a few minutes, do something not linked to writing. Book binding, algebra problems for fun, play with the cats, groom the horses, take a shower, go driving, wash dishes.

'9 and 60 ways' Often used quote meaning there a lot of ways to do something to achieve the same result -- or that the same thing doesn't work for everyone.

A really good punch line was as follows:

Modesitt: 'I've got a couple of readers that--'

Williams: 'Wait a minute, you have at least twice that many.' The whole room cracked up.

There's no excuse for writer's block. Analyze what is going on in your life to see if something going on is it or if the current project is something which needs to be ditched. Also analyze when/how you write. What is conducive to it--temperature, location, atmosphere, tools, stability, etc. Writer's block can also be attributed to lack of self confidence. Soldier on--this is the separating factor between pros and wanna bes who never get there. Stick to it. 

Also, don't fall in love with the wrong Para dyne of writing--don't believe that writing is always wonderful or that it comes out right the first time. Don't fall into thinking it's not work. You can enjoy it, but it isn't instant gratification either.

Always finish your first draft, don't start going back to the beginning over and over before the full work is complete. If you find new ideas or things wrong, make notes, but always make sure to go ahead and finish. Then go back and do a rewrite.

After this last panel, we went home again, had supper and then came back to see the masquerade and the pop our heads into some of the parties at the hotel. The masquerade had 46 entries, a number of them quite impressive. Problem was a lot of the participants did not seem to realize that the masquerade requires some showmanship as well as cool costumes. A number of the acts obviously had not practiced the lip sinking or dance routines, which of course made them look bad. Another problem was that since there were a lot of people in the audience (despite the two big screen TV's) you couldn't see the detail in some of the costumes. I don't think any of them wore them in the con so people could get a preview look and see them up close to truly appreciate the detail.

As for the parties, the convention gave out updates on the lists. Making line again, we eventually were able to get on the elevator leading straight to the 20th floor and slowly worked our way down. The con suite was made up in a tropical island motif and the volcano in one of the back rooms came out rather well. Of course all sorts of evil munchies were at hand. We also took the opportunity of looking out from such a high vantage point out into the San Jose nightscape. Pretty!

Every party room was packed. Wendy had been looking forward to the Nippon 2007 bid room (she's quite fluent in Japanese and none of them looked to speak good English) but she felt it was somewhat strained in the room and did not appreciate the donation bowls set every five feet. The furry party and the one with the guys in lab coats next door were more lively and friendly in nature. The chocolate brains were a great hit.