Writing Bits: Armadillocon Writer’s Workshop
This week Shaun gave me permission to talk about the Armadillocon Writer’s Workshop, which is a little event that I run for my local convention. It’s close to my heart for multiple reasons — among them is the fact that it gave me a leg up as a new writer. I feel passionate enough about it that I’ve been running it for seven years. If you’re interested in becoming a professional Science Fiction and Fantasy writer, I think it’s one of the best, least inexpensive workshops designed for beginning and intermediate writers. This year, it will be held on Friday, July 25th, and the manuscript submission deadline is June 15th. Each student is required to submit a manuscript of no more than 5,000 words, which will then be critiqued at the workshop. Check in begins at 8:30am, and the workshop runs until the convention starts (usually, at 4:30pm). It’s a full day of lectures, writing exercises, and critiques. In the last part of the session, students are sorted into critique groups of no more than five. Each group is led by two publishing professionals. We use the Milford Method, and each student both gives and receives critiques. This year, we’re proud to have the following instructors: Ian McDonald, Ted Chiang, Jacob Weisman, Skyler White, Mario Acevedo, Martha Wells, Kat Richardson, Stina Leicht, Alex C. Renwick, Claude Lalumière, Joe McKinney, Martin Wagner, Marshall Ryan Maresca, Mark Finn, Dr. Anne-Marie Thompson, Derek Johnson, Jayme Blaschke, and Nicky Drayden If you’re a new writer without publishing credits and you’re interested in professional publishing, this is the workshop for you. It’s a lot of fun. The fee is $70. For more detailed information see the Armadillocon website.
My Superpower: Cassandra Rose Clarke
My Superpower is a regular guest column on the Skiffy and Fanty blog where authors and creators tell us about one weird skill, neat trick, highly specialized cybernetic upgrade, or other superpower they have, and how it helped (or hindered!) their creative process as they built their project. Today we welcome Cassandra Rose Clarke to talk about how the power of making time for TV (psst: and organization) relates to The Wizard’s Promise. ——————————– Let us consider Wolverine. His superpower appears to be the ability to retract claws out of his knuckles like a cat, and indeed, for many years as a child I thought that was his superpower and wondered how such a weirdly specific mutation could come to be. But at some point I learned that Wolverine’s actual superpower is regeneration. It allows him to retract claws out of his knuckles like a cat and do other wonders as well — but mostly the cat claw thing. My writerly superpower is the same way.
IDIC and the problem with gatekeepers
When I started writing what I loved (science fiction) in about 2007, I didn’t have the impression that science fiction was US-centric. In fact, I thought that science fiction was like Star Trek’s philosophy of IDIC. Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. Wasn’t science fiction supposed to be like that? I mean, I did submit stories before and one even got published. That was in 2000, when I was fresh out of university, armed with a postgraduate degree. So, when I started writing in 2007, I thought it was still peachy, and a writer like me — a writer from Southeast Asia — would be easily accepted. My steampunk story “A Matter of Possession” was published by Crossed Genres in 2010 in their issue on alternate history. It was my first entry into an interesting scene (I couldn’t use ‘community’ — didn’t feel much of it, though). I realized, to my shock, that people like me, people living outside the United States, had (still have) difficulty getting their stories published. The gatekeepers of serious science fiction were standing at the gate and barring entry to those trying to find their way in. Often, the accepted stories were written by white men. I wondered who made the gatekeepers gatekeepers? Who had set the rules and regulations? Is science fiction going to be a pub where unwanted and unwelcome folk are kept outside the window, desperately staring in while the accepted cliques mingle, laugh and have fun? Who chooses who will write our future(s)?
199. Sofia Samatar (a.k.a. Malkia wa Ndoto) at ICFA (An Interview) #WorldSFTour
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode199SofiaSamatar/SandF%20–%20Episode%20199%20–%20Sofia%20Samatar.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSArabic fantasy, linguistic wonders, and strange worlds, oh my! Sofia Samatar joins Shaun, Julia, and Keffy to discuss her 2014 Crawford Award winning novel, A Stranger in Olondria. Also on the discussion table: Arabic fiction, fantastic and otherwise, academia, writing influences, and much more! We hope you enjoy the episode! (Please support our efforts to bring the Skiffy and Fanty Show and the World SF Tour to Worldcon! Every little bit helps.) Note: If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show! Here’s the episode (show notes are below): Episode 199 — Download (MP3) Show Notes: Sofia’s Website Sofia’s Writing Sofia’s Twitter Small Beer Press You can also support this podcast by signing up for a one month free trial at Audible. Doing so helps us, gives you a change to try out Audible’s service, and brings joy to everyone. Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0). That’s all, folks! Thanks for listening. See you next week.
My Superpower: Kip Manley
My Superpower is a regular guest column on the Skiffy and Fanty blog where authors and creators tell us about one weird skill, neat trick, highly specialized cybernetic upgrade, or other superpower they have, and how it helped (or hindered!) their creative process as they built their project. Today we welcome Kip Manley to talk about how knowing he doesn’t know a damn thing relates to City of Roses. ———————————————– There’s this proverb, and you have to imagine I’m opening a drawer as I say this, in the cheap pressboard desk between us, and I’m pulling out a bottle with a little green label, and a plain white paper cup, and where are my manners? Would you like some, too? Rye whiskey, but you know what they say: makes the band sound better. I don’t know how it got such a reputation as rot-gut. Is it really such an acquired taste? Maybe it’s just that it’s hard to make well, and bad rye’s just that much worse than bad scotch, or bad bourbon. Anyway. Ice is in the bucket there, if you like, and would you look at that: there’s a second paper cup, just for you.
196. Fran Wilde (a.k.a. Chadwick’s Prodigy) — An Interview at ICFA
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode196InterviewWFranWildeAtICFA/SandF%20–%20Episode%20196%20–%20Interview%20w%20Fran%20Wilde%20at%20ICFA.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSTowering cities, the history of death, and waste, oh my! Fran Wilde, author of the upcoming Bone Arrow from Tor (coming in 2015, which is far too long to wait), joins us to talk about such mundane things as waste management in cities built to the heavens, proper disposal of the dead, plagues, and writing words on websites. Needless to say, we had a blast! We hope you enjoy the episode! Note: If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show! Here’s the episode (show notes are below): Episode 196 — Download (MP3) Show Notes: Fran’s Website Fran’s Twitter Cooking the Books Fran also has a story in the April/May 2014 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction, which should still be available in print at your local newsstand or via various online retailers. The story is entitled “Like a Wasp to the Tongue.” Check it out! You can also support this podcast by signing up for a one month free trial at Audible. Doing so helps us, gives you a change to try out Audible’s service, and brings joy to everyone. Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0). That’s all, folks! Thanks for listening. See you next week.
