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I had a whole different post planned, but the last week or so has just been a lot. I shifted gears after a (last-minute) decision to “attend” the Nebulas (SFWA’s annual conference and award ceremony) this past weekend. I was on the fence but leaning toward skipping, but a friend was on a panel (her first!) and it tipped it to “attend”.
(SFWA is the Science Fiction Writers of America, a professional organization for SF and Fantasy authors. I’m not a member.)
It reminded me of the value of hanging around with and listening to others in the same field.
Unfortunately, the panels are locked behind a paywall (since they’re effectively conference goodies). So I can’t share them directly.
But I found some tweets about bits from some of the panels. A tweet roundup is below the fold.
First, a short thread from one attendee (I’ll start in the middle):
That second point (sell the first book in a series before writing the second, but some buyers won’t read until the series is finished) is a reminder that, for it to be a career, there are business aspects, not just craft.
After my friend’s panel, there was an interesting discussion (agents, editors, etc.), then someone who was working on a YA series came in. Seven books, he’s written a couple, the first one is, like, 250k words. Among the points made was that with production complications and paper shortages, word counts especially for debut authors are there for many reasons (audience attention, audience expectations, cost of printing the book, what the equipment’s actually set up for).
Speaking of writing as a business:
…and from the same writer, two more little nuggets of wisdom:
Since I did a series on fight scenes, that quick note spoke to me. It also distilled a lot of wisdom in a few words. It’s not the action that carries the story, it’s the story the action carries that makes the scene work.
No exercise this week, instead, let’s discuss professional development:
Have you been to a conference, or attended a panel or talk, with a mix of writing levels and experience? Did you find it encouraging? Did you receive wisdom? Did any of the nuggets above speak to you?
Happy Writing!
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