jmward14 | Entries tagged with con

All hail the SFF highlight of my Memorial Day weekend: Balticon! This year my panels span bureaucracy, history, worldbuilding, monsters and a reading. Hope you’ll check them out, as well as all the other wonderful programming available for free! Panel registration and links can be found here. While you’re there, I hope you’ll consider supporting the con’s GoFundMe to ensure all this fannish goodness is available in person in 2022.

Friday, May 28

Beyond Red Tape: Why Bureaucracy Happens

Time: 5:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Location: Watertable
Panelists: Brick Barrientos (Moderator), Doc Coleman, Monica Louzon, Beth Morris Tanner, Jean Marie Ward

Description: Bureaucracy can be more than a comical obstacle for characters or a Kafkaesque nightmare. Societies and organizations create bureaucracy as a tool to solve specific problems. How can bureaucracy and governance structures be a part of good worldbuilding and good problem solving?

Sunday, May 30

It's A Novel, Not History Class

Time: 1:00 PM ET

Location: Mount Washington
Panelists: Gail Z. Martin (M), Doc Coleman, R.F. Kuang (2019 Compton Crook Award winner), Wendy Van Camp, Jean Marie Ward

Description: When writing in a historical setting creators can greatly over- or underestimate how much information they’ll need to incorporate for their audiences to understand what’s going on. We will explore how to immerse audiences in the past without losing focus on plot and characters. How can a creator tell how much the audience already knows, and how much needs to be explained?

The Motivations of Monsters
Time: 2:30 PM ET

Location: St. George

Panelists: Jean Marie Ward (M), John L. French, Lee Murray, John Walker, Sherri Cook Woolsey

Description: Science fiction and fantasy have always featured "monsters," going all the way back to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. While some are mindless destroyers, many are written with relatable motivations and desires. What are some monsters who have connected with audiences, and what are ways creators can make their monsters sympathetic while keeping them in an antagonistic role?

Writing Characters with Agency
Time: 8:30 PM ET

Location: Mount Washington

Panelists: Jean Marie Ward (M), Brenda Clough, Micaiah Johnson (2021 Compton Crook Award winner), Karen Osborne, Ryan Van Loan

Description: How do we give characters the power to make their own choices (and make those choices feel natural) while also moving the plot where it needs to go? What are some common mistakes that can take agency from a character without the author intending it? How does this problem affect audience investment?

Monday, May 30

Reading

Time: 1:30 PM ET

Location: Readings Break-out Room in the Con Suite

Panelists: Meeeeeeeeeee!

Description: According to the schedule, I’ll be reading urban fantasy, Steampunk and historical fantasy. Hmm, guess I’d better rehearse.

Hope to see you there!

Dragon Con is going virtual this year, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the same wild mix of media stars, writers, artists, panels, gaming, costumes, performances, music and all the rest—even the blood drive! For everything that’s been awful about 2020, the year has given folks who wouldn’t normally make it to Atlanta over Labor Day a chance to share the fun. For free!

That’s right, Dragon Con is offering three free 24/7 streaming channels of live and pre-recorded programming at https://dragoncon.tv/virtual: Main Programming, Fan Programming and Classic Programming. In addition, each of their programming tracks will be offering a selection of live and pre-recorded programs on venues ranging from Facebook to YouTube and all the social media in between. For those of us who can’t imagine Labor Day without the camaraderie of the various hotel bars, there’s even a BarCon running on Discord. And all of that is also free.

In addition, they’ve created the best virtual art show and vendors rooms I’ve seen so far. Artists, makers and dealers have been particularly hard hit by the loss of physical conventions. This is the perfect chance to show your love and support for the people who bring so much joy to the world.

For more details, head to https://dragoncon.org. The page is phenomenally easy to navigate. There’s even a link to a pdf of the Quick Start Guide we all live by at the RL con. Links to the individual track offerings can be found on p. 23.

Or you can check out the feeds of your favorite Dragon Con participants. You can find me several places this weekend:

Friday, 7 PM

SF Literature Track

Reading: I’ll be reading from four of my science fictions: “The Wrong Refrigerator” (which has just been translated into Chinese for Science Fiction World. Squeeeeeee!), “The Wizard of Woodrow Park” from Clockwork Universe: Steampunk vs. Aliens, “The Ellsberg Variations” from Lost Signals of the Terran Republic, and “Yesterday, I Will”, my shortest published work from the anthology of the same name. Check out how many times I can stumble over my own words. You’d think I’d never seen them before. Well, not for several months anyway. LOL

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/173171899402965/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn6yQUcszuJFwMw1iLMnP-w

Saturday, 2:30 PM

Alternate and Historical Fiction Track

Fact or Fiction AFHT Edition: AFHT’s historical fiction writers will refresh your memory on major historical events and goings on. Of course, not everyone can remember history as it truly happens. Is it fact? Is it fiction? Join our cast of unlucky souls who will determine which story is FACT and which is FICTION... Panelists: Tony Ballard-Smoot, AJ Hartley, L. Jagi Lamplighter, Michael Martinez, Tamsin Silver, Jean Marie Ward Moderators: Liz Carpenter, Alison Helfferich, Brett Gordon

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DConAlternateHistoryTrack/

You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzbMmPbV4bRnRdJ2zCYkPEA/featured

Sunday, Noon

Writers Track

Mentoring Sessions: Four opportunities for me to share all the craziness I’ve experienced over a quarter century reporting on, writing for and editing in this strange business we call publishing

Sign-up Sheet: https://form.jotform.com/202435857025050

Mentoring Schedule: https://www.notion.so/Dragon-Con-Writers-Track-Mentoring-Schedule-9c72a7a124234eee9c2913e833c6c9e8

Sunday, 2:30 PM

Alternate & Historical Fiction Track

Quarantine Reads: A laid-back face-to-face with some of our favorite panelists discussing recently released and forthcoming alternate history and historical fiction books for the next year. What should you be reading to prepare for 2021? Panelists: L. Jagi Lamplighter, Tamsin Silver, Jean Marie Ward Moderators: Liz Carpenter, Alison Helfferich

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DConAlternateHistoryTrack/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzbMmPbV4bRnRdJ2zCYkPEA/featured

Sunday, 8 PM

Urban Fantasy Track—Live!

Gifts, Missing Mojo, and Murder: A Lucifer Fan Panel: A moderated fan-panel discussion over Season 5A of the hit show.

Panelists: Kevin Bachelder, Susan Griffith, Lisa Harrison, Wendy Hembrock, Jean Marie Ward

Moderator: Carol Malcolm

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DCUrbanFantasy/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaz0h4NfjHCTTDka26gkVpA/

Can’t wait to see you there!