takacs: hungarian, lots of hungarian sf has not been translated yet
schwartzmann: reads russian, ukrainian and polish; has done translation work
schwartzmann: russian writers: bulgakhov (magical realism, 1920s and 1930s)
takacs: strugatsky brothers; stanislaw lem, especially the cyberiad; rana ras;
lyau: france produced second-most varied scifi tradition; planet of the apes; their golden age was the thirty years following jules verne's heyday; maurice renard; french new wave post-1968; robita; de nizorres
kastersmidt: hector hermann oesterheld (argentinian, was killed by junta for publishing comic)
schaff-stump: has handout with japanese names; since japanese novels are often turned into manga and anime, can often find those in translation even if the book hasn't been
schwartzmann: for chinese scifi, start with three-body problem, first volume had to adhere to communist standards, second was a little looser, third volume he completely jumps out of the box; tor is releasing "invisible planets" collection of chinese short stories translated by ken liu
takacs: yerg dragoman (the white king; bone fire); adam bodor (the sinister district)
fantastic planet: was based on french novel called "humans by the dozen"
lyau: start with the pulp novels to brush up on your french
kastersmidt: if you haven't read borges, do so; camilla fernandes (brazilian); also check out the apex book of world science fiction, runs to four volumes, collects stories from new authors from around the world
schaff-stump: hex (from dutch author) was rewritten for us edition, not available in strict translation
tiptree award is going out of its way to bring non-english scifi to anglophone attention (check past award winners)
takasc: african sf: afro-sf anthology series; african speculative fiction society website will soon go live
first emeriati science fiction publishing house is opening its doors
omenana: african sf in english (online)
german scifi: andres eschbach, the carpet makers (?)
ukrainian literature: vita nostra, available in english, by sergey and marina ____, basically the magicians
Promoting Yourself as an Introvert
tamara jones: writing since seven yrs old
doesn't leave the house much
lives in small town iowa
has four novels, first won compton cook award
had to suddenly start speaking to a lot of strangers and big crowds
hard to relax
introverts are like onions, have awesome core, but many many layers of protection on top of it that prevent people from getting to know your core
on panels, need to let hair down, but you can hide behind the table for safety
editor liked just first 66 pages of first book she bought, had to rewrite everything else, which completely changed her plans for the second book; so: don't write the next books in a series until you sell and finish the first one
some people don't want to let you talk on a panel, but don't get aggressive, that doesn't come off well
readings are the worst
but: get your ass out of the chair, gives you better diction, more control; move around, even though there's no where to hide; it's performance art: talk about self, talk about book, read short pages (two pages), then talk about it, then two more pages, then talk about it (make it different works or passages for variety)
find whatever it is that gives you feeling of safety (small sweater, lucky socks, etc) and wear that to the reading to help you feel safe and able to be yourself
has had three stalkers already, so no one knows where she lives (deliberately)
tries to avoid the parties; but when you're starting out you have to go because editors and agents will be there; grab a drink, wander around and listen, take a drink if you get nervous
what do you do when drained? Find a capsule of solitude somewhere: a quiet corner, maybe even the restroom stall, close your eyes and be alone for 15 min
editors love to talk about their work; her typical question is "what's the best thing about your job?"
need one sentence description of each of your books
also need one sentence description of yourself "i slaughter people on paper for money"
thinks introverts should not moderate, have to insert self and take control, which introverts are not good at
don't overprepare for panels; whatever you prep for will probably be thrown out the window as soon as the panel starts
at end of the day, selling self, if you do that people will want to buy your books
betsy dornbusch: writes mostly epic fantasy, used to buy flash
anna yeatts: flash fiction online owner/publisher, also writes flash
caroline m yoachim: just launched collection with fairwood press
flash: definition varies greatly; over 1,500 wordsis definitely not flash; something you could read in five minutes
yeatts: want a full complete story in a coffee break; still want a complete story arc, pared down to the essence
vonallmen: looking for the pop of "oh, wow" in just a five minute read
wowell: couldn't write GoT in flash
yoachim: now i want to write that
wowell: customer service call for death ray works really well in flash format; sci-fi comments thread works really well as flash
dornbusch: don't do vignettes about the sun, they don't get bought
yoachim: great focusing on small piece; focused emotion, etc; great for putting hints of the larger world in the story, rest up to reader's imagination
favorite stories?
yeatts: grobnak ama
running of the robots
first story from daily science fiction: story with three substories, and the meta-story, all in 1,000 words
strain of sentient corn writing to monsanto
if you were a dinosaur, my love
six names for the end
what skills are important?
dornbusch: editing; revision; the shorter the length, the more powerful
dornbusch: likes humor in flash, but not the punchline
wowell: need to recognize how many plots and subplots you can fit into each story length
vonallmen: ability to focus on tone
send mothership zeta your cat stories (joke)
yoachim: so much needs to happen in the first paragraph: need to tell reader what they're in for, little about their world, the action, tone, everything
dornbusch: try telling story where reader knows the secret, usually it's better than hiding the secret from the reader
wowell: if you like twists, do it at the beginning, not the end; starting with the twist will get me reading
yoachim: remember can play with your title, do a lot of setup there
current markets?
flash fiction online; daily science fiction
unsung stories (uk)
fantasy and science fiction takes some flash
mothership zeta
vestal review
lots of calls for flash, but don't give it for free
yoachim: targets markets that specialize in flash fiction
uncanny magazine does flash
fireside fiction does flash and shorts
nature runs flash fiction
flash one of the few markets where second person won't overstay its welcome
The Art of Worldbuilding
amanda downum: necromancer chronicles
luc peterson: runs civic innovation office
peter tieryas: fiction where japanese won world war ii?
downum: need fresh ideas, sense of wonder, in showing this new world
bear: burroughs first to do world-building in science fiction
downum: likes to start with character and scene, let world unfold from there; likes characters to pick up and interact with objects in the world, rather than just moving on a sound stage
patel: starts with what a society values most, and what they fear most; what do they invest in, what do they build walls and defenses against
bear: receives a vision; might take years to stitch visions together into a story
what do you need to know? How many doctorates?
bear: english major, don't know anything
downum: ditto
patel: need to know what touches your characters; need to have lots of prior work done to know what this is before writing
downum: has someone ask her questions, to reveal those things she hasn't thought of, those pieces she hasn't built out herself; really good if someone that doesn't read genre, they come at it from a completely different angle
tieryas: even things (research) that don't show up in the book can be valuable
bear: history of asia a target-rich environment for mining world-building ideas
how do you put limits on the research?
downum: hard, but do a little at first to get started; when come across detail to fix later, mark in brackets and keep going; do more research afterward to fill in details, etc
patel: timebox your research time so you push yourself back into writing; can be iterative, don't have to answer all questions at beginning, questions that come up during writing can give you chance to do focused dive into research again
patel: shorter work is, less research you'll have to do, but you may have to do very detailed research into a single focused topic
downum: likes first person for short form, but at novel length it's like being stuck in an elevator for a very long time, so prefers third person multiple perspective
patel: look for opportunities for drama and conflict in all worldbuilding; how would your characters tell their history? How would their enemies tell it?
How to Handle Rejection
gail carringer
wallace: stopped counting at 1,000
worst rejections: ones that are really really close to acceptance
wallace: never count on money until the check clears
carringer: rejection is evidence that you're trying, that you're sending stuff out
best rejection?
carringer: rejection was so nice, went back with later work, has been her agent for ten years
carringer: don't fall in love too much with a particular book, be willing go move on and write more and try something else
reader reviews are not for you, they're for other readers
carringer: would tell younger self to try different genres and styles earlier
carringer: never ever ever respond to a rejection
wallace: btw, anything you post online, anywhere, is a response, and is a bad idea
carringer: some agents/editors will be full up with authors in your genre, and so will reject you because they don't want to take on any more
remember that they're rejecting the product, not you