I’ve told you about something I call Edelman’s Schadenfreude Theory of Convention-Going, haven’t? If not, it goes like so—

It is insufficient for one to have fun at a convention. One’s friends must know about it and feel miserable for not being there with you! Therefore, all convention reporting must occur while the convention is still going on, so they can think, “Why aren’t I there?” So they can wonder, “Should I catch a plane right now to be there tomorrow and join in the fun?”

In that spirit, since words and picture aren’t enough to let you see what you’re missing, here’s VIDEO from a panel held at Readercon Thursday night. “I Know These People. Personally.” featured (from left to right in the clip below) John Langan, John Kessel, Elizabeth Hand (who moderated), Kit Reed, and Barry N. Malzberg.

And here’s how the panel was described in the program book:

“Writers,” Harlan Ellison famously claimed, “take tours in other people’s lives.” In his recipe for a two-month novel, Jeff VanderMeer advised, “Base at least some of your main characters on people you know and really like, BUT make sure they are not people you have spent a lot of time with.” The roman à clef aspects of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando or Philip K. Dick’s A Scanner Darkly may be clear enough, but what about that girl on the T with the really interesting face or that actor with the striking name? Using examples from their own work, our panelists explore the continuum between consciously employed technique and unavoidable side effect—the wages of the writer’s magpie mind.

Enjoy!

And remember—it’s only Saturday morning! There STILL time for you to get here yourself!