I had a wonderful weekend at Capclave. I did a reading and took part in two well-received panels, moderating one of them. I was originally going to participate in a third panel until a certain British knight decided to pop by.

To the surprise of us all, Sir Terry Pratchett made a last-minute visit to the con, as the final appearance in his U.S. tour for Snuff. In fact, his appearance was so final I believe he and his assistant Rob Wilkins headed off to the airport (and the UK) immediately after their noon Q&A.

As far as I’m concerned, it was the highlight of the con. I’d give up any number of opportunities to pontificate in exchange for a chance to hear Pratchett. And as those of you who know me already know, without me having to say it—I was in the front row with my Flip balanced on one knee.

Here, for those who couldn’t make it to Capclave—and for those who could, but would like to relive the lovely hour—is video from the event.

I’ll be attending Capclave next month, a local science fiction convention held in Gaitherburg, Maryland. If you’ll be there, too, here’s where you’ll be able to find me. (Well, when I’m not hanging out in the bar or con suite, that is.)

Ideas into Story
Saturday, October 15, 1:00 PM
”Where do you get your ideas ?” is a question that writers always get asked. The real work is taking an idea and turning into a story. How does that happen?

Reading
Saturday, October 15, 6:30 PM
Got a few weeks to decide exactly what I’ll be reading … all I know is that it’ll be something I’ve never read at a Capclave before!

Self-Editing: From Rough Draft to Finished Work (m)
Sunday, October 16, 1:00 PM
How do writers look critically at their own work? What steps do they take to hone their drafts into polished stories?

Endings: Varieties of Wrapping Up (m)
Sunday, October 16, 3:00 PM
In the final pages, the resolution of the present story becomes clear (and so might the nature of the sequel). It’s not always done well—let’s talk about how and when it is done well, as well as the many other challenges of creating good endings.

See you there!

I spent a long day at CapClave yesterday, taking part in three panels, reading one of my stories aloud, and just schmoozing and hanging out with friends. You wouldn’t know it by my camera, though. I only snapped a couple of pictures, and none had me in them. Guess I was too busy having a good time. So you’ve just have to take my word for it that I was there.

I consider CapClave to be a local con, so I didn’t spend the night. But it’s really only semi-local now that we live in West Virginia—it takes about about an hour and 45 minutes to get to the hotel. Because of that, I tend to only spend a single day there (same with Balticon). So I arrived in Rockville around 9:30 in the morning, and left around 11:30 in the evening.

My first panel, which started at 10:00 a.m., was titled “Character Management,” and we attacked the issue of whether writers control their characters or if characters ever go off on their own. My co-conspirators were Allen Wold, Brenda Clough, Virginia DeMarce, Larry Hodges, and Tom Mccabe.

My opinion? My characters are slaves to my themes, to the thoughts and emotions I want implanted in your head by the time you finish my stories. So if my characters won’t behave, I have to alter them until they can believably walk the paths I need while remaining living, breathing people.

Perhaps it’s apocryphal, but I once read that Isaac Bashevis Singer, when asked whether his characters ever took over his stories, responded with bafflement—”But … they’re just puppets!” I don’t go quite that far … but I come close. Sure, I want my readers to care about my characters, but if those characters don’t fulfill my themes—they’re outta there! (more…)

I received my program schedule from the gurus over at Capclave, which will be held two weeks from now. If you’ll be attending, here’s where you’ll be able to find me.

And if you’re looking for David Louis Edelman, remember—I’m not him, and he’s not me!

All of my panels will take place on Saturday, Oct. 16:

10:00 a.m.: Character Management
Do you control your characters or do they go off on their own? Do you collaborate with your characters or do they ignore your outline? What do you do when they seem to be diverting from the plot? What if a minor character wants to go off on her own? Who controls the ending?
(with Allen Wold, Brenda Clough, Virginia DeMarce, Larry Hodges, and Tom Mccabe)

1:00 p.m.: New writers
How did you get started in the field? How are you shaping your career? What advice would you give new writers?
(with Larry Hodges, John Joseph Adams, John Betancourt, Tad Daley, and Shelia Williams)

3:30 p.m.: Reading

10:00 p.m.: Works I Didn’t Write
What books or stories did you consider writing and decide against doing or start but not finish? Why did you discard them? Are there certain topics/areas you would not want to write even if you get an idea? Have you ever come back to a discarded idea?
(with Alan Smale, Diane Arrelle, and Lawrence Watt-Evans)

I’ve never done a Capclave panel as late at night as the last one. It will be interesting to see how many of you show up—and whether I’ll be still be coherent twelve hours after my first panel of the day!

Due to my New York trip Saturday, my only appearance at Capclave this year was Friday night, so I tried to squeeze in as much as I could. Lunch with Resa Nelson, who included the con as part of her three-week tour in support of her new novel The Dragonslayer’s Sword, dinner with the newest member of the Analog mafia, Oz Drummond, who kindly took pity on me, after which we were joined by Traci Castleberry, and Andy Duncan (the last of whom is pictured with me below), plus two panels.

I was joined on my 5:00 p.m. panel, “Eureka: The New TV Season,” by Perianne Lurie, Resa Nelson, and Davey Beauchamp, who acted as the moderator. I’d brought along a stack of the Fall Preview issue of SCI FI magazine to hand out to the audience so that we could all be on the same page. Most of us were not impressed by what we’d seen of the new shows this season and were disappointed by many of the returning shows. I talked up True Blood, my favorite of the new batch. Perianne and Davey discussed how much better the BBC version of The Eleventh Hour was than the Americanized version the rest of us got to see. Opinions on the latest season of Heroes differed, and when I said that I felt the creators had amazingly figured out a way to make Mohinder even more annoying than before, most seemed to agree. There was a lot of love expressed for Pushing Daisies, though it’s such a delicate show that we all trembled for its future. Most of us wished that last season’s Journeyman was still with us. A lively panel. (more…)