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It's almost time for Context 25! This is a wonderful science fiction and fantasy con in Columbus, Ohio where in additional to panels on a variety of subjects, gaming sessions and filk concerts, attendees can (for a minimal fee) take writing workshops provided by a number of multi-published writers and professors from great writing schools like Seton Hill.
This year. I'll be teaching a workshop on Saturday morning about writing diverse characters:
(Saturday, September 29th, 10am-noon)
The world is full of different ethnicities and cultural groups; unfortunately, most writers tend to only write about people like themselves. Others who want to include
The world is full of different ethnicities and cultural groups; unfortunately, most writers tend to only write about people like themselves. Others who want to include
This workshop will use exercises like those in Nisi Shawl
and Cynthia Ward's Writing the Other and other sources to expand your
thinking about using characters of other race/class/ethnicity in your stories. We’ll
look at the power of first impression—what you glean from your first sight of
someone—which may or may not truly give you their essence. Participants should
bring pen and paper to work through some simple but eye-opening "What
If?" questions that will show you how to expand your story's diversity. Finally,
we’ll conduct an exercise designed to teach you how to convey the diverse
uniqueness of your characters in subtle ways—i.e., without having Fred say,
“Hi, John, this is my black friend Mike.”
The two-hour workshop costs only $20 and leaves you plenty of time the rest of the day for classes with Maria Snyder, Tim Esaias and Linnea Sinclair, as well as a multitude of panels.
The workshops are filling up, so get on over to the site and sign up!
You'll also be able to be one of the first to get a print edition hot off the press of my new book LOVE ME, KISS ME, KILL ME from Hydra Publications, which will be released at the con!
For those who are reluctant to attend conferences because you feel overwhelmed, I thoroughly recommend this one. The people are nice, the workshops intimate, and there's a very welcoming vibe. Definitely something for everyone here--you could attend the con to get your fill of gaming play and talk, or just take writing workshops the whole time, at an extremely reasonable cost. Tim Esaias of Seton Hill recently pointed out that his workshops are essential the same module he teaches at the University--but much less expensive. Don't miss it!
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