Posts Tagged Capclave
Two Nights of Pratchett
Posted by DLThurston in Inspiration on October 17, 2011
Going to audience question events for the same author on consecutive days can have its minefields. There are going to be questions that come up both times because fans want to know the same things. I’m sure Terry Pratchett has canned responses for whether he’s going to work with Gaiman again (probably not, but if they did a sequel it would be called “Jesus Christ!”) whether there will be another Aching book (probably not, and it wouldn’t be YA since she’s an adult now) or what his favorite character from Discworld is (Death, just like everyone else).
But thanks to the one question that got asked at Capclave, and the fact that the answer left no time for other questions, the two talks were pointedly different. All because someone stepped forward and asked “would you mind talking about the documentary?”
I’ve not seen “the documentary,” which was filmed for the BBC and never aired in the United States. It’s called “Choosing to Die,” and follows Sir Terry as he interviews and takes part in the last few days of two mens’ lives who have chosen to die on their own terms rather than living with debilitating illnesses. The two DC stops were the last of the American leg of the Snuff promotion tour, he left from Capclave straight to the airport, and were apparently the first in which he was asked about the documentary. He and his assistant (who has perhaps the best job in the world, if a damnedably difficult one) shared their stories about getting to know Peter Smedley, a man both clearly were quite taken by as they explored his life, his decision, and his death.
The documentary sounds brilliant for nearly every reason that will keep me from watching it. It’s not through any disagreement with the subject matter, but simply my dislike of contemplating the subject. Either looking at death in general, or being taken on a tour of death by an author who I admire so greatly but I know is suffering from early onset Alzheimer’s. A man who was only stamping books instead of signing them as his health just didn’t allow him to sit and scrawl his name in hundreds of books in a dozen cities. Because I know an unspoken, or perhaps spoken, theme of the documentary is Sir Terry deciding whether this will be the choice he makes, and when he will need to make it. Contemplating the mortality of one’s heroes is tough.
It was spectacular to hear him talk about the documentary, make no mistake. He made the audience laugh even when describing the last few minutes of a man who quickly became his friend during the filming. If you’re a braver person than I, it sounds like a fascinating watch, if you can track it down in the United States. I know it’s available through some channels, but have not looked for it. I know that makes me weak in a way. So be it.
I hate focusing on the maudlin part of Sir Terry’s two talks. I saw him for a total of about 150 minutes over two days, and the documentary discussion was only about fifteen of those minutes. Still, it stuck with me the most. The rest was the Sir Terry Pratchett I expected to see, but had never had the chance to see before. He and his assistant spoke of visiting Hobbittown (apparently you get a tour beyond that of most tourists when you’re an internationally famous fantasy writer), getting American book distributors to take Discworld seriously, and the few minutes they spent Occupying Wall Street the night before coming to DC. With the exception of being treated to the same excerpt from Snuff each day (no complaints, it’s a fantastic section, what?) the talks couldn’t have been more different. Perhaps each was better suited for the other venue, but the wonder of audience questions is that, while they can produce some cliched questions, they can also produce ones that catch both the speaker and audience off guard with spellbinding results.
I’ll be talking more about Capclave this week, especially as Jen Brinn, con networking ninja that she is, has secured several promises of guest inspiration for this weekend’s Flashathon. I’ll be updating that page tonight and this week will push to get everything ready for the weekend.
Update: Capclave panelist Scott Edelman has put video of the full Pratchett talk from Capclave on Youtube. It’s worth watching.
This Weekend in DC
Posted by DLThurston in Administrative on October 14, 2011
Great weekend for genre writers and fans in and around the DC area.
Tonight, Sir Terry Pratchett is going to do a talk at the National Press Club to promote his new book Snuff. I’ve previously attended one author event at the Press Club when Neil Gaiman game through town promoting the anniversary edition of American Gods. They put on a good event, especially in how they handle questions, which are solicited from the audience and screened before being handed to the author. Sadly, there will not be a signing, but rather a “stamping,” as Sir Terry is no longer capable of sitting and signing hundreds of books at one go. Makes me glad I got to see him at the National Book Festival a few years ago to get our copy of Good Omens signed. Tickets are still available through the Press Club website.
This weekend is also Capclave! For anyone who writes or reads genre fiction in the DC area, this is a can’t miss event. There isn’t a cosplay element, instead it’s just a fantastically focused convention that has a very heavy focus on the craft. I’m constantly impressed by how well run Capclave is. I’ve been to Big Three conventions that weren’t nearly as well organized as the typical Capclave. Registration is now limited to on-site. $60 for the weekend, or if you want to do an à la carte day they break down to $20, $35, and $10 for tonight, tomorrow, and Sunday.
The biggest bit of excitement about Capclave this year was very quietly announced via an update to their online schedule. What was previously being called a “surprise guest” panel tomorrow at 1pm has now been renamed “Talk With Terry” as Sir Terry will apparently be stopping by for a few hours. I’ve been joking with friends for weeks that he might stop by the convention since he was in town anyway, but at no point did I expect him to do so. Having tickets for tonight’s event at the Press Club it now means I get chances to see Sir Terry on consecutive days, which really has me geeking out.
So track me down at either. I’ll be the guy who is shockingly shy considering his rampant online logorrhea.
State of the Writer: October 2011
Posted by DLThurston in Capsule, State of the Writer on October 1, 2011
Another month. September absolutely sped by. Here in the DC area it was a hell of a month with earthquakes and flooding, and on a personal end included getting a new sewer line finally installed at the Casa Del Thurston.
What it didn’t include much of was writing, unfortunately. I’ve been working on a steampunk short story located on Venus that has a lot of promise, but needs better direction than it currently has. In the end it’s one story that could be told in two different directions, which is interesting considering my upcoming project for October.
After the blog post I made a few days ago about my conjoined novel, I’ve been thinking more and more about the status of Capsule. The final conclusion is that it is, and always has been, two novels. The final straw was reading Kraken by China Mieville. It’s a story that goes in a lot of different directions, but at its heart it remains a heist story. Capsule? It’s gone in not only different directions, but has transitioned from being one type of plot line (murder conspiracy) to another (cult kidnapping) with only the most tenuous of ties between the two. It’s had this problem as long as I’ve been writing it. On one hand, I wish I could have seen this sooner, on the other I’m glad I was able to see it at all.
So this month, the process of division starts. I’ll track it in the blog, as I suspect it’ll make for an interesting case study. Scrivener for Windows is going to be my tool of choice, identifying which pieces go in novel A (still called Capsule) and which go into novel B (working title: Post Apocalypse). Really, the entirety of the process will be broken into three parts:
- Identifying the pieces that go in each novel.
- Identifying what needs to fill in the missing pieces from each half.
- Outlining.
- Writing.
In an ideal world I’d have one outlined enough to be a Nanowrimo project, but I highly doubt that’ll happen.
Two other big October features:
Capclave! As I’ve attended other writers conventions, the local one here in DC still strikes me as my favorite and the best I’ve attended. If you’re a genre fiction writer in the DC area and you haven’t been to Capclave…why the hell not?
Flashathon! There are still some details to leak in the coming three weeks, and then the event itself three weeks from today. October 22nd. I’m hoping to get a nice turnout for the event here on the blog. I’m hoping even more for some fantastic mental exercise and inspiration.
State of the Writer’s Blog
Blog viewership continues to grow, for which I am eternally grateful. In the ongoing quest to reach eyeballs in all 50 states, I entered September needing six more states. During the month, this blog got its first views from Montana, South Dakota, and Louisiana. That leaves only North Dakota, Arkansas, and Delaware to go. I’m not sure what the next goal is going to be after finally collecting all fifty, but I’ll figure that out when I get there.
State of the Writer’s Beer
No news. Haven’t done any brewing or much drinking this month. Means that bottles we have are that much better aged. Been meaning to crack another bottle of Lazarus.
Classic Time Travel Paradox
Posted by DLThurston in Plot Thoughts on November 3, 2010
While at Capclave I sat in on a presentation about time travel in which I learned about a paradox of time travel that I never thought of before. It came back to mind when I saw this video linked on Gizmodo:
The important part is right around the 3:20 mark in the video, but while they talk about the understandably disturbing element of having a white time traveler help invent one of the most important influences African-American culture had on American pop culture in the 1950s they overlook the slightly more disturbing paradox that the whole thing creates. It goes like this.
Marty McFly lives in the 1980s. He grew up watching performances of Johnny B. Goode by Chuck Berry and learns not only the song but the entire dance routine. Then, through a series of movie contrivances, he finds himself back in the 1950s and playing guitar with a jam band at a school dance. Wanting to play something hip, he plays Johnny B. Goode. Halfway through the song we get the classic “Chuck! It’s your cousin Marvin! Marvin Berry…” phone call, creating the implication that Chuck Berry learns the song Johnny B. Goode from listening to Marty McFly sing it at this sock hop. He records the song, it becomes a hit, and Marty McFly grows up hearing it and learns the song, starting the cycle all over again.
Except, and here’s the problem: who wrote the song? Marty learns it from Chuck Berry. Chuck Berry learns it from Marty. Somewhere in there the song wrote itself and insisted itself upon the world through this loop.
See? The 1950s were right. Rock and roll music is of the devil!
Capclave Prep
Posted by DLThurston in Administrative, Rust, Uncategorized on October 20, 2010
Doing the final preps for Capclave 2010, and I’m excited about going. As seen in my Week of Action post (and editing that almost made me forget to post this) I’m hoping to go there with the first three chapters of Capsule cleaned up a little. Do I expect someone to ask for them? No. Do I want to be ready in the off chance someone does? Hell yeah. Now, I did have an initial plan to have the first three chapters available on a thumb drive “what, you’d like to read them, well I just happen to have them here…” However (1) that struck me as a little smarmy, (2) it struck me that no one was going to say “I’ll read your first three chapters but only if you can give me them RIGHT NOW!” and (3) I’d kinda like to do one more quick editing pass if someone does ask for them.
What I will be traveling with are cards I’ve printed up with a small ad for Rust, including a pointer over to Smashwords and a short-term coupon. That’s part of what’s great about Smashwords, it’s nice to be able to offer an exclusive Capclave price. Cause people like things when they’re cheaper. Suggestion: Avery #8869. They’re “print to the edge” cards, with “clean edges”. What that means is each card is set off from every other card, so you can make your graphic a little large than the card to make sure it fills as thoroughly as possible. And the clean edges really do pop out as advertised and don’t look like they got torn out of a perforated sheet. Add in a color printer and I think they really look sharp.
I’m happy with the cards, and I’m looking forward to going.
This post cross-posted with Unleaded – Fuel for Writers