Out with the Old, In with the New. Also, Lets Travel to the Stars.
I apologize, it had been a minute! Let’s dive right into the updates.
Look left, what do you see? It’s a brand new, shiny foil bookmark for patrons! I am seriously so thrilled by how these turned out. The lettering is just gorgeous (it was before, but now it all pops). I still get excited looking at them. It was thoroughly enjoyable being able to hand them out at Chicon8 WorldCon (which I will talk about in a minute).
If you look at the menu bar, you’ll see something shiny and new: workshops. I ran a workshop at Chicon8 that went fantastic, and now I’m bringing it to the virtual stage! Workshops will be run via our discord, and made available to anyone who signs up at the $25/month tier before the workshop. The workshops are:
Building the Invisible: Characters of Depth and Disability
November 12, 2022
Character creation and development goes beyond the arc of your plot. An intriguing personal history helps connect readers to characters. Your plot doesn't need to revolve around a disability for you to include one, and you should! Learn from L.J. Stanton, a service dog handler, invisible illness spoonie, and author, to learn how to build diversity into your writing, round out your characters, and see how doing so can help build a far richer world for your story.
Critical Reading: How to Improve Your Writing Through Reading
January 14, 2023
Have you ever read a book and wondered “How do I write like that?” The answer? Read, write, read. It’s the writer answer to “practice makes perfect”. But to get the most out of reading, you need to dive passed the surface. Learn how to read what’s between the lines, to try and understand why the author made the choices they did, and more. Reading critically will improve your writing, beta reading, and reading for fun.
Broad Horizons: World Building with Intention
March 11, 2023
World building is one of the best, yet most challenging parts of building a fantasy or sci fi world—especially if it isn’t a story set in an alternate universe earth. What religions have shaped the cultures? What geography has shaped the religions? What languages do they speak, what dialects within those languages? If your head is starting to spin, don’t worry! This course is for you. L.J. will break down how to prioritize what needs to be built ahead of time for your story or series, and what can be left to develop as you write. You’ll also learn where to look for real world examples to build your worlds off of.
Chicon8 WorldCon: To the Stars and Back
I had the honor of participating as a panelist at WorldCon Chicon 8. For those of you asking “What even is WorldCon?”, it’s one of the premier speculative fiction conventions in the world. It changes location yearly. 2022 was Chicago, 2023 is Chengdu, 2024 is Glasgow. For the years it’s not in North America, the North American Sci Fi Fantasy convention is held (2023 Winnepeg).
Also, it’s the convention that gives away a little award called The Hugo. In many ways, it’s the Oscars for speculative fiction. Easy to say I was just a little awe-struck. There were incredible people speaking and attending the convention, and I want to specifically thank the Accessibilty Team for their incredible willingness work with those of us who needed a little bit extra help getting around a building build pre-ADA. They truly did an amazing job, and reminded me that if I don’t ask for help, I can’t get it. Sometimes little things that might help me a little will help others a lot (like chairs to sit and wait for elevators!)
Narrativity and Chicon both remind me the importance of constantly learning and improving as an author and as a person. Conventions are excellent opportunities to expand your social circle, meet people you wouldn’t have the opportunity to otherwise, and learn new skills. The over-arching theme of each of my panels this year was simple:
"Build rich worlds, research deeply, take criticism humbly, and learn to say “I’m sorry.”"
It was incredible to experience a diverse group of people from all over the world come together and have thought provoking, genuine discussions. Thank you to everyone who came, who asked questions, and learned something new. I came away from Chicon with renewed hope, inspiration, and the opportunity to re-examine some of the language I’ve used that was called out as outdated. It renewed my desire to dig even deeper into the inspirations for The Gods Chronicle series, and I know my writing has improved because of Chicon.
