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kateelliottOne of these days I will have posts in which I may actually say something of interest. Soon. Yes, very soon. Hold that thought.
Meanwhile, I have a question for the hive mind, readers and writers both.
On Sunday, as I have mentioned, I will be making an appearance at the Hawaii Book & Music Festival. I have a 45 minute slot in on one of the "author stages" which means me, and some chairs, and -- if I am very very fortunate -- an audience of more than 2. Or even 2. I would be grateful even for 2.
The last event I did (last month) was quite mixed. I had two "sessions." The first, devoted to one of my earlier novels, had no audience. In fact, when I reached the classroom where it was to be held, the lights were still off. I am not a person with a high degree of resilience for anything that feels like (even though on this occasion it had nothing to do with) social rejection, so I walked around for half an hour trying not to cry (please, seriously, don't feel sorry for me; I consider myself an extremely fortunate person and for reasons I won't go into here this outcome was utterly predictable given the event--I knew ahead of time it was unlikely anyone would show for that session). I had to not cry because I had a second session 45 minutes later which I knew would have a fairly full classroom, which it did, because it was *not about me* but about reading and writing fantasy in general and every chair in the classroom was full with some folks sitting on the floor.
What this meant was that by the time I got to the second session, I was pretty wired up from the effort it had taken me not to burst into mad tears of the junior high "I will never be asked to a dance" variety, to the extent that my preferred persona of being laid-back, good-humored, and calm was utterly obliterated, and a person who had never before met me later referred to me as "intense and hardworking" which I think was only because I must have had a similar look on my face as the time the Berlin transit police pulled me off the train and threatened to take my passport and arrest me.
Okay. You can all now consider me patted on the head and soothed, now that I have gotten that out (about the lack of audience at my session; not about the Berlin police incident--I have almost forgiven my spouse for that one).
Actually, almost every writer I know has an "appearance" horror story, most of which are far livelier and more entertaining than the one I just described. I have others. Try me sometime! Or tell your own now. Go ahead. Make my day.
And when you're done telling me your favorite appearance disaster story, take a moment to advise me what I should do at a 45 minute sessions at a city-wide book and music festival (last year they had over 30,000 attendees) IF in fact anyone shows up. I will have to assume that if my audience is greater than 5, that most of the people will not have read anything by me, and most will not be readers of sff in general.
I figure I should read an excerpt from something, and I have a good idea of what that should be. The excerpt I'm thinking of reading will take about 20-25 minutes to read. That's a bit longer than I would prefer, but it has a complete scene narrative arc and a pause point at the end, and it contains humor. Humor is good.
As for the rest, what to talk about? What, as audience members, have you liked to hear writers mention? (bearing in mind that there may be people there who are not skiffy readers) What things did writers say that you wished they hadn't, or that were boring? What things have you done at a session like this that went over well?
The mike is open.
Meanwhile, I have a question for the hive mind, readers and writers both.
On Sunday, as I have mentioned, I will be making an appearance at the Hawaii Book & Music Festival. I have a 45 minute slot in on one of the "author stages" which means me, and some chairs, and -- if I am very very fortunate -- an audience of more than 2. Or even 2. I would be grateful even for 2.
The last event I did (last month) was quite mixed. I had two "sessions." The first, devoted to one of my earlier novels, had no audience. In fact, when I reached the classroom where it was to be held, the lights were still off. I am not a person with a high degree of resilience for anything that feels like (even though on this occasion it had nothing to do with) social rejection, so I walked around for half an hour trying not to cry (please, seriously, don't feel sorry for me; I consider myself an extremely fortunate person and for reasons I won't go into here this outcome was utterly predictable given the event--I knew ahead of time it was unlikely anyone would show for that session). I had to not cry because I had a second session 45 minutes later which I knew would have a fairly full classroom, which it did, because it was *not about me* but about reading and writing fantasy in general and every chair in the classroom was full with some folks sitting on the floor.
What this meant was that by the time I got to the second session, I was pretty wired up from the effort it had taken me not to burst into mad tears of the junior high "I will never be asked to a dance" variety, to the extent that my preferred persona of being laid-back, good-humored, and calm was utterly obliterated, and a person who had never before met me later referred to me as "intense and hardworking" which I think was only because I must have had a similar look on my face as the time the Berlin transit police pulled me off the train and threatened to take my passport and arrest me.
Okay. You can all now consider me patted on the head and soothed, now that I have gotten that out (about the lack of audience at my session; not about the Berlin police incident--I have almost forgiven my spouse for that one).
Actually, almost every writer I know has an "appearance" horror story, most of which are far livelier and more entertaining than the one I just described. I have others. Try me sometime! Or tell your own now. Go ahead. Make my day.
And when you're done telling me your favorite appearance disaster story, take a moment to advise me what I should do at a 45 minute sessions at a city-wide book and music festival (last year they had over 30,000 attendees) IF in fact anyone shows up. I will have to assume that if my audience is greater than 5, that most of the people will not have read anything by me, and most will not be readers of sff in general.
I figure I should read an excerpt from something, and I have a good idea of what that should be. The excerpt I'm thinking of reading will take about 20-25 minutes to read. That's a bit longer than I would prefer, but it has a complete scene narrative arc and a pause point at the end, and it contains humor. Humor is good.
As for the rest, what to talk about? What, as audience members, have you liked to hear writers mention? (bearing in mind that there may be people there who are not skiffy readers) What things did writers say that you wished they hadn't, or that were boring? What things have you done at a session like this that went over well?
The mike is open.