Well, TNEO has been over a while now. It was pretty great. I did all my crits ahead of time, which is clearly the way to go. On the other hand, next year I will definitely be re-reading both crits and stories while at TNEO, before I have to sit down face to face with the author of the story in question. Otherwise I forget what the hell I said and make a general nuisance of myself stumbling over my own thoughts.
Oh, and one other set-in-stone TNEO 2007 resolution: absolutely no pornographic scenes from romance novels shall be read aloud in any company while under the influence of delicious microbrews and whiskey. It just isn’t worth it.
Lessons learned from reading aloud, at the Slam and elsewhere: uber-poetical stuff that rolls off the tongue like music does not do well at holding audience attention. It lulls them to sleep, is what it does. Good for reading to hyperactive children, not hyperactive spec fic writers. Check. The thing to read aloud is the story with simple POV and plenty of suspense. And comedy. Boy does comedy work, if you can pull it off. Of course maybe there’s some kind of synthesis to be had here. I’m thinking The Telltale Heart. Couldn’t ask for a better read-aloud story than that. And it is certainly poetical, cadenced, like the music tuned-down violins lingering on minor chords. But I digress.
Lessons learned from other writers: (1) Pay more attention to what wins awards. (2) Stop being so touchy when it comes to form rejections. (3) Write every day (knew that already, but still counting it here).
What I’ve been up to since: Posted something in Writings about magic in the centaur world and its influences. Posted some pictures in Visions. Wrote a new story you can see if you belong to a certain elite.
A blog resolution: If everyone else can post brief inanities once a week as to the current goings on, so can I.
Nice to read your TNEO thoughts, thanks for posting them. I always find the Slams interesting, what works best in front of an audience.
Mike,
I dug your read aloud story: blood, cats, and vixens!
Hope you are having a good summer. Hope to get to your Ridleresque tale soon.
Cheers,
JSR
Mike! I’m just now finding all of these blog entries — I am aghast that I haven’t been keeping up. Will add you to my google blogreader.
Your slam story was gorgeous. People weren’t falling asleep, they were rapt. I was surprised and impressed by the level of intensity in the story — usually yours tend toward the abstract. It was fantastic and you ought to sell it somewhere.
Looking forward to seeing you (and finally meeting Erin!) at the wedding!