All hail the SFF highlight of my Memorial Day weekend: Balticon! This year my panels span bureaucracy, history, worldbuilding, monsters and a reading. Hope you’ll check them out, as well as all the other wonderful programming available for free! Panel registration and links can be found here. While you’re there, I hope you’ll consider supporting the con’s GoFundMe to ensure all this fannish goodness is available in person in 2022.
Friday, May 28
Beyond Red Tape: Why Bureaucracy Happens
Time: 5:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Location: Watertable
Panelists: Brick Barrientos (Moderator), Doc Coleman, Monica Louzon, Beth Morris Tanner, Jean Marie Ward
Description: Bureaucracy can be more than a comical obstacle for characters or a Kafkaesque nightmare. Societies and organizations create bureaucracy as a tool to solve specific problems. How can bureaucracy and governance structures be a part of good worldbuilding and good problem solving?
Sunday, May 30
It’s A Novel, Not History Class
Time: 1:00 PM ET
Location: Mount Washington
Panelists: Gail Z. Martin (M), Doc Coleman, R.F. Kuang (2019 Compton Crook Award winner), Wendy Van Camp, Jean Marie Ward
Description: When writing in a historical setting creators can greatly over- or underestimate how much information they’ll need to incorporate for their audiences to understand what’s going on. We will explore how to immerse audiences in the past without losing focus on plot and characters. How can a creator tell how much the audience already knows, and how much needs to be explained?
The Motivations of Monsters
Time: 2:30 PM ET
Location: St. George
Panelists: Jean Marie Ward (M), John L. French, Lee Murray, John Walker, Sherri Cook Woolsey
Description: Science fiction and fantasy have always featured “monsters,” going all the way back to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. While some are mindless destroyers, many are written with relatable motivations and desires. What are some monsters who have connected with audiences, and what are ways creators can make their monsters sympathetic while keeping them in an antagonistic role?
Writing Characters with Agency
Time: 8:30 PM ET
Location: Mount Washington
Panelists: Jean Marie Ward (M), Brenda Clough, Micaiah Johnson (2021 Compton Crook Award winner), Karen Osborne, Ryan Van Loan
Description: How do we give characters the power to make their own choices (and make those choices feel natural) while also moving the plot where it needs to go? What are some common mistakes that can take agency from a character without the author intending it? How does this problem affect audience investment?
Monday, May 30
Reading
Time: 1:30 PM ET
Location: Readings Break-out Room in the Con Suite
Panelists: Meeeeeeeeeee!
Description: According to the schedule, I’ll be reading urban fantasy, Steampunk and historical fantasy. Hmm, guess I’d better rehearse.
Hope to see you there!