My Balticon 2023 Schedule

My schedule for Balticon 2023 has been finalized. I’m on six panels, plus I have a reading this year.

• Fri, 4:00 PM – Finding Your Voice
  Frequently what makes books by one author different from another is the author’s voice, their personal style. How do you develop your voice and use it to create a unique feel for your books? What defines an author’s style? Can this be developed or is it inborn? What authors have a unique style and how can we learn from them?
• Fri, 7:00 PM – Plotters vs. Pantsers
  How do you plot your book? Do you plan it all in advance or do you simply write what comes out and edit it’s shape later? What are the benefits of both approaches? Does one approach work better for some types of books?
• Sat, 10:00 PM – Readings: Michael Ventrella and David Keener
  Michael Ventrella and David Keener will read from their new and upcoming works.
• Sat, 1:00 PM – As You Know Bob
  Science Fiction and Fantasy frequently has an enormous amount of backstory that needs to be conveyed to the reader. How can writers share this backstory without having one character explain to another something they both should already know, with an “As you know, Bob”? How can the writer avoid long paragraphs of background? And how do readers learn to accept things that don’t make sense at first and trust the author to fill it in?
• Sun, 1:00 PM – Setting the Setting
  In the best SF/Fantasy works, the setting is a vital part of the story. How do you create a setting that comes alive? How do you make your magical kingdom or spaceship come alive? At what point in the creative process do you set the setting? What works (like Dune) excel at the setting? What settings are unconvincing?
• Sun, 2:30 PM – Better Beta Reading
  Better Beta-Reading: a panel for beta-readers and writers for what sort of feedback is useful and how to best interpret feedback.
• Sun, 5:30 PM – Hopepunk (Virtual)
  Hopepunk is nascent subgenre for optimistic, hopeful science fiction and fantasy. Is this really a subgenre? Why write/read hopeful fiction? Is this a reaction to dystopia & grim dark? Is this too limiting? How can hopepunk have an impact on the real world? What authors do hopeful fiction well. What titles and magazines inspire & lead the field?