We're very excited about the
writing workshops and writing-related panels that we'll be offering this fall. We've been expanding our workshops every year for the past several years, and our 2008 schedule includes 11 workshops on writing flash fiction, creating solid plots, creating and writing comic book series, creating characters and believable dialog, world-building, writing openings, and writing interactive narrative and designing video games. We've even got a workshop on effective blogging, and we've got professional novelist/writing professor Tim Waggoner and book editor/literary agent Paula Guran lined up to critique your novel packages, novel excerpts, and short stories.
In addition to the workshops, we also plan to offer panels on writing paranormal romance and romantic fantasy, writing horror, writing genre poetry, writing series novels, and co-authoring fiction. We've also got panels of interest to more advanced writers, such as "Book Promotion 101", "Finding An Agent", "Self-Editing", and "Survival Skills for Writers".
Our writing programming is intended for short story writers, poets, and novelists who write high fantasy, urban fantasy, dark fantasy, paranormal fiction, horror, science fiction, slipstream, and cross-genre work. Our programming should also be helpful to artists who create their own independent comic books, mangas, and webcomics and who want to improve the quality of their dialog, plotting and storytelling. We've tried to include a mix of topics that will interest both novice writers and those who have begun to publish.
Aside from the chance to spend a weekend working on your writing, Context 21 is an ideal place to network with other writers and editors and enjoy yourself at parties. It's also a good place to connect with writers who may introduce you to ongoing writers' critique groups or who may want to start a writers' group with you.
We're hoping more college students participate in the conference, particularly students from Ohio State University, Ohio University, Capital University, Ohio Dominican, and Columbus State Community College. While several area universities offer creative writing programs -- the Antioch Writer's Workshop and OSU's MFA program are particularly well-respected -- university creative writing classes often fail to serve the needs of genre writers. A student may take several creative writing classes without ever getting any real sense of how to take a story, poem, or novel to market and actually get it published.
We're also hoping to attract more writers from outside Central Ohio. We're ideally located for travel from Ohio cities like Cleveland and Dayton but we're also a fairly easy drive for horror, fantasy, and scifi writers from West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Michigan, and Kentucky -- writers who may find it too expensive to travel outside the Midwest to writing workshops on the East Coast or West Coast.
The workshops at Context are intended to give intensive, practical advice to genre writers who want to publish their work in magazines and anthologies that pay professional rates or to book publishers that pay professional advances.
Beginning genre writers often attend workshops such as the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy workshop or the Odyssey Fantasy Writing Workshop or the Borderlands Press Boot Camp. While these are excellent programs, they are often too expensive for some writers, and they're far from Ohio.
We ultimately hope to make the Context Writing Workshops a viable alternative to other genre workshops and to establish it as the premiere workshop weekend in the Midwest.
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In addition to the Context 20 Writing Workshops, many panels of interest to writers and readers were offered in 2007:
"Writing for Interactive Media"
Shawn Sines, Erin Hoffman, James Daniel Ross
Are there really differences between writing a story and writing a video game? What about role playing vs. interactive? Come join our panelists as they discuss and compare game writing processes.
"A Day in the Life of an Editor"
Mike Resnick, Rae Carson, Jackie Gamber, Sandy Lender, Steve Nagy
Just what is it an editor does all day? Read manuscripts? Take Stephen King out to lunch? Plot nefarious plots?
"The Academics of Popular Fiction"
Michael Arnzen, D. Harlan Wilson, Joseph Martino, Karen Nagel, Heidi Ruby Miller, Jason Miller
With more university writing programs taking an interest in the popular side of fiction, what does it means to be a genre or literary writer in today's publishing market, and can you be both?
"Electronic Publishing, Print-On-Demand, and the Death of the Book"
Doug Johnson, Lucy Snyder, Ferrett Steinmetz, James Daniel Ross, Kevin Eaches, Sandy Lender
Will there be any readers to attend a convention ten years from now? Right now, SF is a profession for many of its practitioners; it's what they do for a living. But if e-books end up being priced very cheaply, and if readership doesn't expand as we switch from print to digital, SF may end up being solely a hobbyist activity. Will the genre survive the transition to new forms of publishing? How will readers be able to distinguish quality work from the mountain of crap that will flood the net in the post-publisher economy?
"Humor in Science Fiction and Fantasy"
Mike Resnick, Jim C. Hines, Rae Carson, Matt Cook, Anne Harris
What happens when you cross a kzin with Roadrunner? It screams and it beeps. Aside from a richer, stranger trove of reference, are our yuks different from anybody else's? Can our humorous writers get any respect? What are some SF/F high points of hilarity?
"Writing an ADR Script"
Matt Greenfield, Tiffany Grant
What's really involved in changing an anime from Japanese to English language? Shouldn't all of the characters in translated shows talk like an old Godzilla movie? Our panelists will explain the process of taking a translated script and reworking the dialog to properly fit the finished video.
"Writing Characters You Didn't Create"
Tim Waggoner, Juanita Coulson, John Dalmas
It's one thing to create characters, come up with who they are, what they're like, and how they talk. It's quite another to come into someone else's world and have to tell stories with and about those characters. How do you keep them the same and still put some of yourself into them? Or should you even try?
"Author's Fears"
Michael Arnzen, Gary Braunbeck, Matt Cook, Steve Nagy, Tim Waggoner
How do an author's own fears inspire his or her stories and books?
"Different Types of Writing"
Timons Esaias, Fran Friel, Anne Harris, Diana Botsford,
The novel, novella, short story, etc. Is one just longer than the other or are they really different? And what about screenplays?
Poetry Readings
Michael Arnzen, Lucy Snyder, Timons Esaias, John Dalmas, James Daniel Ross
Poetry readings by some of our panelists, followed by open reading. Poetry people, bring your poems from the poetry workshop or any of your original work.
"I Really Did It, But How?"
Matt Cook, James Daniel Ross, Fran Friel, Daniel O'Riordan, Paul Melko, Raven Bower
These panelists have all accomplished a remarkable feat. They've gotten their first novel published. Was it discipline and scheduling that got them through, or workshops and other writer's resources? Come hear them discuss how they reached this goal.
"How Traveling and Travel Writing Affects Our Writing"
Mike Resnick, Timons Esaias, Heidi Ruby Miller, Jason Miller
Traveling is meant to take you some place different, as is reading a good book, so it's no surprise that the writers on this panel are also travelers whose experiences on the road and abroad not only have led to travel writing stints, but also enhanced their fiction.
"How to Kill Off a Character"
Geoffrey Girard, Jim C. Hines, Diana Botsford, Matt Cook, Steve Nagy, Chun Lee
You spend your time crafting characters, thinking about who they are, what they want what they care about. You tell stories about them, lovingly crafted. Now it's time for them to die. How do you do it? And what can happen if you do?
"How Do You Research Things That Don't Exist?"
Walter Hunt, Geoffrey Girard, Anne Harris, Sandy Lender, Heidi Ruby Miller
A look at how authors research things like elves, fairies, demons, wizards and gods to name a few.
"Fan Fiction"
Kevin Eaches, Chandra Morgan-Henley, Chris Stephenson
Is fan fiction real literature, or just a time killing hobby? Come voice your opinion at this panel with our fan fiction writers and fans.
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At Context 20 in 2007, we offered seven short workshops geared toward the specific interests of attendees. This page includes the descriptions as they appeared on our website.
"I thought your Context '06 writing program was great. And Gary Braunbeck's workshop on dialogue was one of the top five writing workshops I've attended. Ever. Some writers can write but their knowledge doesn't necessarily translate to the classroom. Gary can both write and teach. He was a dynamo!"
– Sammi Soutar, Context 19 workshop attendee
Friday Workshop
Michael A. Arnzen: Writing SF/F/H Poetry
(Friday, September 28th, 7-10 pm)
Join award-winning poet and writing professor Mike Arnzen as he leads a 3-hour workshop on crafting poetry for science fiction, fantasy, and horror markets (which, unlike literary journals, actually do pay and don't charge annoying reading fees!). SF/F/H poetry, in Arnzen's view, is not simply aplayful exercise in rhyme or an expression of emotion, but a "thoughtexperiment" in the genre. "Free verse" (or open form) poetry will beemphasized in this workshop, but writers of all forms and all levels ofexperience -- from novice to published -- are warmly welcome to participate,as we explore the elements of good poetry through discussion of providedexamples and fun, creative, in-class exercises.
However, you have an (easy!) assignment: bring a ROUGH draft of a shortpoem (any style, fifteen lines or less) to the workshop, inspired by thefollowing phrase, which must be the title of your poem: "Blood is not Redon the Moon".
Participants are encouraged to share their work at the open poetry reading,which will be held Saturday night of the convention. $15.
Saturday Workshops
Timons Esaias: World-Building Workshop
(Saturday, September 29th, 9am-noon)
World-Building isn't just charts, maps, forms, voids, clans and tedious courses in orbital mechanics. And it's not just for SF/F/H, either. We'll discuss when to do it and how not to let it bog you down; world-building resources; techniques for designing and developing your world; and then selling it to the reader. Exercises will focus on your project, with chocolate and malt-ball rewards for sharing. Emphasis on craft rather than details, though we will address the Moon Muddle, the Pack Animal Question, and other specific pitfalls. Not to mention those charts, maps, orbits, lineages and social structures. $15.
Gary A. Braunbeck: Maintaining Emotional Realism in Speculative Fiction
(Saturday, September 29th, 1pm-4pm)
Join Bram Stoker Award- and International Horror Guild Award-winning author Gary A. Braunbeck for an intensive 3-hour workshop on creating and maintaining emotional realism in fantastic fiction through characterization, dialogue, and the small, telling human nuances that can reveal so much about a character's emotional state without them having to say a single word. The workshop will focus on various methods writers can employ to summon the emotions needed to tell an effective – and affecting – story, and how to avoid easy (and lazy) manipulation. All workshop participants will be given a (short) pre-workshop assignment to write and bring with them. $15.
Tim Powers: Plotting The Novel
(Saturday, September 29th, 4:30-6:00pm)
Join World Fantasy Award- and Philip K. Dick Memorial Award-winning novelist Tim Powers for his seminar on plotting novels. A Q&A will follow Tim's talk.
Sunday Workshops
Diana Botsford: The Art and Business of Adaption for Visual Media
(Sunday, September 30th, 9am-noon)
From the printed page to the silver screen. A practical exploration of howto adapt anything (novel, short story, comic, article, or idea) into ascreenplay. This 3-hour workshop will focus on both the craft and thebusiness of creating a screenplay derived from pre-existing materials –whether they're your own or someone else's. Participants will learn thesteps involved with transforming a novel into a two-hour screenplay,including streamlining plot and character as well as the legal issues ofadapting someone else's work. Currently head of the screenwriting program at Missouri State University, Diana Botsford's writing/producing/VFX credits include Star Trek: Next Generation, Spiral Zone, Dusk 'Til Dawn, Harts of the West, Nightmare on Elm Street, and other film and television projects. $15.
Tim Waggoner: Writing Great Openings
(Sunday, September 30th, 1-3pm)
The most important part of any story is its beginning. Without a strong opening, you risk losing your reader's interest. Strong openings become even more important when it comes time to try to sell your story or novel, since many editors won't read past the first page or even the first paragraph if you don't enthrall them right away. Veteran author and writing professor Tim Waggoner will give you tips and exercises to help you write prose that grabs your reader from the first sentence and doesn't let go. $10.
Tobias Buckell and Paul Melko: Writing Cover Letters and Synopses
(Sunday, September 30th, 3-5pm)
Your cover letter is the first thing an editor sees -- is it helping you break out of the slush pile, or is it sending the wrong message? And while cover information is sometimes optional for short markets, letters and synopses are crucial when it comes time to sell your novel. If you've ever felt boggled at the thought of boiling a 100,000-word novel down into an engaging 2- or 3-page synopsis, you need this workshop. Tobias Buckell and Paul Melko are here to show you how to craft letters and synopses that will make the best first impression on editors. $10.
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The following exists for archival purposes; workshops like these may be offered at Context in the future.
Do you have a completed short story or novel chapter you want to whip into publishable shape? Then this is the workshop for you! Charles Coleman Finlay, Tobias Buckell, and Paul Melko, who directed the 2005 much-praised workshop, are back on board to lead the Mega Writing Workshop. Up to 24 writers can submit short manuscripts for professional critique and participate in this workshop, which will run 6-8 hours total over two days. This workshop requires internet access; manucripts will be submitted and initial discussions will be held online. The actual, in-person workshop will be held on Saturday and Sunday and will ensure that every member has a small-group (3-4 person) session with one of the pros.
There were also shorter Mini Writing Workshops offered on specific subjects. These workshops required no advance preparation on the part of participants.
Gary A. Braunbeck: Creating Character Through Dialogue (Sunday)
Join novelist/short story author Gary A. Braunbeck for his acclaimed 3-hour workshop on creating well-rounded, believable characters through the use of dialogue. You'll learn not only how to create good dialogue, but how to recognize the different types of dialogue and which one best suits your own writing style. Mr. Braunbeck has written nearly 200 published short stories and over 14 books; his fiction has won the Bram Stoker Award and has been nominated for the British Fantasy Award. This is an intensive, hands-on workshop, so come prepared to participate. Bring your laptop (if you have one) or pen and paper.
Diana Botsford: Screenwriting (Saturday)
Join award-winning screenwriter and instructor Diana Botsford for an intensive 3-hour introduction into the world of writing for television and film. Gain an understanding of how the script process affects the development of plot, character development and theme. Through discussion, viewing and hands-on exercises, learn how to use the visual (and aural!) medium to tell your story beyond the printed page. Ms. Botsford has written for Star Trek, was visual effects director for From Dusk Till Dawn, and has produced a variety of other television series and movies.
Tim Waggoner: Writing Media Tie-Ins (Saturday)
Thousands of people write fan fiction; do you want to become one of the few who actually get paid to write stories and novels about movie, TV and game characters? Learn the ins and outs of writing and publishing media-related fiction with Tim Waggoner, author of A Nightmare on Elm Street: Protege and Eberron: Thieves of Blood. Topics to be covered: the differences between visual and written media and making them work to your advantage, capturing the tone of a media property, respecting the property and the fans, maintaining originality in media-related fiction, and finally, landing tie-in contracts. 2 hours.
Rosemary Laurey: Writing Paranormal Romance (Friday night)
There's a huge market for paranormal romance, and the demand for "hot" fiction is fast expanding to include other types of SF, fantasy, and horror. Want to tap into these lucrative fiction markets? Novelist Rosemary Laurey will show you the differences between romance, romantica, and erotica, and will teach you how to blend these genres with speculative fiction to create stories readers (and publishers) will love. 2 hours.
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