Diversity in SF

This has been a hot topic of discussion recently so I thought I'd mention a few I've seen.

Particularly interesting to me was this blog post by Jim C. Hines. Full of interesting links it's well worth looking at.

Through it I found Writing the Other by Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward (Aqueduct Press 2005, available both in paperback and as an ebook and highly recommended) which addresses the problems inherent in writing fiction outside your culture and suggests ways writers can avoid falling into the inevitable traps.

I had barely finished reading it when I came across these comments by Aliette de Bodard. Although she calls it a rant, it is really much more measured than that. As well as giving her opinion she also provides some useful links. The comments are interesting too.

Western Australian Premier's Book Awards

Congratulations to all the winners of the Western Australian Premier's Book Awards announced yesterday by the Honourable John Day, Minister for Culture and the Arts. The judges' report is here and the shortlist here. More books to add to the To Be Read list - for me at least.

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Author-Publishers

While reading Chuck Wendig's blog, Terrible Minds, I came across an interesting post on his theory that if you publish your own book you are both an author and a publisher and should both call yourself that and behave accordingly. He does swear a bit so be warned but you can read his thoughts on why self publishers  should rename themselves as author-publishers here.

There are some thought provoking ideas here and, if we are going to be serious about treading newer routes in getting published, we need to look at all aspects of it. Publishing is a business so perhaps if we are considering self-publishing we should remind ourselves of that. It's not just having the thrill of seeing our words in print or in an e-book anymore. It's about sales and that means every aspect of getting a book out to the public - editing, illustration, marketing, all those things which traditional publishers do - come back onto the author. That, in turn, means everything should look and sound professional so, given that producing and marketing a book means, yes, you are both an author and a publisher, why wouldn't you call yourself that? Makes sense to me. What do you think?

Self E-publishing

Not so long ago the attitude was, not all that unreasonably, that self-published meant unprofessional and substandard work but now many self-published books are well written and professionally presented with some even making it on to shortlists of major awards.

Given the current state of flux the publishing industry is in and with new opportunities for authors to take publication into their own hands opening up seemingly by the minute it might be a good time to provide links to some professionals who have tried to self- publishing. Here are a few links I found informative:

Aliette de Bodard is a multiple award winner and traditionally published author. Her thoughts on self e-publishing are here.

Patty Jansen is another award winning writer whose blog is a great source of information with many articles based on her own experience and those of her guest bloggers. Well worth a look.

Catherine, Caffeinated is the blog of Catherine Ryan Howard. She has wide experience in self publishing. Her blog posts on the subject are here.

This article outlines author Mark Edwards' choices and his reasons for the course he has taken.

Then there's this article about a different form of self publishing where a co-operative of experienced writers have banded together to publish their books and use their skills to make a professional product. The comments are worth looking at too, because there are others who are doing this as well.

There are many others, of course, some more reliable than others, but it's certainly worth searching.

Hugo Winners

The Hugo Awards is out. Congratulations to all the winners especially to Tansy Rayner Roberts who was awarded Best Fan Writer. As the first Australian woman to win a Hugo this is something special. The complete list is here.

  Australia's own 

Swords to Wollongong!

Many years ago, when I was a student at the National Institute of Dramatic Art, I attended a weekly fencing class with Olympic sworsdman Owen Weingott. Actors are expected to learn a variety of skills, including fencing and horse-riding. Sometimes these skills - or the lack of them - can be the deciding factor in whether or not an actor gets a coveted movie role.

We did 'quarte, sixte, advance, retreat, lunge, parry' so many times that I can still do it in my sleep. I was expecting my first child at the time, which gave poor Mr Weingott the heeby-jeebies. I think he had visions of some over-enthusiastic student impaling me and my unborn infant. That would actually be a bit hard to do with foils, which are the flexible blades that are every fencer's first weapon, and in fact my firstborn and I came through the experience unscathed. However, I've done no fencing since, and I've always regretted that. It was heaps of fun, and good exercise to boot.

Fencing is not just an asset for actors, but also for writers, especially historical and fantasy writers. Not only is it valuable for fitness, determination, focus, teamwork, and social skills, but it is also one of the activities that often turns up in stories. It's pretty hard to write about fighting with sabres if we've never had a go at it ourselves. I know of at least a couple of professional writers who took up not just fencing but historical re-enactments to help them learn what it actually feels like to be on one end or other of a blade.

Fencing photo by Martial Wraith, courtesy of Photobucket

Dramatic and writerly aspirations aside, I think many of us would like to have a go at being swashbuckling swordspersons. (Hey, who doesn't love the duelling scene from The Princess Bride?) The enthusiastic fencers at Bulli Swords, the only fencing club on the south coast of New South Wales, think it's time the people of Wollongong had the chance to give it a try. Problem is, the sport requires a lot of equipment, and that equipment costs money.

Bulli Swords is an extremely small club. They charge no annual membership, and their weekly sessions are as inexpensive as possible, so that even people on a limited budget can have a go. This means that buying beginners' equipment is beyond the club's means. They have only a very limited number of foils, masks, jackets, chest protectors and gloves – nowhere near enough to run a dedicated beginners' class, or to welcome as many new fencers to their weekly sessions as they would like.

Here's how we can all help. A thousand dollars will get the club enough equipment to run regular beginners' classes for eight people, and to be able to lend gear on normal training nights to people who can't afford their own. Please help Bulli Swords to bring fencing to the people of Wollongong by contributing to their crowd-funding project at http://www.pozible.com/project/29504 . They only need a couple of hunded dollars more to reach their $1,000 target by the 25 August deadline. Even a dollar or two, along with your good wishes, will help them get there.

And who knows - not only might a few aspiring actors and writers sign on, but unemployed youth (fencing is an excellent sport for young people, and there's lots of unemployment in Wollongong) and maybe the odd pregnant woman might benefit from the program, too!

Book-in-a-Day competition

Our friends and colleagues at the Canberra Science Fiction Guild are making up a team to create an entry for the annual Write-a-Book-in-a-Day competition. This is a great fundraiser for children's hospitals throughout Australia. The idea is that you get a team together, get your friends to sponsor you, and on a predetermined date, your team sits down and jointly writes a book suitable for children. You have just one day to get it it written, edited, illustrated, printed and bound, so it takes some really nifty teamwork to make it happen.

Three of us Egobooers - Carol Ryles, Helen Venn and Satima Flavell - were part of such a team in 2004, when we won the Western Australian 'Professional' division. I'd thoroughly recommend the experience to any writing group. It's great fun and an excellent fundraiser for the hospitals as well. So form a team of your own if you can, or if not, go to http://csfg.wordpress.com/, where you can sign up to support the Canberra team. It doesn't have to be a big donation - every little helps.

You can find out more about Write-a-Book-in-a-Day at http://www.writeabookinaday.com/.

Joanna Fay wins Banjo Patterson Writing Award for Poetry

Hearty congratulations to Joanna Fay (writing as Jo Mills) for winning third prize in the Open Poetry Section of this year's Banjo Patterson Award for her poem "Circle of Stones".

You can read "Circle of Stones" along with photographs that inspired Jo at Jo's own website.

A well-deserved prize, Jo.

The Banjo Patterson Award is a biennial award run by the Festival of Arts in Orange, NSW.

--
Carol

The Clarion West Write-a-thon Needs You

Are you looking for something to encourage you to get back into a regular pattern of writing over the next six weeks? Or are you thinking about pushing yourself further?

If so, then the Clarion West Write-a-thon needs you! Here, you can not only take part in the fun of setting yourself new goals, but you can also help to raise funds for one of the world’s best workshops for writers of speculative fiction. Anyone can join by simply heading over to the Write-a-thon sign-up page before June 22nd and fill in details about yourself, your writing and your goals.

Shadow the workshop from June 23 through August 2 and write, write, write! Write 15 minutes or 4 hours a day, 250 words a day, or maybe 8,000 words a week (we call that a “Swanwick”); revise a story or a chapter of your novel every week; complete a story, novella, or trilogy; submit three short stories to professional markets; or do something else completely different. Remember to keep asking for support and donations for Clarion West from friends and family — send them online to the Write-a-thon web page you’ll create, with the personal PayPal link we’ll add for you. 

For 2013, Clarion West are hoping to sign up 300 participants—workshop alumni and instructors, and authors who’ve never attended—all sorts of people. You.

This year, my goals for the Write-a-thon are 500 words a day of new fiction. It might be on my new novel, or it might be on the novelette I’m working on. Depends on where my muse takes me. If you go to my Write-a-thon page, you’ll also find an excerpt from my novel, Heart Fire.

For me, the Clarion West Workshop not only crammed ten years worth of writing experience into a mere six weeks, but also introduced me to a bunch of people who I now consider to be life-long friends. Together, we knuckled down to the seemingly impossible task of turning out a new short story every week, as well as critiquing up to 30,000 words per night. Each morning, we’d sit down to a three-hour critiquing session, which was honest, informative, at times confronting, but ultimately worth every minute.

These sessions were led by professional writers, experts in their field. In 2008 we had Paul Park, Connie Willis, Mary Rosenblum, Cory Doctorow, Sheree M Thomas and Chuck Palahniuk.

This year it will be Elizabeth Hand, Neil Gaiman, Joe Hill, Margo Lanagan, Samuel R Delaney and Ellen Datlow.

If not for fundraising schemes like the Write-a-thon, this amazing writing experience would not be possible. During the last Write-a-thon I took part in, my goal was 5000 new words per week. I ended up doing 7000 per week, ie, 49,000 words in six weeks – almost half the total rewrite of the novel draft I was working on at the time. It broke the back of a seemingly impossible task and showed me that when my mind was made up, I could do it.

Clarion West Write-a- thon

Sign up before June 22nd 

You’ll find an excerpt of some of the words I wrote during the 2011 Write-a-thon at my Write-a-thon page. Here you will also be able to sponsor me by Paypal. Every dollar – no matter how small – counts.

--
Carol Ryles

Point of View: Taking Baby Steps

Today I'm reflecting on 'Point of View' at my blog, with thanks to the gals of Egoboo WA. If you're a writer, do you have a preferred point of view to write your characters in/from? Or as a reader, do you have a preference?
You can find the post here.