Conflux 8 Report – Part 2: Day 1 Before Lunch Panels

Day 1: Those of you who know me, know I don’t do high volumes of people well… but most people can’t pick it. Until I’d attended three days of convention, I didn’t fully understand this about myself either. Day 1 was the first time I’d been to a public event in a number of years. It was wonderful. Full credit should go to the Conflux 8 organisers and panellists for putting this event together… and I am very much looking forward to Conflux 9, early next year.

Now, on to Day 1:

0910-0950: The Opening Ceremony

FILDENSTAR! Oh, wait, first there was Jack Dann opening the convention and welcoming us, paying respects to the traditional landowners of the ACT region, and THEN introducing Fildenstar, a pair of performers who brought us speculative songs like Ghost Butterfly Ships. Memorable.

1000-1100: What makes a good fantasy/sf/horror story with Sue Isle, Ian McHugh and Alan Baxter

This panel discussed the different elements that writers should pay attention to, if they want to make both their short and long fiction work well. Some of the elements mentioned were: listening to feedback from editors and beta readers to learn how others perceive your story, paying attention to your characters and making the readers care about them, careful choice of details, and being concise.

1100-1200: Speculative poetry discussion with Penelope Cottier, Frankie Seymour, Talie Helene and Ross Hamilton

The speculative poetry panel spoke about what classifies poetry as speculative an why it is an ideal form for writing about other worlds. Each poet gave an insight into what they liked about poetry, why they wrote it and elements they preferred in the poetry they read.

1200-1300: Buffet Lunch

I regret that I didn’t shift position sooner to take better photos, and that I completely forgot to change settings and allow the flash. (We live and learn...) The buffet lunch for today was included in the  convention price and followed a loud shirts ‘On the Beach’ theme. There were some lovely, and interesting, costumes; unfortunately, the photographs didn't make it out alive.