CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

Lunch on Day 1 of Conflux 8 was over almost before we realised it and many of us had to scramble to make the first after-lunch panel on time. Something I’m going to have to remember to have a better handle on at Conflux 9 . Several interesting panels ran after lunch, but I couldn’t attend them all. Here are the ones I was able to get to, and each one was well worth it. 1300-1400: Romance Writers of the Apocalypse with Tracey O’Hara , Nicole Murphy and Jodi Cleghorn Panelists (from left to right): Tracey O'Hara, Nicole Murphy, Jodi Cleghorn. This panel consisted of a few of the many writers making up the Romance Writers of the Apocalypse blog. The blog was born out of a Twitter conversation about the need to get fit, have fun and write smart. They each spoke about the different ways they got into writing and/or publishing. Jodi Cleghorn spoke about how the lyrics of ‘Deck the Halls’ and the anthology that resulted brought her to the independent publishing field. ...

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 t...

Today I got to attend a full day of workshops and learn more about the writing craft. Speakers included Nicole Murphy , Rik Lagarto and Alan Baxter and Ian McHugh , whose sessions I attended, and Gillian Polack , Jack Dann and Dawn Meredith whose sessions I couldn't make. The day was not the spring day I could have hoped for, being grey and rainy, but at least I had no regrets for spending the day inside... although with these workshops, that would have been hard to do. Session 1: Writing Backstory The day started with Nicole Murphy's workshop on Writing Backstory , which ran from 0900 to 1100. I have to admit, I didn't really know what to expect when I went into this workshop. I had half an idea that it would be about how to write backstory that I could then draw from for my stories, but it was so much more than that. Backstory might include everything you know about your characters (major and minor), your world, and the history of it all, but everyone knows t...