Ideas were bandied about and “The Convention” element went from a meeting of dentists, doctors, and insurance salesmen all the way to demons and angels.  We ended up with clowns.

The “Suicide” element really circled the room and, to begin with, people took it quite literally.  Then the speculative nature of the workshop emerged and came up with the idea that, for clowns, their identity wasn’t their ‘normal self’, but their ‘clown persona.’  That concept allowed us to consider that the wiping or removal of the clown’s persona could actually represent a suicide of sorts.  We ran with this as one of the better ideas of the night.

The “Resurrection,” by default, then became a rebirth of the clown persona.  Fairly straightforward, once you’ve decided on the previous element, but nonetheless cool in itself.

In addition to clarifying the starting points, we needed to construct the world.  A great deal of time was spent considering whether the clowns were, in fact, Evil Clowns.  While that wasn’t fully embraced, the concept that the clowns were a part of a greater whole did emerge.  Sort of a Freemasons, but with clowns.  At the very least, a society of clowns.

Other elements were introduced as well, but none were as substantial as what I’ve mentioned here.  The idea of the exercise was to allow as many viewpoints into the mix, create a general concept of the world, and then have each participant write a short, one thousand word story based in that world.  The writer was free to draw upon any of the discussed upon ideas and allowed to ignore the ideas that didn’t fit their story.

The night held a few surprises, but overall it remained fun and lighthearted.  The end results varied substantially, but were all interesting and creative.

For those interested in reading my entry, you can grab the pdf here:  One Night – A short fiction by Michael J. Hercus.

Check out: The Unpleasantness at the Circle P by Jeff Mariotte.

White Fur by Robert Vardeman.

The Working Stiffs by Nathan Long.

And Master Blaster and the Tiger of Chinatown by Bruce Davis.

All great entries in this ongoing online anthology project…

Check out Michael A Stackpole’s Night of the Rat God!

The Chain Story

A few days ago, the web-presence for The Chain Story went live, heralding the beginning of something wonderful!

Several dozen writers have combined their talents to bring their readers into the 21st Century by delving into the speculative world, via the internet.

These aren’t just any writers, either.  They include names such as Jeffrey J. Mariotte, Nathan Long, Michael A. Stackpole, and Robert E. Vardeman.  More names will be made public in the future, but they have all earned their place in their reader’s hearts.

The concept is this: Free, high-quality short fiction, posted to the internet by the authors themselves for their readers’ enjoyment.  Each story will link to the other stories via a common fictional location, known as The Wanderers’ Club.

The Wanderers’ Club is set outside of space and time, or rather, it exists in any space and time, allowing its members to share wild and wonderful stories as diverse as any imagined.

Follow the continuing adventures as each link adds to the chain…

How to ThiNC

Yesterday, my new book, How to THiNC, A Guide to Creating & Publishing a THiNC Book, was released in Second Life. The big release was tied into the companion seminar to the book, which…hopefully…helped other writers with their own goal of self-publishing in Second Life.

This is a new foray for me…electronic publishing…but, if yesterday’s comments and sales turn out to be more than simple platitudes, then it will be a lasting one.

How to THiNC grew out of a need, both for myself and my workshop members, to learn the process of publishing in the virtual world.  THiNC is one of the few companies in Second Life to offer publishing tools, and really the only one who offers a first-life analogue (meaning their book looks and feels like a first-life book).

In teaching myself how to use the THiNC publishing system, I experimented with image sizes and resolutions, fonts and image-types, and word processors and graphics editors.  I certainly wasn’t an expert before I began this process, but I’d like to think I became one along the way.  That said, I’m sure that there is more I have to learn, and maybe even some things I got wrong, but the information in the book stands as a comprehensive overview of the whole process.

While I’m pleased at the reception the book has received, I’m very pleased with the turn-out at the seminar.  While we didn’t quite “crash-the-sim,” we certainly filled it.  The crowd wasn’t just members of my own workshop, either…the seminar drew in quite a few members of Third Life and FarPoint Media too.  I think there were even a few people there who were drawn in by word-of-mouth, and not any association to my group at all!

Over 75% of the people attending the seminar purchased my book.  To each of them, I say “Thank you.”  I hope that you find it useful in helping you to make your own books.

How to THiNC wasn’t supposed to be my first book to be published in Second Life.  That spot was meant to be reserved for Body Language.  Before I could publish Body Language, though, I had to learn the publishing process.  How to ThiNC grew out of that…  Now that it’s done though, my focus returns to my now-second book.  Hopefully you’ll see it in about four weeks from now!

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Oh, and the seminar has received its first review as well! Pamqui Vita wrote about the seminar and the book on his Spanish-language blog, Profesionales de la Información en Second Life.

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For those of you using Second Life who would like to find my workshop and my book, just follow the slurl to the F&SF Writer’s Workshop Storefront.  It will be on display from October 15th onwards…

A few weeks ago, I spoke at a writer’s convention about writer’s workshops.  In my preamble, I offered a few insights into why workshops were necessary, or at least beneficial.  Apparently, I said something therein that grabbed the interested of one of the listeners, because they took one of my passages and quoted me on their writer’s resource website.

When she informed me that she had posted the quotation, my mind flooded with thoughts:  wow!; cool!; wait…; “my” quote?; what quote?;  what did I say that was worth quoting?  Well, I visited the site and found out exactly which passage had intrigued her.

Interesting enough, it was one that I didn’t think much of myself.  Not because it’s not interesting, or even potentially quote-worthy, but because I didn’t think it was terribly original.  In fact, at that precise moment, I feared that its originality might even be questionable.

Certainly, I knew it wasn’t plagiarized; I remembered writing it myself.  I even remembered editing it twice to improve its flow and cadence.  I even remembered changing where in the seminar it took place and tweaking it to fit its new home.  But my mind nagged at me, that it couldn’t be worthy of a quote because someone, somewhere must have said something similar before me, or they must have written somthing along those lines where I had read it.  I felt horrible, because if it wasn’t mine entirely, then I’d have to ask for it to be taken down and apologise.

Well, I Googled, I searched the quotation books, and I scanned every newsletter and book I could think of that may have offered the idea before me.  And I couldn’t find a thing that even resembled the quote.

Woot!

Maybe it was the shock of having something I said posted out there as an insightful truism.  Maybe it was my own self-doubt that I said anything profound or interesting enough to be quoted.  Or maybe I just haven’t found that original reference and I’ll have to stand up and acknowledge that fact down the road.

Since I know I wrote it, edited it, and chose its context within the seminar.  Since I can’t find any source that could have influenced the passage, even though I looked long and hard for it.  Since I have no reason to believe that anyone but myself is responsible for its existence, I’ll humbly accept the honour and say thank you, Sherry, for finding something I said either interesting or insightful enough to share with others.

I still think that it’s a rather basic and obvious statement, but I do feel a certain pride in its simplicity and cadence.  If others find something to like in it, then that makes me even happier.

I wonder what it says about my mind, though.  When, along with being proud and flattered from the start, I also second-guessed myself and my words.

For those who are interested in what I said that warrants a spotlight, the exact line was:

“The written word only fulfills its destiny when it is read.”

You can find the website where it resides here, at the Scriptorium.  I’m not sure how long it will remain there, but I’m touched, honoured, and a little scared that it appeared there at all…

A slow start due to a problem with seating meant I was a little rushed along the way to fit my time limit, but the faster pace didn’t seem to harm the content.  I would have liked to go out to the audience and solicit questions along the way, but I just didn’t have the time until the end, and even then, only two or three were answered.  I’ve been asked if I’d offer the seminar again, at a later date and a different venue, so perhaps I’ll have the chance to tweak things on take two.

For a first time, I’d say that I am pleased with how things went, though.  The slides worked well, or so I was told, and all those little things I did to make myself look a bit more professional paid off.  Which has earned me a few more speaking engagements, I think.

Beyond the chance to reoffer this seminar, I’ve already been scheduled for a second, on a different topic, and asked also if I would be willing to sit down and be interviewed.  I’m not sure about the interview, as I’ve never been the topic of conversation before…at least, not to my knowledge — what happens around the water cooler, I’m sure I don’t know — but I’ll manage.  It’s what I do

Both events will help me market myself and my first Second Life book, which I expect will be published in early October.  I’m looking forward to seeing the reaction it garners and have high hopes that it may actually succeed.  Time will tell  — and sales, of course…

You see, the headline Guest of Honour is Larry Niven. The NY Times Best Selling author of the Ringworld series, among others.  There will be other writers and guests of course, and even some music and poetry, but Larry is the main draw, to be certain.

I’ll be speaking about how to set up a successful critique workshop within Second Life.  I’ve learned a lot over the last nine months (has it really been nine months!?!) and much of it has to do with the differences between running a workshop in Second Life as opposed to first life.  Heaven knows I’ve answered more than my fair share of questions from residents about my own workshop.  My FAQ has grown substantially over the last while, so I figure that will be my starting point.

Kat Klaybourne (Kat Alderson inSL) will be following my seminar with a lecture on how to market your publications in Second Life.  I’ll be paying close attention to this one, because I’ll be publishing my first book in Second Life shortly, but that deserves it’s own post.

For now, you’re more than welcome to join me at The First Annual Monogram Virtua Writers Convention on Saturday, August 30th.  Just follow the link to the convention centre.  The event begins at 11:00am SLT (that’s Pacific) and runs until sometime after 8:00pm.  My speaking engagement runs from 4-5pm SLT.

Wish me luck!