sandramcdonald (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} sandramcdonald) wrote,@ 2008-07-19 08:09:00 |
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Readercon day 2
- The panel on Farah Mendohlson's book Rhetorics of Fantasy had some audio problems but I was much taken with John Clute, who talked about the intrusive fantasy as seduction and had lots of other insightful things to say, most of which are scribbled on the back of my con envelope all the way on the other side of the hotel room right now. I'm a new Clute fangirl. He should invite me to his Camden Town flat so I can listen to him talk like that more.
- Excellent readings by Daryl Gregory and David Anthony Durham. Daryl's first book Pandemonium comes out soon and it's going to be lots of fun. David, Liz Gorinsky, Michaela Roessner and I also did the panel on David's move from historical literary fiction into the fantasy/sf ghetto, which I very much enjoyed.
- Celia Tan and Dora Goss on the panel re competent writing vs. great writing had some insightful things to say about a writer's Voice, which I have long believed to be distinct from a writer's style. Go Voice!
- Lethem's interview by GVG was funny and insightful, though again Salon F had some audio problems. Lethem said he always wanted to do different genres, insomuch as he believes in genre at all, so it's not as if his "Muse took him elsewhere," as people have said. He rattled off dozens of his influences and omg, I've got to get out of my own reading preferences a little more. Lethem also said Chabon is much more a fanboy than he is. Go Chabon!
- The YA Why So Dark panel pretty much wrapped up in its first few minutes for me with Nick Mamatas and others pointing out the difference between dark and dark trappings, and then I had to go to a reading anyway, so good job.
- The Prose party was loud and lovely even if I skipped the first part because of a headache. The entire con continues to be well run and well attended, so kudos to the organizers and their hard work. I met some women at the party who'd come 15 hours on a bus from Ontario to attend; that's just awesome.
- And oh yes, I do believe what I said in the MFA panel, that no program. no workshop, no class, etc, can make you a better writer, just like no art history class can make you a better painter. What MFA and others do, most excellently, is mold you into a better reader, more able to engage with a text. They sharpen your critical thinking abilities and challenge your aesthetics. The process of becoming a better writer is something that starts with butt in chair and fingers on keyboard, and continues on for hundreds of thousands if not millions of words constantly reinvented each day, and you don't need an MFA program for that at all.
- The panel on Farah Mendohlson's book Rhetorics of Fantasy had some audio problems but I was much taken with John Clute, who talked about the intrusive fantasy as seduction and had lots of other insightful things to say, most of which are scribbled on the back of my con envelope all the way on the other side of the hotel room right now. I'm a new Clute fangirl. He should invite me to his Camden Town flat so I can listen to him talk like that more.
- Excellent readings by Daryl Gregory and David Anthony Durham. Daryl's first book Pandemonium comes out soon and it's going to be lots of fun. David, Liz Gorinsky, Michaela Roessner and I also did the panel on David's move from historical literary fiction into the fantasy/sf ghetto, which I very much enjoyed.
- Celia Tan and Dora Goss on the panel re competent writing vs. great writing had some insightful things to say about a writer's Voice, which I have long believed to be distinct from a writer's style. Go Voice!
- Lethem's interview by GVG was funny and insightful, though again Salon F had some audio problems. Lethem said he always wanted to do different genres, insomuch as he believes in genre at all, so it's not as if his "Muse took him elsewhere," as people have said. He rattled off dozens of his influences and omg, I've got to get out of my own reading preferences a little more. Lethem also said Chabon is much more a fanboy than he is. Go Chabon!
- The YA Why So Dark panel pretty much wrapped up in its first few minutes for me with Nick Mamatas and others pointing out the difference between dark and dark trappings, and then I had to go to a reading anyway, so good job.
- The Prose party was loud and lovely even if I skipped the first part because of a headache. The entire con continues to be well run and well attended, so kudos to the organizers and their hard work. I met some women at the party who'd come 15 hours on a bus from Ontario to attend; that's just awesome.
- And oh yes, I do believe what I said in the MFA panel, that no program. no workshop, no class, etc, can make you a better writer, just like no art history class can make you a better painter. What MFA and others do, most excellently, is mold you into a better reader, more able to engage with a text. They sharpen your critical thinking abilities and challenge your aesthetics. The process of becoming a better writer is something that starts with butt in chair and fingers on keyboard, and continues on for hundreds of thousands if not millions of words constantly reinvented each day, and you don't need an MFA program for that at all.
