So, okay. I’ve been back since Sunday. Life’s been interesting here, and it’s taken me a while to get my head wrapped around writing anything. What’s that you say? That’s a bad thing for a writer? Hmmm. Odd. I’ve been trying to make that point, myself — but I digress.
Context 23 was a bit small this year, but there were still many things going on and a raft of wonderful and tempting items in the Dealer’s Room. I tried to be strong. I really did, but I caved anyway. First day there I fell hard for a three-strand necklace of mahogany obsidian made by Sara Larson of SpellCraft Beads. Absolutely gorgeous work. I wound up wearing it all through day 2 of the con.
As usual, though, the panels I was most interested in going to were at the same time as the ones I was on. Not sure how that happens so consistently, but there it is. I’ll cover the panels I was on (Blogging — Creativity and Publicity and E Books) in separate posts.
I think the panel I got the most from was the one called An Eye for Detail: the Writers Creed. I wasn’t sure exactly how the discussion would go, but I have to say I enjoyed the direction it took. The gist of it was that it’s vital to know the details of your character(s) even if you don’t include them in the story. Sometimes it’s even best NOT to include them in the story. It sounds obvious to say it like that, but I’m betting every writer there ever was had a fight with him/herself at one time that basically went like this: “But that’s so COOL! I HAVE to work that in.” “Oh. Hmmm. That doesn’t really fit in here, does it?” “Hey! I can put it in here.” “Hmmmm. That doesn’t work, either. Damn.” It can be really hard for a writer to whack out that really cool something, be it a detail, piece of dialog or a whole scene. Sometimes, though, it needs to go. As Jonas Howard, my drawing professor used to say: “There is no line so perfect or so beautiful, it can’t be erased.” That goes for a written line as well as a penciled one. The good thing about the written ones is that they can be copied into another file and saved for a later time when maybe, just maybe, they’ll finally snap into their proper place.
Comments From the Peanut Gallery 
It’s “Method” writing, isn’t it. Just as an actor needs to know all those Where did I just come from?/What do I want?/How will I get it? kinds of questions, even if they’re never part of the script.
The “telling too much” problem can also occur with other aspects of a story. Always easy to spot the extreme techies in their SF stories. They’re the ones who spend chapters on the ship’s faster-than-light capability, sometimes to the point of inculding equtaions! I rather like this piece of advice I got, perfect for a non-techie writer: Believe in the ship, and it will fly.
I’ve tried to read those really hard-core SF stories and just given up. I don’t want to read a story that requires a degree in science to get past the first paragraph.