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Where To Find Me at Capclave 2021

Capclave is a small local convention that concentrates mostly on short fiction, held every October in Rockville, Maryland. This year, Capclave will be on October 1-3 (they’ll be requesting proof of vaccination for all attendees). I’ve been going to Capclave since 2013, and it’s one of my favorite conventions (especially since it focuses on short fiction).

The following are the panels and events I’ll be a part of:

Friday, 6:00 PM (Washington Theater)

First Things First: How Do You Hook The Reader? (with Scott H. Andrews, David Walton and Darcy Wold)

Many readers will pick up a book in the store and read the opening before they decide to buy. How do you compel this prospective purchaser? Do you write an elegant sentence, promising great literary merit? Introduce a captivating character that will be fun to spend time reading? Establish a mystery that will make the reader want to find out what is happening? What qualities does a novel or story have to have to make you keep reading beyond that first sentence or first paragraph?

Friday, 8:00 PM (Truman)

Why the Bumbling Sidekick? (with Suzanne Palmer, Karlo Yeager Rodriguez, Hildy Silverman, Ian Randal Strock)

Why would the dashing, noble hero saddle herself with an incompetent wizard, an inept thief, or a fresh-off-the farm youth? Why do authors think readers would want to read about a character who messes everything up? Wouldn’t the hero seem even more heroic if she was looked up to by someone who was competent?

Friday, 9:00 PM (Truman)

Alternative Magics (with Carolyn Ives Gilman, Karlo Yeager Rodriguez, Jon Skovron, David Walton)

Some fantasies have magic that works with wands and spells. Other writers create elaborate laws of magic that they proceed to bend if not break. But what alternatives are there? Can magic be a spirit or guiding force rather than a list of rules. And if the magic does not have clear limitations how do you avoid making things too easy for your magical hero(ine)?

Saturday, 6:00 PM (Truman)

For The Love of Evil: Making Compelling Villains (with Marilyn Brahen, Charles Gannon, Aliza Greenblatt, Karlo Yeager Rodriguez, Michael Alan Ventrella)

How do you creating an opponent to your hero with believable motivations yet not ones with which the readers might agree? How do you keep the villain interesting without overshadowing the hero? Is it better to show some chapters from the villain’s viewpoint or keep the villain mysterious in the background? Do you kill off your villain or keep the villain around for the sequel? What works have the best villains and what makes them attractive?

Saturday, 10:00 PM (Washington Theater)

Why Do Your Villains Want to Destroy Everything? (with Tom Doyle, Charles Gannon, Kristin Janz, Karlo Yeager Rodriguez, Mary G. Thompson)

Doomsday cults and apocalypse scenarios are common in novels and games. But why does your antagonists want to end the world? What motivates the High Priest to summon Cthulhu? And why would their followers help? What can we learn from real world cults and apocalyptic groups? What psychological factors cause people to join or stay, and how do you translate these into characterization? What works have the most believable scenarios?

Sunday, 11:00 AM (Eisenhower)

Convincing Fantasies (with Scott H. Andrews, Peter S. Beagle, Leah Cypess, Karlo Yeager Rodriguez)

Some fantasies ring true while others just lie flat. What makes some fantasies work and others not? Is it the background? The magic system? The political or economic structure? Or the writing? What can writers do to make their worlds more convincing?

Sunday, 12:00 PM (Truman)

Magic’s Price (with Donald S. Crankshaw, Carolyn Ives Gilman, Karlo Yeager Rodriguez, Jean Marie Ward)

In many stories there is a cost to doing magic. What are the costs of doing magic: physical, mental, societal or other? When are the gains worth the price, and when is this in question? What books show this well?