I am excited to announce I will be at StarFest this weekend, April 21-23.
Here is the list of Panels I will be on (barring last minute changes!):
Putting the “Punk” in Steampunk (Fri 9pm)
The 1800’s happened everywhere, not just in upper-class Britain. Come explore ways you can add diversity to your Steampunk stories and costumes, and chat about what ‘punk’ really means in Steampunk. With Peter Wacks, Sam Knight, Tonya DeMarco, Carolyn Fritz, and Chaz Kemp (M)
Steampunk Character Creation (Sat 7:00pm)
Have you ever wondered how authors come up with characters? Not everyone’s lucky enough to have a crazy Uncle Ned or Cousin Betty to base one on. Come hang out, and help us develop a spunky Steampunk character in this interactive panel. With Tonya DeMarco, Sam Knight, Chaz Kemp and Carolyn Fritz (M).
The YA Protagonist – From Creation to Adulthood (Sunday 9:00am)
Has every teen hero been explored? What are publishers looking for? Is it okay for your characters to age? Explore the unexplored regions of Young Adult fiction with Rebecca Moesta, Peter J. Wacks, Sam Knight, Amity Green and Shelly Wright (M).
The Completely Unexpected Media-Tie In Panel (Sun 10:30am)
Join our panel of Tie-in Titans as they discuss Predator, Planet of the Apes, X-Files, Star Trek, Star Wars, Superheroes and more! With Kevin J. Anderson, Rebecca Moesta, Dayton Ward, Kevin Dilmore, Sam Knight, Peter J Wacks, and David Boop (M).
Why Do I Need an Editor? (The Self-pub/ Indie panel) (2:00pm)
Self editing. We all think we can do it. But should we? What tricks does the writer mind play on us? For the writer striking out (mostly) on your own, this is the panel you need before you post that short story, chapter sample, or book! With Rebecca Moesta, Betsy Dornbusch, Tonya DeMarco, Scott Beckman and Sam Knight (M).
I am also excited to announce that I have copies of my new book in hand and will have them with me.
Some of you might remember I edited anthologies for MileHiCon 47 and 48.
Those are not the only things I have edited. I have two more (published) anthologies:
And I have had my editing services available for a while now. You can check that out here:
As I edited, I came to realize I saw many of the same mistakes over and over again. I also realized that there was no quick and easy compilation for reference on “beginner” mistakes. Well, none that I know of anyway. So I made one.
Sometimes there are little things you didn’t know about that can change everything, and that’s why I decided to write this guide. It is a compilation of things that have taken me sixteen years to learn, and I am going to give you the chance to learn it all in sixty minutes! Yay! Talk about a return in time investment!
The insights collected throughout this book are all things I wish I could have had in a book, in my hand, the day I decided I was finally going to put my butt in the chair and write a novel. Having this would have moved my learning curve up by years. Literally. So many of these were mistakes I made over and over again until some kind soul finally pointed it out, or until I had seen it (and hated it) in enough other authors’ stories to finally recognize it in my own.
Before you pay an editor to bleed red all over your manuscript with their pen, grab hold of as many of these rules as you can and squeeze them until the metaphorical blood drips from your imaginary fist. Use it to fill your own red pen and then go bleed red on your story first.
You will get more benefit, and learn more, from an editor who doesn’t have to correct these kinds of mistakes for you. And it will cost you less in the long run.
You will never find anyone else in the writing world whose blood is less precious or expensive than your own.
