Because I’m perpetually behind on my blog-reading, I only just found out that the proprietor of Lobster and Canary is going to attend Arisia at Cambridge, MA, the largest sf/f convention in New England.
The items on L&C’s particular schedule are of particular interest…
- Non-Standard Fantasy
- The Undefended Borders of SF
- Interstitial Fiction: Dancing Between Genres
- Inherent Darkness of Fairy Tales
- The City as Character
- Myth and Folklore in Fantasy
Of course, Daniel is scheduled to read as well, but I wanted to focus on the panels listed (I assume they’re panels).
(Oh, and yes, Calista — I now regret not coming and will plan to come out next year.) š
Anyway, picture the sort of fiction that comes to mind when you hear those topics–love it or hate it–and you’ll have a good idea of the sort of stuff I aim to write. Aim, and still fall quite short of the mark. Still, unless the “please feel free to send us more” is part of certain markets’ form rejections, I remain hopeful. In any case, it brought to mind a conversation I had yesterday which dislodged a memory of a blog post from writer Steven Barnes…
And you want to write classics? Well…pick your grandparents very carefully.
I’ve internalized this advice to the point where it actually took me a second to remember where it came from. But it begs the question, what do I read that’s “better” than my intended goal if I want to write what I say I want to write?
Now, I’ve done or am doing most of the “required reading” — Feeling Very Strange, Interfictions and Interfictions 2, Conjunctions 39 and 52, Tin House 33, The Best of Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, (edited to add:) Trampoline, and most of the individual short story collections published by Small Beer Press, and others. But there are times when I feel like I’m being shown how to do the breaststroke before being taught how to properly do a front crawl. Don’t know where the swimming analogy came from, but it’s as good as any.
And I guess the main reason I’m thinking about all of this–assuming it’s not a symptom of the Andromeda Strain I’ve been fighting off the past few days–is that I seem to be feeling a bit of existential angst about my writing. I don’t even care about, Will this pay off in the end, or not? I care more about, Am I doing this right or just spinning my wheels? Are my goals reasonable? What am I doing as a writer?
Also, Who the hell am I as a writer, anyway?
Great advice! And I'll be holding you to your word for Arisia next year. ; )
I see Arisia already has their 2011 page up!
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Added the Trampoline anthology (idiot me!) to the reading list and yes, I'm aware of the Slipstream Canon. So much to read, so little time.
The City as a Character is probably everything I ever wanted to hear/work on/discuss ever. How I wish I was there!
Otherwise, I totally understand and totally feel you. Working through my genre-crashingness has been tough and slow going. Almost annoying. Picking through what to read, what to ingest. I don't have time to read so much sometimes, what am I supposed to do?
I hope we'll BOTH figure it out at some point, for sure.
True that, M! It's difficult trying to write in a genre/style that refuses to let itself be defined.
Y'know the old addage for artists still applies: Most of my favorite musicians say they "play the kind of music I want to hear." Same with writers, then–I try to write the stuff I like to read. The only real way to do it, IMO.