![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mrissaI have my schedule for Capclave! I'm doing three panels and a reading (should probably figure out what I'm reading...). Here's what we've got:
The Power of Places. Friday, 5:00. Every work of fiction has a setting. This is especially true of science fiction and fantasy where the settings are imaginary – other planets and fantasy realms. How do writers decide on a setting and communicate it to the reader? What makes some settings seem real while others mere painted backdrops? How does society help to shape the world around it? What writers have effective settings and what techniques do they use?
The Absolute Boss. Friday, 7:00. Much of SF/Fantasy has Galactic Emperors and Kings of fantasy kingdoms. We have Disney Princesses but not Disney Elected Leaders. Many plots feature the Return of the King. Why are there so few democracies in SF/Fantasy? What does it mean when our entertainments focus on absolute rulers?
Author Reading, Marissa Lingen. Saturday, 3:00.
Hopeful Fiction for Dark Times. Saturday, 4:00. The world seems to be in a dark place, such that "peddling hope" could appear irresponsible. Panelists will talk about hopepunk, cozy fantasy, and other forms of "lighter" fiction, giving examples, and talking about how hope is particularly important.
no subject
Date: 2025-09-08 09:53 pm (UTC)I regret that I cannot be present to hear you do Lloyd Alexander's Greatest Hits.
no subject
Date: 2025-09-08 10:15 pm (UTC)But yes, Lloyd Alexander's greatest hits, and also some newer ones, and also tips for making the thing go, because I think about it a lot.
(Of the two books I am unwisely writing simultaneously right now, I describe one of them as my Paris Commune fantasy. Is this Lloyd Alexander's fault? Yes. I mean, also my dad's, also my own. But: yes.)
no subject
Date: 2025-09-08 10:26 pm (UTC)Thank you!
But yes, Lloyd Alexander's greatest hits, and also some newer ones, and also tips for making the thing go, because I think about it a lot.
Someone should definitely interrogate the association of magic with royalty which is present even in Alexander and Cooper, but which started with my thinking about the revival of magic in the demotic present day associated with the return of Duke Aubrey in Lud-in-the-Mist and the Raven King in its descendant Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.
(Of the two books I am unwisely writing simultaneously right now, I describe one of them as my Paris Commune fantasy. Is this Lloyd Alexander's fault? Yes. I mean, also my dad's, also my own. But: yes.)
I suppose this unwise decision wholeheartedly.
no subject
Date: 2025-09-09 01:43 pm (UTC)