#GenCon Writer's Symposium

[graysongoal]

One thing I often don't do a lot of is toot my own horn. After the past week and a half, though, I'm happy to do so.

I attended my first ever GenCon, the largest tabletop game convention in North America. Attendance this year was a record-breaking 71k. One-way masking and protections unfortunately meant that my spouse and I came home early with out first-ever COVID-19 infections. We're healed up now and mostly well.

Attending the con was exciting, overwhelming, and pushed me towards growth in a number of ways. In addition to seeing friends, I also got to see, meet, and spend time with several of my favorite comedians, game creators, and writers.

Perhaps one of the most impactful moments for me was attending the writer's symposium, which reminded me how much I loved to write fiction in my youth. Once I hit high school, I began to see it the same way I saw non-fiction writing. I always tried to include too many details. Plus, I quickly got too busy and decided it wasn't for me anymore.

Lately, though, I've been writing more poetry. I've also been entertaining the idea of possibly writing a few TTRPGs or short stories.

So, when I heard that Brandon O'Brien (the Poet Laureate for Seattle WordCon 2025) and Linda D. Addison (five-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award) were co-hosting an open mic event, I nervously jumped at the chance to read probably my favorite poem I've ever written.

Hearing these two amazing individuals alongside a roomful of people respond positively to my words wasn't something I was prepared for. But, being that vulnerable with complete strangers in-person was restorative in ways that I can't even begin to express. That's especially true of hearing folks repeat and sit with the words I carefully crafted, taking in their weight.

I have experienced a great many fascinating and incredible things, and yet I quite honestly don't know that I've known such a wonderful feeling.

So, I'm sharing that same poem here. Feel free to read or listen to it, if you so choose.

As a note, this poem is about child abuse. However, it is spoken about in metaphor and there are no details. (It also has a happy ending.)

[rycaut]

Gencon 2024 Writers' Symposium

My friends LaShawn Wanak and Victor Raymond are two of the many panelists and participants in the upcoming Gencon 2024 Writers' Symposium happening from August 1st to August 4th at Gencon in Indianapolis Indiana. If you will be attending Gencon this year I highly recommend you check out the agenda for the Writers' Symposium and if you have some free time attend a few of their sessions. Its basically a science fiction convention with some amazing writers (and editors) happening in the midst of the chaos and activity of Gencon. I've attended many past Gencons and occasionally managed to attend a few sessions at Gencon that weren't games - many of which were among my highlights of that year's convention. I'm not attending this year's Gencon as my summer travel plans and schedule were too much in the air to make time to attend. But if I were I would be hanging out for at least some of the convention at the Symposium.

And after the convention look for the anthology featuring new stories from 16 of the speakers, including my friend LaShawn Wanak.

Disclosure - besides being a good friend whom I've known for eh decades Victor and I are part of a regular writer's zoom call where we connect a few times a week and then block off time to write. That's how I met LaShawn who is another of the regulars on that call.

[weaseltotheface]

I’d like to know

What is the difference between a workshop and a seminar in regards to gencon

There’s a few things I wanna do but I’m not super interested in doing like an audience participation type thing?

So far it looks like the workshops have more tickets available than the seminars I want so idk

[stevensaus]

Take an hour long break and write with us this weekend! (attn: @WriterSymposium )

blog: Tired of politics? Or perhaps you're at GenCon and need to get away for an hour? Or even better, you've attended sessions at the GenCon Writer's Symposium, and want to put what you've learned to the test? Then take an hour to write with us this weekend!   Several of us have started our own, self-hosted, flash fiction challenge over at a website we're calling Obsidian Flash.  It's on a forum behind a password, so that anything you write and submit is considered unpublished.  Registration is quick, free, and pretty painless. Seriously, this thing is the perfect thing for you to do if you think writing is hard (or finding time for writing is hard), and especially if you haven't been writing for a while.  It's also great if you have problems with getting past ideas that "you suck" (every first draft sucks, face it) or self-doubt.  Here's why: 1. Challenges like this are great for stimulating creativity. 2. You're supposed to write for an hour (ish); you can make that time. 3. You don't have the time to critique yourself. 4. You'll get helpful feedback from published authors and editors like myself, Donna Munro, Anton Cancre, and more. 5. We are friendly, despite all appearances to the contrary.  :) The next challenge is scheduled for THIS weekend.  The prompt will go up this Friday (THAT'S TODAY, FOLKS) at 8pm EST.  Dr. Q (a newcomer to the forum!) is our flashmaster! Go sign up now at http://obsidianflash.com/forum and we'll see you writing this weekend! Here are the rules: 1. All stories should be complete, written and posted within 24 hours of the prompt being posted, and can be anywhere from one sentence to 1,000 words in length.  Typically the prompt is posted by 8pm EST on Friday, and stories are posted by 8pm EST on Saturday. 2. You may choose to write your story in any genre. 3. Your story must be built around the restrictions—words, themes, photo prompts, word limits, etc.—provided by the Flashmaster at the beginning of the challenge. 4. Once the participants’ work is posted, the voting and comment session begins and continues until all votes are in. Time limit for voting will be determined on the spot, depending on how many people finish the challenge.  Typically this is within 24 hours of the end of the writing portion, or 8pm EST on Sunday. 5. The winner becomes Flashmaster and chooses the prompt(s) for the next contest.  Also, you get all the Internet Bragging Points you think you can get away with. Don't wait - get going and register at http://obsidianflash.com/forum right now and join us! http://bit.ly/2ig6RaX

[l2i0n0k7]

GenCon

This weekend, I attended GenCon for the first time.

For those who don’t know, GenCon is a gaming convention, where games are previewed, taught, playtested, and played. The majority of the content is tabletop games, although there are also digital games present. Artists and authors participate as well. A sizable portion of the vendor’s hall is filled with books and art, and a Writer’s Symposium is…

[graphicpolicy]

Gen Con Selects Charlaine Harris as 2017 Author Guest of Honor

Gen Con Selects Charlaine Harris as 2017 Author Guest of Honor #GenCon #GenCon50

Gen Con, the longest-running game convention in North America, has chosen New York Times Best-Selling author Charlaine Harris as its Gen Con 50 Author Guest of Honor. Harris is best known for her #1 best-selling Sookie Stackhouse series which inspired HBO’s television hit True Blood. As Author Guest of Honor, she will participate in Gen Con 50 Writer’s Symposium events, as well as hold a book…

[scrivnomancer]

I'm officially in the GenCon pantheon.

...like a lower deity. Something you'd leave out offerings of sour milk to.

I'll be at GenCon this year, signing stuff and talking about writing, video games, and writing video games. Come visit! Say hi!

[stevensaus]

Take an hour long break and write with us this weekend! (attn: @WriterSymposium )

blog: Tired of politics? Or perhaps you're at GenCon and need to get away for an hour? Or even better, you've attended sessions at the GenCon Writer's Symposium, and want to put what you've learned to the test? Then take an hour to write with us this weekend!   Several of us have started our own, self-hosted, flash fiction challenge over at a website we're calling Obsidian Flash.  It's on a forum behind a password, so that anything you write and submit is considered unpublished.  Registration is quick, free, and pretty painless. Seriously, this thing is the perfect thing for you to do if you think writing is hard (or finding time for writing is hard), and especially if you haven't been writing for a while.  It's also great if you have problems with getting past ideas that "you suck" (every first draft sucks, face it) or self-doubt.  Here's why: 1. Challenges like this are great for stimulating creativity. 2. You're supposed to write for an hour (ish); you can make that time. 3. You don't have the time to critique yourself. 4. You'll get helpful feedback from published authors and editors like myself, Donna Munro, Anton Cancre, and more. 5. We are friendly, despite all appearances to the contrary.  :) The next challenge is scheduled for THIS weekend.  The prompt will go up this Friday (THAT'S TODAY, FOLKS) at 8pm EST.  Dr. Q (a newcomer to the forum!) is our flashmaster! Go sign up now at http://obsidianflash.com/forum and we'll see you writing this weekend! Here are the rules: 1. All stories should be complete, written and posted within 24 hours of the prompt being posted, and can be anywhere from one sentence to 1,000 words in length.  Typically the prompt is posted by 8pm EST on Friday, and stories are posted by 8pm EST on Saturday. 2. You may choose to write your story in any genre. 3. Your story must be built around the restrictions—words, themes, photo prompts, word limits, etc.—provided by the Flashmaster at the beginning of the challenge. 4. Once the participants’ work is posted, the voting and comment session begins and continues until all votes are in. Time limit for voting will be determined on the spot, depending on how many people finish the challenge.  Typically this is within 24 hours of the end of the writing portion, or 8pm EST on Sunday. 5. The winner becomes Flashmaster and chooses the prompt(s) for the next contest.  Also, you get all the Internet Bragging Points you think you can get away with. Don't wait - get going and register at http://obsidianflash.com/forum right now and join us! http://bit.ly/2idTvMD

[scrivnomancer]

The GenCon 2016 Writer's Symposium schedule is available (of which I get to be a part!). If you’ll excuse me, I'm going to hop in a time machine and show 16 year-old me...

[scrivnomancer]

Alright! Time to figure out GenCon 2016 details. I shall be speaking on their Writer’s Symposium this year.