I knew it was too good to last. Our false fall is over, and we're back to summer, though, mercifully, a "normal" summer and not the 100+ temperatures we had earlier. Meanwhile, taking a ballet class with a bad case of Book Brain is, well ... interesting. I'd get a random idea or thought and completely forget the entire combination I was supposed to be doing while I was busily writing in my head. Today, I think I'm going to disconnect from the Internet for the whole afternoon, without even taking e-mail breaks (since e-mail breaks tend to stretch out into other things) and really dig into the book. The publishing world shuts down on Friday afternoons in the summer, so I don't have to worry about any urgent notes from anyone.

I'm going to start doing some rundowns/summaries from WorldCon panels. I think I'll start with the ones I moderated, since I wasn't able to take notes and am therefore more likely to forget what was discussed (if I haven't entirely already). And since it's Friday and I don't want to think too hard, I'll talk about the Firefly panel. The official title was "Firefly: What Would the 2nd Season Have Been Like?" and the panelists were me, Dani Kollin and Rebecca Moesta. I was drafted at the last second to moderate, but as I've put just the teensiest bit of thought into the subject, that wasn't exactly a challenge for me. I think this panel may have been the most fun I had in the whole convention. It was a highly energized hour and fifteen minutes with the audience really into it, and I suspect we could have gone on for quite a bit longer.

These recollections are pretty stream-of-consciousness and may focus the most on what I said because that's what I remember. I did start off trying to get us talking about how we think the series might have continued if Fox hadn't cancelled it, and that transitioned into talking about what might happen if some miracle occurred and they decided to start another Firefly series picking up after the movie, and from there we talked about the rumored possibility that the movie was kind of what was originally planned to be the second season arc, just compressed into a movie. I'd thought about how that might have played out over time. My theory is that the Operative would have been introduced as the season one finale cliffhanger. The pattern on both Buffy and Angel with season-ending cliffhangers was never with the characters all in immediate jeopardy so that the next season picked up right away. The seasons tended to end with the characters defeating the Big Bad and feeling pretty good about things, and then at the very end we'd see something new pop up that the characters might not even be aware of (think Darla in a box). So I suspected that at the end of season one, Our Big Damn Heroes would have had some moment of triumph, and then the very last scene of the season would involve the Operative being introduced, so that we'd know they were going to be in huge trouble, and it would be midway through the next season before they became aware that he was chasing them. Apparently, there is a fan project that has written "scripts" for a season two that does break down the events in the movie into a season, so maybe I'll have to check that out.

Storylines people wanted to see picked up or dealt with included Book's past (Dani thought that seeing the Operative in the movie was seeing a mirror of Book's backstory), what decision Inara would make after the movie (stay or go back to the House), the crappy town where Wash is a hero, and what Jayne's mother would be like. Dani had a fun scenario worked out for that: Jayne would be frantically gathering all his weapons out of his quarters and then dump them on Simon in the infirmary, telling him that they were all his. Then this teeny, tiny woman would come on board and greet Jayne, and our big, tough guy would be utterly terrified of her. She'd notice the stockpile of weapons, Jayne would insist they were Simon's, and then she'd whisper to Jayne, "I don't want you associating with him." There was some discussion as to whether or not the tiny-but-tough mother was a cliche, and I pondered the idea of a more Jayne-sized woman, but I have to admit that this scenario is entertaining to ponder. I didn't seem to get a lot of support for my assertion that the "If I ever kill you, you'll be awake, armed and facing me" line in the pilot from Mal to Simon was foreshadowing. Not that I expected Mal to ever actually kill Simon, but I did imagine that at some point they were going to get into a showdown.

For more speculation, I brought up the fact that Joss's shows tend to have massive cast expansion as they progress, as they keep adding more and more characters. How would that have worked if Firefly had continued to five or more seasons? There's a finite amount of space on the ship, which limits the number of regular characters (unless they start setting up cots in the cargo bay), so perhaps we'd just have a larger cast of recurring characters they run into on a regular basis, with familiar faces at any places they visit regularly. Dani mentioned that the other pattern was turning a de-fanged (mostly) enemy into part of the gang, so one of the new people would probably be something like a vegetarian Reaver -- one who didn't fit in or was an outcast from his people. That sparked some brainstorming, so I suggested that Simon would come up with some kind of chemical or drug that would help the vegetarian Reaver stay somewhat sane (since the vegetarianism only rules out cannibalism) and safe to be around, and there would have to then be a situation where the Reaver crew member was cut off from being able to get his medicine, with time running out before he started going nuts again and became a threat.

We pondered whether there was room to do a musical episode. My suggestion was that it would take place in River's head (I guess this would have to have gone before the movie or disregarding the movie, since she seems to be more or less well now). We'd see the crew going about their business in a normal way, but then we'd see it from River's point of view, and she'd see it all as a big musical.

There was so much going on in that panel, with suggestions flying fast and furious from the audience and panelists, that I can't begin to capture it all. If you were there and want to chime in with something I missed, be my guest!

I made all my deadlines yesterday, and now I have a couple of things that need to be done today, and then I can relax for a little while. Actually, those things are due tomorrow, but I've decided I'd rather get them done today and then take a long weekend. Considering that I like to give myself my birthday as a holiday, and then I "worked" on my birthday and all weekend, I think I deserve a little comp time. I won't be completely slacking off, as I want to do some development on The New Project, but scribbling ideas in colored pen on notecards while watching movies or reading related books while listening to music that reflects the mood of the project feels more like play than like real work.

I think The New Project may be almost ripe and ready to go, as I actually dreamed about those characters last night. Characters invading dreams is a very good sign. In this case, they were in a scenario I hadn't even considered or imagined, but that I think would really work, so I guess I need to make a note on one of my cards.

Now, for a little more WorldCon wrap-up, including some things I learned:

Bringing a lot of shoes is not frivolous. It is, in fact, very practical.
I guess I'm just a delicate flower because there really is no such thing as comfortable shoes for me, and yet I'm also not comfortable barefoot. Any shoes I wear for any length of time, especially for a lot of walking, will become uncomfortable, even if they previously have never caused discomfort. And that means that I really shouldn't wear the same pair of shoes two days in a row. I need to have enough shoes with me to be able to rotate among very different kinds of shoes, with different heel heights and with designs that hit my feet in different places.

I have more of an internal clock than I realized.
I've always thought of myself as not having a very accurate internal clock. I usually don't jet lag too badly, I have no sense of time passing without seeing a watch or clock, and I don't generally get into schedule habits that aren't dictated by outside influences (I tend to eat meals at the same time, but that's because they coincide with the TV news). However, that seems to have changed for me lately, as I've been getting up without an alarm, yet always at around the same time, for months. I didn't need an alarm clock at all the whole time I was in Denver. I usually woke up at least a half hour before my alarm was to go off every morning. I had suddenly turned into a morning person, mostly by virtue of being one time zone away from home. The annoying thing was, this wasn't a "morning person" event. Things didn't start until 10. At writing conferences, things usually start around 8, or 7:45 if you want an early start at breakfast, so I'm always having to drag myself out of bed.

I've often thought that there tend to be two kinds of writers, the get up at 5 in the morning and write the day's page count before breakfast types and the stay up all night writing types. And it's generally the early birds who do things like volunteering to put on conferences, so the conferences are all geared to people who like to get an early start. In the SF world, though, the cons are generally run by fans, and they're fans who are used to late-night movie marathons or gaming sessions, so events start late and then run into the wee hours. Now, if only I could convince my body that I should be a morning person at writing conferences and a night person at SF cons.

Someone out there didn't want me to be a morning person, though.
The last couple of days of the con, I started to suspect a vast anti-sleep conspiracy. Saturday afternoon, I decided to take a nap before the Hugo ceremony so I could maybe stay up a little later. Of course, that was the day the housekeeper hadn't shown up by the time I got back to my room just before five, and of course she knocked on the door at 5:30 when I'd just managed to get sound asleep (I didn't see any "do not disturb" signs in the hotel, and there certainly wasn't one in my room, so there was no way to indicate that I didn't want a knock on my door). Then that night when I declared pumpkin time shortly after midnight and had fallen into bed, I got attacked by a Bridezilla. There was a bachelorette party staying in my hotel, and about an hour after I fell asleep, I was awakened by a shrieking laugh that sounded like it was right outside my door. I sleep with ear plugs, so that tells you how loud it was. The laughing went on for a while, and I'd been so deeply asleep that I thought it must be morning and almost time to get up, until I looked at the clock and realized that I'd only been asleep for an hour. Eventually, the laughing went away and I finally got back to sleep. Then in the morning when I left my room, there was a telltale tuft of purple feathers right in front of my door, matching the purple feather boa I'd seen on the Bridezilla in the elevator earlier, which was how I knew who the culprit was. Then Sunday night, I had another sleep interruption an hour after getting to bed. I was setting up a flight notification alert to my cell phone (which turned out to be utterly useless), and when nothing happened after I hit the test button on the United site, I decided to e-mail myself a test message. Nothing happened there, either, so I went to my carrier's site to see if I was using the right address, since my carrier has changed hands back and forth a few times since I've been with them. So I then set test messages for another possible address, and nothing happened. Yep, the phone (which I was using as an alarm clock) buzzed with a message alert about an hour after I gave up and went to bed. Then it was like waiting for the other shoe to drop because I knew I was likely to get at least one more message, so I didn't dare just go back to sleep.

So, a nearly two-hour delay on text messages? What's up with that, AT&T? And United, I got your test message, so why didn't you notify me about the gate change? That didn't even show up two hours later.

Other than those things, I had a blast, and my mysterious Bridezilla with the horse laugh and the feather boa gave me a funny story to tell the next day. But all those things are my justification for giving myself a break this weekend (Mom, I'm talking to you. No nagging allowed.).

My on-the-spot WorldCon coverage sort of fizzed out, as things got truly crazy on Friday and didn't really let up. Even my planned Sunday evening of rest and recovery before returning home on Monday turned into a fairly late night of Olympics watching in a hotel bar with a very eclectic group of writers, artists, editors, booksellers and others from all over the world.

I took detailed notes on panels I attended, and those will inspire many a post over the next few weeks. The panels I moderated may be sketchier because it's nearly impossible to take notes while running a panel.

Right after my last post on Friday, I met my new editor for lunch. I think I'd enjoy working with her, as we seem to be kindred spirits. In other words, we spent much of lunch discussing things like Buffy, Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, etc. Now I guess I just have to write a book she can publish.

Friday afternoon was my Firefly panel, and since there was no designated moderator, I got elected. I can pretty much run a Firefly panel in my sleep, given that I've put a wee bit of thought into the topic. Fortunately, I'd run into one of the other panelists, Dani Kollin (who has a book co-authored with his brother Eytan coming out next year) earlier in the week, and we'd had a chance to brainstorm a little on the way we thought the panel would go. And it was truly an awesome session. The audience was really into it, and the energy in the room was so high that it was almost a letdown when it was over.

That evening was my volunteer shift as hostess in the SFWA suite, so I got to play Martha Stewart while helping set up for the Clarion alumni party. Then I hit some of the other parties and ended up doing some party hopping with people who, if I'd ever even thought I'd be hanging out with, my head would have exploded in disbelief. And then, my Convention Morning Person curse kicked in.

I am not a morning person. I think I'm getting up really early if I drag myself out of bed at eight. But I was up before seven almost every morning of the convention, which meant I'd get tired really early. So Friday night, when a couple of the people I was party hopping with and I decided to head back to our respective hotels, I thought I was dragging myself in at around one in the morning. It felt that late. Then I got back to my room and the clock said 10:45. I had to verify in a couple of places to make sure the maid hadn't just reset my clock while I was out.

Saturday was kind of a blur, to be honest. I had an autographing session that wasn't a complete failure, but I was sitting next to Stephen Baxter, who had a non-stop line and people having to get in line over and over again because of the three-item limit. It didn't help that only one dealer in the dealers' room had my books at all, and they sold out on the first day. Then I went to the SFWA business meeting, and then got a nap before the Hugo Awards. After the Hugos, I hit a few publisher parties and was actually out after midnight!

Then I woke up at seven the next morning. But at least on Sunday morning, they had a church service at the convention, so there was something to do that day (that's the annoying thing, being up bright and early when nothing starts until ten). The sermon even incorporated science fiction references, and gave me some food for thought for writing.

In general, I had a fabulous time that went beyond my wildest best-case-scenario, "wouldn't it be cool if ..." daydreams for what the con would be like. The only hitches came on my trip home, and those were mostly my own fault, though United Airlines could stand to improve their communications. I got to the airport really early because the bus from downtown to the airport was timed so that I'd either be really early or cutting it dangerously close for my flight, and I went with early. But it was so early that they had time to move my flight to a different gate after my boarding pass was printed. Only they never announced that they were moving the flight. They didn't make an announcement at the old gate, where I was sitting, and I'd set up to get a text message on my cell phone if anything changed, but I'd received no such message. When it was boarding time and the monitor at my gate didn't mention my flight, I went to the overall monitors and saw that it was at a different gate on the other side of the airport. So, yeah, I had to run for a flight after getting to the airport two and a half hours early. Then when I got home, I got on the wrong bus at the airport. There's only one bus route serving the airport, so I thought it was a no-brainer, but it turns out that in late afternoons, the bus comes to the airport, loops around that part of town, then comes back to the airport before going to the transit center where I could catch the bus home, and I got on the bus that looped around town, so I ended up spending longer on the bus from the airport to the transit center than I spent on the plane from Denver. If I'd waited about ten minutes, I could have caught a bus going straight to the transit center. Ah, well, at least now I know. It turned out to be good decompression time. I just read a book the whole way. If I'd been at home, I'd have felt like I should be doing something.

Now I have a zillion and a half things to catch up on. In spite of having my computer, I'm ridiculously behind on reading e-mail, I have some work projects to deal with, and I need to pick up some groceries. I may give myself this week as something of a "retreat" to inspire myself and so some thinking and research before plunging full-steam into The New Project. There was a great panel on Shakespearean themes that got me started thinking, so I may need to do some reading there.

Another quick note before I have to make myself presentable for lunch with my editor.

I had a truly remarkable birthday, including being serenaded twice. I showed up for my panel, and the brother of one of my readers then sang Happy Birthday to me, getting the people who were in the room to join in. Larry Niven showed up around that time, so he then turned to me and sang the SCA birthday dirge.

So, yeah, I was serenaded by Larry Niven for my birthday. How awesome is that?

Photographic evidence:



I had a lot of fun with the two panels I moderated, even though the first one could have been answered with the word "yes." But I still managed to come up with enough topics for discussion to fill the full slot. Then it was standing room only for the second panel (though it was in a tiny room).

I went to dinner with my agent and some of her other clients, then came back to my room and collapsed. That meant I was up bright and early for the Stroll With the Stars event, a one-mile walk through downtown Denver with various luminaries of the field. Artist John Picacio was one of them, and we've become buddies from being at various cons together. And one of the others was Paul Cornell, who writes for Doctor Who. It turns out that John is friends with Paul, so I got introduced and managed to not be a total gibbering fangirl. In fact, we had quite a nice conversation about writing as we walked, then there was some teasing John about being behind on his TV viewing, and then John and I were teasing Paul about being Mayor of the walk by working his way through the group and introducing himself to absolutely everyone, making sure no one was left out.

Photographic evidence:



Now I have to hurry and make myself look presentable, and I hear the housekeeper nearby in the hallway. It never fails that they knock on the door when I'm half dressed, and this hotel doesn't seem to have a Do Not Disturb sign to go on the door to prevent the knock.

A very quick note as I pause for a few minutes to give my legs a break (there's a lot of walking) before I head to the evening events.

First, I've had a few people ask if I'll be doing any public appearances outside the convention while I'm in Denver. My schedule is really packed solid during the convention, but there's a possibility of maybe doing something Sunday evening after the convention ends. Closing ceremonies seem to be at 2:30, so how about the Barnes & Noble cafe on the 16th Street Mall at 4? If I let myself go back to my hotel and rest, I might not leave, so I might as well do it while I'm still running on adrenaline. It won't be an "official" bookstore event, but I love meeting fans and will be happy to sign books.

I won't get into discussing panels in detail right now, but I am taking notes for the panels I'm going to, and they'll inspire posts later on. I'll treat them as inspirations, and work quotes from the panelists into a post that includes my own thoughts. Today I went to a panel on readers as writers that included Lois McMaster Bujold, Connie Willis and George RR Martin. I also went to a panel on science fiction villains that included LE Modesitt and Paul Cornell (who has a lovely accent).

I also had lunch with my agent and spent an hour helping at the SFWA table. I'm gearing up to head to the evening parties. I still have tons of energy because I went to bed at 9 last night and got up at 7. I guess I was tired.

I've run into a lot of people I know and met lots of new people. Now to put on different shoes and head to the parties.

I made it to Denver, and the fun really starts tomorrow. In the category of "world is coming to an end, film at eleven," I was ready to leave early this morning. Usually, I plan out the time I absolutely must leave, then back off from that about ten minutes, and that's my target departure time. This morning, I was ready fifteen minutes before the target departure time. That's a danger zone because it's too much time to just sit around or to go ahead and leave, but it's not enough time to really do much of anything because then I'll end up being late. I got some tidying done, not quite to the level of company clean or even of not being embarrassed if I die in a plane crash and someone has to clean out the house, but pretty much to the level of being able to tell if someone ransacked the house while I was gone.

Then leaving at the target departure time, which not only allowed my usual cushion but also aimed at being a little early from a cautious estimate of the time the bus was likely to come, meant I was at the bus stop more than twenty minutes before the bus came.

Yep, I got wild and crazy and took the city bus to the airport. I'll be gone long enough that airport parking would get expensive, plus I have new car paranoia and don't want to leave it out in the airport lot for a week. Cabs get expensive, and I had a bad experience with SuperShuttle. However, I can catch a city bus across the street from my house, and with one transfer get to the airport for three dollars. It did make something that's about a fifteen to twenty minute drive take an hour, but it was still relatively hassle-free, especially given the cost. Unfortunately, this service isn't available on weekends. Believe it or not, the bus that goes to the airport only runs on weekdays.

Then I took the city bus from the Denver airport to downtown, where there's a free shuttle that runs by most of the hotels. The convention center is relatively close, but all the WorldCon events are at the opposite end of the convention center, so it's still a hike. I may have to rethink wearing the Infamous Red Stilettos to the Hugo Awards, but it does seem like I should be able to take the shuttle to a light rail stop, and the light rail stops at the convention center, very close to the place where the WorldCon events are, so I may do that Saturday night.

I probably won't do my usual con thing of hanging out in the con suite because that's at a hotel that's a good hike from the convention center. There's no ducking in for a quick snack between panels. I don't yet have a good sense for how huge this convention is because the only thing open today was registration. The fun giveaway was a "fan hydration device" (aka water bottle) to make sure we all stay hydrated and don't succumb to the altitude.

I have already been recognized, though. When I was walking away from registration, a guy from Sweden came up to me and mentioned having read my books. Then he referred to my essay on "fans in hiding," and it took me a second to realize he meant the Stealth Geek FAQ. So I've already had my celebrity moment.

Tomorrow's agenda: lunch with my agent, plus panels, opening ceremonies and the "Barrayar Summerfair" (as in the Lois McMaster Bujold books). Oh, and manning the SFWA table in the dealers' room and probably helping with the SFWA hospitality suite.

First, a reminder yet again that Doctor Who starts half an hour earlier tonight on the Sci Fi Channel. I don't want to hear the wailing, gnashing of teeth and rending of garments when people tune in at the normal time and miss the beginning because You Were Warned. I've seen the episode already, but this is the last Doctor Who night on Sci Fi for a very long time, so I'll probably watch what I taped from last week (which I'd also already seen, but I taped anyway while I was out of town and haven't watched yet) before this episode. I don't know what I'll do for dinner to round out the Doctor Who party, but since there's now a Taco Cabana in my general vicinity that won't be too far out of my way for the errands I need to run this afternoon, I may pick up some fajita tacos.

The rest of this post will be very random.

My WorldCon schedule:

Panels:
On Thursday at 1 p.m. I'll be moderating "What Makes SF Work? Characters, Society, or Technology," with panelists J. Alan Erwine, Ken Scholes and Larry Niven.

Then at 5:30 on Thursday I'll be moderating "Re-Telling Old Stories: The New Fairy Tales," with panelists Adam Stemple, Lisa Spangenberg and Valerie Frankel.

On Friday at 4 p.m. I'm on the "Firefly: What Would the Second Season Have Been Like?" panel with Craig Miller, Dani Kollin and Rebecca Moesta.

I have an autographing at 10 a.m. Saturday.

As always, check the program guide and other announcements for updates and changes. I'll also be helping out at the SFWA table in the dealers' room on Wednesday from 3ish to 4ish and on Saturday from 11 to noon, so if you don't make the signing and want to chat or get something signed, I'm sure they can spare me for a second or two to scribble my name.

In the interest of maintaining the illusion of at least a modicum of cool, I will not post my planned stalking schedule. That takes the "chance" out of the idea of "chance encounters." You can't exactly say, "Oh, wow, we keep running into each other" or "fancy meeting you here" when you've announced plans to stalk that person. (Though, actually, I've already met most of the people who would be on my stalking list. I can now even talk to Connie Willis without shaking violently.)

Finally, I was asked in a comment for some examples of cool techniques from that Writing For Emotional Impact book I mentioned yesterday. It's hard to choose just one or two because they sort of build on each other and weave together, but here are a couple of concepts I liked:
You can maintain reader curiosity by layering your story with questions. People keep reading to find the answers, and then as you give the answer to one question, you should raise another question, so it leads the reader from scene to scene. There should be an overall story question, but each scene also needs its own question, and even each beat within a scene should raise a question. It's like a trail of breadcrumbs through the story.

Then there's the art of subtext. In general, except for very few situations, characters shouldn't just say exactly what they think, and the higher the stakes are for the character, the more they have to lose from saying what they think, the less likely they are to be direct in what they say. So you have to convey the truth in a different way, usually through the character's actions. When what a character says and what he does conflict, we instinctively believe the actions over the words, and having the words and the actions clash heightens the emotions in the scene and creates a sense of conflict and interest. The example the author uses is the end of When Harry Met Sally, where Harry tells Sally all the reasons he loves her, and she looks at him with tears in her eyes and tells him how much she hates him, before she kisses him. We know that she actually does love him because of her body language in the way she tells him she hates him and because she kisses him, but we also know that her saying she hates him means she's actually afraid of her feelings and overwhelmed. If she'd just said, "I love you, too," the scene would have been flat.

Or, to bring this post full-circle, an example of this I like is from Doctor Who, where it's a recurring thing for the Doctor to always insist he's alright, no matter what he's just been through. He may look utterly shattered. He may be shaking and have tears in his eyes, but he'll insist he's always alright if someone asks him how he's doing. Then in a recent episode, Donna, who looked equally shattered, said she was alright, too, when he, as usual, claimed he was alright, as she took his hand and gave it a squeeze. Again, that contrast between what the characters say and what's really going on makes those scenes more meaningful than if they just said they were feeling emotionally battered. Donna's repeating his usual claim also showed that she saw through his facade, and it allowed a nice bonding moment.