Flights of Foundry 2024 Quick Recap, Day 2 (second half)
Image by Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay
Catherine Tavares posted her recap of what she attended at Flights of Foundry immediately after the convention. I took a little longer to collect some of my thoughts and notes, but I hope you enjoy! (You can find my previous recaps here.) I’m going to have to do mine in chunks by day, so this post just covers the events on the second half of Saturday (day 2)!
Ask an Editor: Q&A and listening session with SFFH editors. Come ask a group of editors your questions! A moderator will take audience questions and keep the discussion moving. (With me moderating, and Ann LeBlanc, Wendy Van Camp, Leah Rambadt, Stephen Granade, and Catherine Lundoff speaking)
This panel was very much a Q&A session with editors ranging from fiction and poetry publications and anthologies to developmental editors. I didn’t take any notes as I moderated this, and we easily could have spent multiple hours answering great questions about editing from the audience!
Goth Share: Bring your bones, your favorite media, and your black eyeliner (eyeliner optional). Share the things that make your dark little heart happy, and maybe discover something new. (Facilitated by Suzan Palumbo)
This was a great, free-ranging discussion and sharing of all kinds of dark and spooky things. I got to show off the new Halloween cat toys that my sister bought for the boys (catnip and crinkle stuffed bloody weaponry at cat scale) and some of my favorite makeup. This was another one that could have gone on for hours, and as it was, we had a huge discussion thread on the Discord afterward, and I wound up forming a new gaming group via the Discord thread. Good stuff, all around!
Oh no, I need a title!: A good title can add extra layers to a story, but how do you come up with one? Is it different for works of different lengths? We’ll share tips and tricks, and we’ll do a title-swap at the end of the session! (With Jo Miles moderating, and Stephen Granade, Crystal L. Kirkham, and Gideon P. Smith speaking)
I have to admit that I was a little distracted during this panel, in part because I was still discussion gothy things on the Discord. But I did take a few notes. One of the interesting things the panelists talked about is how titles are used to find a story, but they’re also used to evoke the mood and theme, so they’re a balance between marketing/SEO and writing craft. I thought that was an important way to think about titles, and why even when it seems like a cool idea to reference something else, you might wind up making it harder for your readers to track down a story. The other big takeaway I got from this panel is the idea of making yourself write a BUNCH of potential titles, and then putting away that list to come back to later. While a lot of work, it seems like a good way to title a piece that is otherwise resisting being titled, and it would also (I think) have the added benefit of improving your ability to come up with a good title!
Speculative Poetry Open Mic: Would you like to read your speculative poetry before an appreciative audience? Or would you like to hear speculative poets share some of their work? This is the place to do either or both! (Facilitated by me)
This was a delightful open mic session that I facilitated like we were doing karaoke–I had people put their names in the chat if they wanted to read, and then called on them in order of volunteering. We had 10 participants, and everyone wound up reading at least once. I read a few of my own poems as well. Everyone had a blast listening and reading, and all of the poems were wonderful!
Next up, Sunday, which was considerably less than the other days!
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