Writers discuss language choices in queernormative writing.
Description:
Beyond building worlds where queer people exist and thrive, how can our writing and word choices make our stories more queernormative? Join our panel of writing experts as they discuss. Panelists: E.D.E. Bell (moderator), Brandon O'Brien, Cat Rambo, Dedren Snead, K.B. Wagers. Track: GCWS Writing.
Quiet fiction writers discuss perceptions of the genre.
Description:
Quiet fiction is often confused with level of content, mood, gentleness, or even avoiding tough topics. Discuss quiet fiction with award-winning quiet fiction writers. Are you writing quiet fiction? Would you like to? Not sure? Join our panel of quiet fiction writers as they discuss how to talk about, embrace, and explore quiet fiction. Panelists: LaShawn M. Wanak (moderator), E.D.E. Bell, Carlos Hernandez, Cat Rambo, Erin Roberts. Track: GCWS Genre.
Professional editors discuss avoiding ableism in writing and word choice.
Description:
Join our experienced panel of editors as they discuss the nuances of writing and editing to exclude ableist tropes and language, no matter how time-worn. Panelists: E.D.E. Bell (moderator), Diana M. Pho, Cat Rambo, Dedren Snead. Track: GCWS Editing.
Writers discuss the continuing evolution of science-fiction.
Description:
How do we reinvent futures in a genre that's always been writing futures? Join our panel of sci-fi writers as they discuss the new futures—and new explorations—in science fiction. Panelists: Bryan Young (moderator), Mostafa Haque, Sean CW Korsgaard, Erin Roberts, Sheree Renée Thomas. Track: GCWS Genre.
Shaping GM Experience Into a Career in Narrative Design
Summary:
Experienced GMs discuss how GM skills can be applied to a career in narrative design and/or gamewriting.
Description:
Playing RPGs as a GM provides a deep understanding of player agency—foundational to the success of any game (whether it has a story or not)—and gives GMs inventive ways to facilitate that agency. This rich and unique experience develops not just writing and worldbuilding, but also adaptation, the ability to understand character needs, and the appreciation of the important relationship between mechanics and story. Join our panel of experienced GMs as they discuss how these skills can be applied to a career in narrative design and/or writing for games. Panelists: Brandon Crilly (moderator), Alexander Bevier, Richard Dansky, Ed Greenwood. Track: GCWS Game Narrative.
Join Special Guest Diana M. Pho for a live in-depth interview by podcaster and speculative fiction and game writer Erin Roberts about her editing and her new role at Erewhon Books.
Writers, games, and poets discuss the incorporation of poetry in roleplaying games.
Description:
Poetry and gaming have, can we say, a poetic relationship? Join our panel of expert speculative poets and gamers as they discuss reimagining the way we incorporate both poetry and poets into RPGs, going beyond the traditional cliches of the bard to one that remembers how poets in global traditions are often figures of great adventure and misadventure, and ways to improve the incorporation of rhymes, riddles, and the like in both fantasy and science fiction settings without obligating players to write complicated forms on the spot. Panelists: Marie Bilodeau (moderator), Brandon O'Brien, C. S. E. Cooney, Bryan Thao Worra. Track: GCWS Multimedia.
Writers and gamers discuss teen angst in roleplaying games.
Description:
There's a growing set of TTRPGs that merge the complicated angst of teen existence into speculative concepts, whether it's giant mechas or being a literal ghoul. Why is this particular combination so popular right now? How do these two themes work together to create compelling storytelling and gameplay? Which titles are capturing this in the best ways, and are there ways it could be done badly? Join our panel of RPG writers and players as they discuss. Panelists: Sarah Hans (moderator), Brandon Crilly, Brandon O'Brien, Erik Scott de Bie. Track: GCWS Genre.