Industry Panels
Writing and Publishing
Panel Listings
| Day | Time | Room | Panelist | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday | 7:00 PM | Markham B | Erik Buchanan (m), Jane Ann McLachlan, Arlene F. Marks, Janet Kellough, James Alan Gardner, Allan Weiss, Amanda Sun | Getting to Done | Having trouble finishing your writing? Join our panel of writers discussing the various pitfalls of writing, from writers block to scheduling to "where did my plot go wrong?" an they tools they use to take their projects from "in progress" to done. |
| Friday | 7:00 PM | Richmond A | David Clink, Jody Lynn Nye, Matthew Bin, Kari Maaren, Eric Choi, Ian Keeling | Reading Tips | The do's and dont's of reading your work to an audience. |
| Friday | 8:00 PM | Richmond A | Sarah WaterRaven (m),JF Garrard, Justus R Stone, Jen Frankel, MJ Moores | Publishing Your Novel | Explore the various publishing avenues for today's writers. From traditional publishing methods to indie publishers and self-publishing. Learn about the pros and cons of each and find out what publishing method could be right for you. |
| Friday | 8:00 PM | Richmond B | Luke Maynard (m), Stephanie Bardy, Stephanie Bedwell-Grime, Arlene F. Marks, Amanda Sun, Mike Rimar, Brad Horner | The Mines and Foundries of the Imagination: "Where Do You Get Your Ideas?" | It's the burning question of all creative people, the one that occupies endless hours of guest-of-honour Q&As, the one that every author who sees a work to completion will hear a thousand times: "Where do you get your ideas?" This panel will do away with the cute non-answers, the evasive winks, and the honest truth that the execution, not the idea, is what matters most. This journey into the foundries of the imagination will present practical tools and strategies for brainstorming ideas in a "blank-page"vacuum, for transforming everyday life into the seeds of a story, and for being inspired by the works of others without plagiarizing or infringing on their content. |
| Friday | 9:00 PM | Markham B | MJ Moores (m), J M Landels, Erik Buchanan, Matthew Bin, James Alan Gardner, Marilyn Kleiber | Style vs Editing | What's the difference and how to remain true to your voice without sacrificing craft |
| Saturday | 11:00 AM | Richmond B | Rebecca Diem (m), Jody Lynn Nye, Maria V. Snyder, Kari Maaren | Leading Ladies | Authors share their favourite leading ladies of sci fi and fantasy, and share their tips on what it takes to write compelling, complex female characters. |
| Saturday | 12:00 PM | Richmond A | Jody Lynn Nye, Bill Fawcett | For Beginning Writers - Jody and Bill | How to make the most of conventions, awards, signings and non-internet promotions |
| Saturday | 1:00 PM | Markham B | Janet Kellough (m), L.E. Sterling, Allan Weiss, Arlene F. Marks, James Alan Gardner, Sylvain Neuvel | Cross that genre when you come to it | Should writers genre-label their works before they start writing, or should they write their story and think about its genre afterwards? |
| Saturday | 2:00 PM | Oakridges | JF Garrard, Sarah WaterRaven | Podcasting for Absolutely Everyone | We thought YouTube videos would rule the Internet once they got established, but just as video never really killed the radio star, podcasts continue -- and grow -- in popularity. From the runaway success of "Serial" to "Mission Log," it's an easy and accessible way to talk, endlessly, about what you love and build an audience. We'll look at the technical aspects of setting up your studio space on a budget, hosting, and building content and subscribers. |
| Saturday | 2:00 PM | Richmond A | Dianna Gunn (m), Jane Ann McLachlan, L.E. Sterling, Graham J. Darling, Amanda Sun | Building Fantasy Religions | |
| Saturday | 2:00 PM | Richmond B | Mike Rimar (m), Jody Lynn Nye, Bill Fawcett, Eric Choi, Derwin Mak, MJ Moores | Anthology. The Gathering. | There is a resurgence in anthologies. How do editors decide what stories go into an anthology and what doesn't. |
| Saturday | 3:00 PM | Markham B | Arlene F. Marks | Creating the Illusion of Reality | An author's most important task in telling a story is to convince the reader to suspend disbelief and accept that the characters, plot, and settings of the story could be part of the real world. In this writing workshop, led by multi-published author Arlene F. Marks, participants will learn strategies for creating the illusion of reality in every aspect of a narrative, from the largest setting to the most minor character. |
| Saturday | 3:00 PM | Newmarket | Jen Frankel (m), James Bambury, Cameron S. Currie, Cathy Hird, Kari Maaren, Douglas Smith | The Timey-Wimey stuff | We all travel in time, just in the most boring possible way (forward, one day at a time). But science fiction stories about time travel have delved into a multitude of methods, theories, and unpredictable results. What makes a time travel story so satisfying -- and so complicated -- to tell? What are the latest fictional concepts for how time travel might be possible? What's the difference between multiple timelines and multiple dimensions? And what are your own favourite stories? |
| Saturday | 3:00 PM | Richmond A | JF Garrard(m), Maria V. Snyder, Derwin Mak, Ian Keeling | Diversity Obstacles | Over the last few years, many publishers have stated they are interested in increasing diversity in books. However, change has been slow in coming. This panel is a discussion on why this is so and what readers/writers can do to facilitate changes with an inclusion mindset. |
| Saturday | 3:00 PM | Richmond B | JM Landels(m), Bill Fawcett, Erik Buchanan, Stephanie Bedwell-Grime | Writing about Fighting | Join panelists for tips on writing effective fight scenes. Learn what to include, what to avoid, how to make them fit your story and dispel some myths and fallacies about fighting. Battles may break out among panelists. |
| Saturday | 4:00 PM | Aurora | Cathy Hird (m), Jody Lynn Nye, James Alan Gardner, Brad Horner | SciFi Technology Conventions | While each SciFi author invents some technology that they need for their world and their story, there are some conventions that are common. We can trace the invention of the ainsible and using crystals for power, for example, but they are so common that they seem real. On the other hand, there are many different ideas for FTL travel. This panel will discuss favorite (and least favorite) technological inventions and why some become common and others remain idiosyncratic. |
| Saturday | 4:00 PM | Newmarket | Janet Kellough (m), J M Landels, Marilyn Kleiber | Building a she-world | |
| Saturday | 4:00 PM | Richmond B | Jen Frankel (m), Beverly Bambury, Larry Hancock, Matthew Bin, Jane Ann McLachlan, Ian Keeling | The Business of Writing | A talk about the importance of marketing and opportunities to earn money with writing from a business standpoint. |
| Saturday | 5:00 PM | Newmarket | Jeff Beeler (m), Cameron S. Currie | Accessible SF | How can we make science fiction more interesting and accessible |
| Saturday | 6:00 PM | Aurora | Adam Shaftoe-Durrant (m), Beverly Bambury, Matthew Bin, L.E. Sterling, Neil Jamieson-Williams | Alternatives to Capitalism in Science Fiction | Recent studies have suggested that a greater proportion of people under the age of 40 prefer socialism over capitalism. Meanwhile, income inequality has increased substantially, while Canada has seen a decline in real wages, after a long period of stagnation. Confidence in capitalism is fading. And if it's the goal of science fiction to examine possible futures, this makes science fiction that examines alternative economic systems to capitalism very important. Authors like Le Guin, Banks and Doctorow have all proposed non-capitalist economies in their fiction. How can we use science fiction as a tool to examine alternatives to capitalism? |
| Saturday | 6:00 PM | Oakridges | Sarah WaterRaven, Amanda Sun, Jen Frankel, Justus R Stone, Thomas Gofton, Kit Daven | Writing a Series | Writing a series is no simple task. There is a world to build, characters to develop, and subplots to remember. So, how do authors do it? Join us in a discussion on series writing and get tips and tricks from guest authors on how they manage their works and build a series. |
| Saturday | 7:00 PM | Oakridges | Sarah WaterRaven (m), Jen Frankel, JF Garrard, Justus R Stone | Do Today's Writers Need a Gimmick? | With the book market as saturated as it is, it's getting harder and harder for authors to reach readers. With internet personalities gaining popularity through social media and sites like youtube, do authors need a gimmick? |
| Saturday | 8:00 PM | Oakridges | Erik Buchanan (m), Maria V. Snyder | A History of Violence | On the battlefield or at home, human beings love to kill each other. Come learn about the tools they use to do it. From unarmed combat to clubs, knives, swords and guns, this panel looks at the variety of ways human do each other in and how you can use them in your writing. |
| Saturday | 9:00 PM | Aurora | Erik Buchanan (m), Adam Shaftoe-Durrant , Cameron S. Currie, Ian Keeling | Writing Through Darkness | Mental health issues affect our ability to work, enjoy life, and write. This panel will examine some of the strategies the writers have used to deal with their mental health issues, and how they manage to continue writing during the dark days. |
| Sunday | 11:00 AM | Richmond B | Jane Ann McLachlan | Writing Dialogue & Thoughts | Learn to write internal thoughts & sizzling dialogue that will build suspense, reveal character, and keep your readers riveted to your story. |
| Sunday | 12:00 PM | Oakridges | Costi Gurgu (m), A.A. Jankiewicz, Arlene F. Marks, Jane Ann McLachlan, Jeff Beeler,vCameron S. Currie | Alien worlds - how much is too much? | Building an alien civilization/culture without the human context is something that has been used only in building an alien life, not entire civilizations. Can we do it? How far can we go? How much is too much? What can we do to still keep the reader's interest in the alien civ without making them human-like? Can we tell a story in an alien world without human characters? |
| Sunday | 1:00 PM | Aurora | Maaja Wentz | Wattpad For Platform Building and Inspiration (Workshop or Panel) | Wattpad For Platform Building and Inspiration Wattpad is a digital platform with 45 million members worldwide. For writers, it provides detailed demographics of your readers and an easy place to gather and interact with fans. Whether you have a finished novel, or you are just thinking of starting one, Wattpad is the perfect place to serialize your story while you attract attention on a platform which attracts mostly readers (not other writers). Don't leave money on the table or fans in the digital woods. Use Wattpad to attract a following and test your ideas on eager readers. Use Wattpad to break through writer's block, submission anxiety, or to motivate yourself to write more and write better. It's amazing how gratifying writing to an interactive audience can be. This workshop will enable writers unfamiliar with Wattpad to get started and will also provide writers already familiar with the platform with tips and tricks Maaja Wentz used to help her novel earn featured status and win a Watty award. After visiting Wattpad HQ and analyzing the best practices of successful Wattpad authors, Maaja can guarantee there is something to offer readers and writers. From One Direction Fan Fic that turns into lucrative film deals, to science fiction penned by Margaret Atwood, Wattpad offers diverse opportunities to anyone willing to try it. |
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