WorldCon 2010 Day 3
Sep. 4th, 2010 08:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kerravonsenDidn't sleep that well, I don't know why. Well, possibly the lights of the city helped keep me awake; at about midnight I got up and closed the blinds completely. The downside of that was that it was so dark when I awoke in the morning that I thought it was 6 or 7 am, but it turned out to be ten to eight! Since I'd ordered breakfast for between 8 and 8:30, there was obviously no time to have a shower before breakfast. Though it turned out that my breakfast didn't arrive until closer to 8:30, it would have been unwise to assume that it wouldn't arrive at 8am.
I'd ordered a full "American" breakfast, and oh boy, I'm not going to do that again. So much food I felt bloated. It was yummy, though. But I think a "Continental" breakfast will be enough next time. I've stayed at hotels where a "Continental" breakfast consisted of one croissant and a cup of coffee. Here at the Hilton, a Continental breakfast consists of
* two croissants (or two slices of toast or two other bakery items)
* a pot of coffee (or tea, or hot chocolate etc)
* a glass of juice
* cereal + milk
* fruit salad (or yoghurt or other fruit)
An "American" breakfast consists of all that, plus eggs, sides such as bacon and mushrooms, and a "deli selection" (cheese, meat or salmon). So that was a lot of food, considering that my normal breakfast is a bowl of porridge or cereal and that's all.
First panel: the women superheros panel, which proved to be a bit more controversial than expected, since Peter Brett got his back up with the assertion by the other panellists that comics were misogynistic, and said that they weren't that bad and that the others were seeing things because they went looking for them. Well, the gloves were off, but they put them back on again, because none of the panellists really wanted to be arguing, so they jumped to a topic they all agreed on, which was that it's really hard to find female superhero merchandise for their kids. The discussion ranged all over, from good and bad examples of female superheros, and good and bad writing, and the horrible travesties of Hollywood (who just Don't Get It, when it comes to female superheros, though they're often Made of Fail with male superheros too). The most well-rounded least sexist gender-balanced examples seem to be made-for-children animated superheros, with a particular plug for Justice League Universe.
I left, and I had intended to go to another panel, but I wandered into the art show instead, and that took longer than expected. There were some lovely works, and some really annoying ones that were full of naked women (no naked men, of course) and others that were dark and full of horror. I think my favourites were the ones of tropical birds and fish done in glittery 3D paint, and a tendency to fly past the borders of the image. (I am reminded of Russell Kirkpatrick's desire to never put borders on his maps).
Then I sat down in the fan lounge and caught up on things. Looked up Russell Kirkpatrick on the net; looks like he has four books out, one a trilogy, and one the first part of the next trilogy. And, yes, they are doorstops. I'm sure that the worldbuilding is awesome, but... I do find it very difficult to get into doorstops. And he kept on saying in his talk "don't read my first trilogy, read my second one". So... I probably won't do either.
Met with AH, and she dragged me to a table near the art show where![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
elisem was demonstrating wire jewellery making, which made me want to find a book about wire jewellery and learn more. So that was cool. Then we went to lunch.
After lunch, I found SB and EH in the dealer's room, had a nice chat. Then I went off again.
The next panel I went to was "Finding the Right Voice: Accents and Speech Patterns" with Jack Dann, Deborah Kalin, Karen Miller and Kaaron Warren. It was pretty interesting. They all agreed that it's a tricky balance to strike - too much dialect or unknown words and the reader can be thrown out of the story. Not enough differentiation between characters and cultures and the reader can't distinguish who is speaking. Three pieces of advice I took from this:
* strangeness should be at most one word in five.
* read your work aloud (this is the third time in recent times that someone has said that) - if possible, get someone else to read it aloud.
* Read stage-plays to get a feel for dialogue.
(Note to self: see if I can track down Jack Dann's "The Memory Cathedral")
I changed my plans, waiting around until 5:30 because that was when, according to the programme, that Jack Dann was doing his reading. What I didn't know was that he and Richard Harland had decided to do the whole hour taking turns (and reading alternate bits of dialogue), so I had missed out by waiting around. Ah well. What I did catch was still fun. They were both very good in reading/acting. There was one bit from one of Richard Harland's books where there was a teacher in a classroom (in Space, of course) which he acted out and it was hilarious. (That teacher was certifiable.)
Then I went back and found SB and EH, and we went off to dinner with two other people whose names I have, alas, forgotten. That was very pleasant; we ate at one of the restaurants at Crown, and while it was rather loud, we could still talk. And the talk was delightfully fannish, from "cons we have known and loved and hated", and then a very interesting discussion with SB about YA spec fic and Harry Potter in particular, wandering over to Mary Sues, and then to round off the evening, on the way back, our old favourite, Blake's 7.
On the downside, we got back too late to get into the Masquerade, it had already been going for an hour by the time we got there. But I'm not too disappointed, because it means I can make an early night of it.
I'd ordered a full "American" breakfast, and oh boy, I'm not going to do that again. So much food I felt bloated. It was yummy, though. But I think a "Continental" breakfast will be enough next time. I've stayed at hotels where a "Continental" breakfast consisted of one croissant and a cup of coffee. Here at the Hilton, a Continental breakfast consists of
* two croissants (or two slices of toast or two other bakery items)
* a pot of coffee (or tea, or hot chocolate etc)
* a glass of juice
* cereal + milk
* fruit salad (or yoghurt or other fruit)
An "American" breakfast consists of all that, plus eggs, sides such as bacon and mushrooms, and a "deli selection" (cheese, meat or salmon). So that was a lot of food, considering that my normal breakfast is a bowl of porridge or cereal and that's all.
First panel: the women superheros panel, which proved to be a bit more controversial than expected, since Peter Brett got his back up with the assertion by the other panellists that comics were misogynistic, and said that they weren't that bad and that the others were seeing things because they went looking for them. Well, the gloves were off, but they put them back on again, because none of the panellists really wanted to be arguing, so they jumped to a topic they all agreed on, which was that it's really hard to find female superhero merchandise for their kids. The discussion ranged all over, from good and bad examples of female superheros, and good and bad writing, and the horrible travesties of Hollywood (who just Don't Get It, when it comes to female superheros, though they're often Made of Fail with male superheros too). The most well-rounded least sexist gender-balanced examples seem to be made-for-children animated superheros, with a particular plug for Justice League Universe.
I left, and I had intended to go to another panel, but I wandered into the art show instead, and that took longer than expected. There were some lovely works, and some really annoying ones that were full of naked women (no naked men, of course) and others that were dark and full of horror. I think my favourites were the ones of tropical birds and fish done in glittery 3D paint, and a tendency to fly past the borders of the image. (I am reminded of Russell Kirkpatrick's desire to never put borders on his maps).
Then I sat down in the fan lounge and caught up on things. Looked up Russell Kirkpatrick on the net; looks like he has four books out, one a trilogy, and one the first part of the next trilogy. And, yes, they are doorstops. I'm sure that the worldbuilding is awesome, but... I do find it very difficult to get into doorstops. And he kept on saying in his talk "don't read my first trilogy, read my second one". So... I probably won't do either.
Met with AH, and she dragged me to a table near the art show where
elisem was demonstrating wire jewellery making, which made me want to find a book about wire jewellery and learn more. So that was cool. Then we went to lunch.After lunch, I found SB and EH in the dealer's room, had a nice chat. Then I went off again.
The next panel I went to was "Finding the Right Voice: Accents and Speech Patterns" with Jack Dann, Deborah Kalin, Karen Miller and Kaaron Warren. It was pretty interesting. They all agreed that it's a tricky balance to strike - too much dialect or unknown words and the reader can be thrown out of the story. Not enough differentiation between characters and cultures and the reader can't distinguish who is speaking. Three pieces of advice I took from this:
* strangeness should be at most one word in five.
* read your work aloud (this is the third time in recent times that someone has said that) - if possible, get someone else to read it aloud.
* Read stage-plays to get a feel for dialogue.
(Note to self: see if I can track down Jack Dann's "The Memory Cathedral")
I changed my plans, waiting around until 5:30 because that was when, according to the programme, that Jack Dann was doing his reading. What I didn't know was that he and Richard Harland had decided to do the whole hour taking turns (and reading alternate bits of dialogue), so I had missed out by waiting around. Ah well. What I did catch was still fun. They were both very good in reading/acting. There was one bit from one of Richard Harland's books where there was a teacher in a classroom (in Space, of course) which he acted out and it was hilarious. (That teacher was certifiable.)
Then I went back and found SB and EH, and we went off to dinner with two other people whose names I have, alas, forgotten. That was very pleasant; we ate at one of the restaurants at Crown, and while it was rather loud, we could still talk. And the talk was delightfully fannish, from "cons we have known and loved and hated", and then a very interesting discussion with SB about YA spec fic and Harry Potter in particular, wandering over to Mary Sues, and then to round off the evening, on the way back, our old favourite, Blake's 7.
On the downside, we got back too late to get into the Masquerade, it had already been going for an hour by the time we got there. But I'm not too disappointed, because it means I can make an early night of it.
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no subject
Date: 2010-09-04 11:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-05 12:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-04 11:33 am (UTC)strangeness should be at most one word in five.
I have to say that the dialect and specialised vocabulary of books like Tamora Pierce's Provost's Dog books are a barrier I have to get through, and that I enjoy the books despite them. A little dialect I wouldn't mind--the protagonist was born in the slums--but I don't see the point of inventing or finding strange words for common terms like woman and man. I could usually tell what they meant without looking at the vocabulary at the back, but it still detracted from the story and I know it's put off one listener who couldn't handle the audio version. And that's without even mentioning the Indonesian Pierce lifted wholesale for her "Kyprish". You'd recognise it too. :-)
Anyway, it sounds as if you're having a great time there.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-05 12:49 am (UTC)That was Option 2 for the American Breakfast - porridge or waffles or pancakes.
but I don't see the point of inventing or finding strange words for common terms like woman and man
That does seem a bit much. Though I remember rather liking the vocabulary in David Brin's "Uplift" series where they had "mel" and "fem" for man and woman and "man" for human; that made sense in the context of the series because there were a lot of non-human sentient beings around.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-05 01:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-04 02:49 pm (UTC)All right, that all sounded reasonably American, until you got to the deli selection. Although the mushrooms are slightly odd for an American breakfast, too. :)
no subject
Date: 2010-09-05 12:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-05 12:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-05 12:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-05 12:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-04 04:52 pm (UTC)Thank you very much!
no subject
Date: 2010-09-05 12:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-04 08:18 pm (UTC)Sometimes a character with dialect can be entertaining, even if you can't understand them. Though only because the other characters in the narrative are finding them as easy to understand as the reader.
Mind you certain books use of thieves cant has made me quite proficient in it. :¬D
no subject
Date: 2010-09-05 12:53 am (UTC)I'm on holiday, I'm not going to fret about that right now.
Though only because the other characters in the narrative are finding them as easy to understand as the reader.
I rather liked the device in Star Wars where you had one half of a conversation in an alien language, and the other half in English, with enough there to let one deduce what the non-English-speaking sentient was saying.