Writers' Symposium Ezine

Hello,

It's been a busy week and I've been working on the Writers' Symposium Ezine. Each issue is dedicated to “Helping Writers Write,” and will be released quarterly via email, or it can be viewed on the web at www.paulgenesse.com/WritersSymposium. Each issue will feature articles, tips, and resources that will help people improve their writing, or let them know about good books.

Sign up by sending email to:
WritersSymposium@paulgenesse.com

The Writers’ Symposium is made up of twenty professional writers, game designers, and editors listed at the end of the issue. Combined we have sold several dozen books and short stories to major publishers, primarily in the fantasy and science fiction genre.

The Writers’ Symposium has its origins back in the 1990’s when it was founded by editor and author Jean Rabe—famous for her Dragonlance novels. She started giving seminars on writing at the Gen Con Game Fair in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Gen Con has moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, but Jean and her crew are still there.

Many writers have helped her present the panels over the years and the seminars are almost always packed with people who want to learn more about writing. I was one of those writers who wanted to break in. By following Jean’s advice I’ve sold eight short stories and my first novel is coming out in hardcover in April of 2008. This first issue is dedicated to Jean, a fantastic person and a great writer.

The first is made up of articles titled:

From the Editor
Feature Article: Creating Characters and a link to an online article
Bio on Jean Rabe—The Founder of the Writers’ Symposium
Feature Article: Writers’ Groups by Don Bingle
List of Current Writers’ Symposium Members & Contact Info
Final Thought and link to the Writers’ Symposium Blog


Paul Genesse,
Coordinating Editor of the Writers' Symposium Ezine

Website: http://www.paulgenesse.com/
Blog: http://paulgenesse.blogspot.com/

Author of The Golden Cord
Book One of the Iron Dragon Series
(Five Star Books, April 2008)

Dragons are cool

Hello All,

Who knew that dragons are big at FedEx Kinkos? I went in to get some promo material printed up and ended up meeting some fantasy fans. I had the cover of my book and the original print with me. I needed some things printed up in various forms. The staff went wild over the art, which I love so much as well. Of course, I handed out promo cards and chatted with people. I love talking about fantasy and I met a guy who loves George R.R. Martin's books as much as I do. There were several people there who were just so nice to me.

So, I also had a print of the cover made (to hang on my wall of course) and when I went back to pick it up three of the staff came over and told me how much they loved it. A couple of them had even visited my website and one guy, Alan, had read the prologue of The Golden Cord. He loved it and quoted lines to me as he loved the language I used. That was very uplifting. He's excited about the book to come out and I'm probably going to get him an advanced reader copy. It was a great experience and charged me up to write.

Then I went to get the print framed at Michael's, and the staff there were so cool as well. We picked out a great frame (by great I mean $480 great--and that was after the $150 off sale they had going). Of course I picked out the most expensive frame imagineable. I guess I have good taste. Damn! Oh well, but it's going to look so good.

In the end I think it's fair to say that dragons are cool.

Paul Genesse

www.paulgenesse.com

Author of The Golden Cord

Book One of the Iron Dragon Series

Five Star Books, April 2008

Mountain Con Video news

Hello,

Here's a link to a video from a local news station about Mountain Con. It's kind of funny and let me tell you, meeting the guy who played Darth Vader was cool. I found out that he didn't know they had dubbed in James Earl Jones' voice in until after the movie came out. That's Hollywood.

Here's the link to the video.

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=1846965


Paul Genesse

www.paulgenesse.com

Author of The Golden Cord
Book One of the Iron Dragon Series
Five Star Books, April 2008

Mountain Con 2007

Hello,

Mountain Con was great. www.mountaincon.org

The organizers did a fabulous job. Carl Stark, Rex Rouvierre, Paul Roesberry, George, Julie and lots of others did an excellent job. It was a gathering of science-fiction and fantasy fans, plus a bunch of stars from Star Trek, Star Wars and various science-fiction TV shows—plus a gathering of authors. We had a good time and I loved getting to know some of the other local authors: Ken Rand, Eric James Stone, Dan Willis, Karen Webb, JoSelle Vanderhooft, Howard Tayler http://www.schlockmercenary.com/
, Julie Frost, and the author guest of honor from Montana: Diana Pharaoh Francis. She’s fabulous and a really fun person. We had dinner on Saturday and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

I spent most of my time on panels about writing. Friday was my slowest day, as I just had a reading. I read three scenes from The Golden Cord. I read some tense and scary scenes. Then my mentor, Ken Rand read a couple of scenes, one from his upcoming book Pax Dakota. Very cool alternate history that supposes that the Dakota Indians won and established their own country in the Dakotas. The book takes place in the 1800’s and is a very original fantasy with an excellent twist.

Here’s my crazy schedule with a few comments:


Paul’s Saturday Mountain Con Schedule

9:00-10:00 Dune Book Discussion—we discussed the bestselling sci-fi book of all time. It was a lot of fun, but kind of early . . .

12:00-1:00 Universe Building Panel—we discussed how to create a world from the ground up. I have a handout on this one that covers geography. Check my site under Writers’ Resources.

1:00-2:00 I listened to Diana Francis, the author guest of honor speak. She was great.

3:00-4:00 Edit Yourself Panel—we discussed how to make that mediocre first draft into sellable work.

4:00-7:00 Dinner Break. I went out with Di and her family, plus Patrick Tracy, and Liz—a new friend I met at my signing last week. Life was good. I had a steak salad. Mmmm, it was naughty and perfect.

5:00 Creating Characters. This was a good panel, but I couldn’t make it, as I was having dinner with Di. I did provide a nice handout, which you can find on my website in Writers’ Resources. It lists six ways to create characters from scratch.

7:00-8:00 The Writing Life Panel—this turned out to be a great panel and we all had an excellent time.

8:00 Masquerade—costumes, skits and filking. (Filking is singing. Filkers sing about all things related to fandom. My favorite was the Star Trek Red Shirt Song, lamenting the fact that the Red Shirt on Star Trek always got killed!! It was hilarious!!


Paul’s Sunday Mountain Con Schedule


10:00-11:00 How to Get Published Panel—we were tired, but lots of good information came out of this one.

11:00-12:00 Writing Science Fiction & Fantasy Panel—this one dovetailed from the last one and was fun.

12:00-1:00 Create A World Contest (Panel)—I helped create a shared world that will be used for the short story contest that Mountain Con and CONduit are having. It was quite fun. I’ll have write more on this one later.

1:00-2:00 Universe Building: Anthropology of Fantasy Panel—I’m posting a handout on my website soon. Very good stuff from a friend, Sara Klein.

2:00-3:00 Lunch Break (After four straight hours of panels I was so hungry and tired.)

3:00 Historical Representation of Dragons Panel (Patrick Tracy was on this one with me and we discussed one of our favorite subject: Dragons!)

4:00-5:00 Blogs for Business Panel (Yep, blogs really help business).

I said my goodbye and we (Tam & I) dragged our butts home. It was a really fun and enjoyable weekend. Tammy helped out a lot and was there on Friday and Sunday.

When I wasn’t on panels I was at my table handing out free promo stuff for my novel and stories. I met tons of cool people and made a lot of new friends. I just love meeting new people.

Now I must crash, but sleep is elusive . . .

Paul Genesse

www.paulgenesse.com

Author of The Golden Cord
Book One of the Iron Dragon Series
Five Star Books, April 2008

Mountain-Con III

Live Long and Prosper,

I've been at a great local convention this weekend: Mountain-Con III. Check out http://www.mountaincon.org/ for more. I've been on many panels on writing and have been having a great time. Lots of media guests are there and some cool writers. I've had a great time hanging out with Diana Francis, a cool writer and a good person. I have a table and I've been with Ken Rand. He's a high quality guy with vast knowledge on writing. Check out his book, The 10% Solution. It's an excellent book on writing.

I love seeing my new friends and old friends. It's so much fun. I'm back tomorrow for five or six hours of panels. Good stuff!

Bye for now,

Paul Genesse

Author of The Golden Cord
Book One of the Iron Dragon Series
Five Star Books ( April 2008)

Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Ahoy!

In case you missed it, today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day! My friend Ida sent me these pictures and I had to post them! Arrrren't they cute?

So, mateys, keep the wind in yer sails today and remember all yer favorite phrases. Search online for the good stuff.

Anchors away!

Paul

My first Barnes & Noble Signing

Hello,

My first major book signing in Salt Lake City went great. On Friday, September 14, I was at the largest Barnes & Noble in town, the Sugarhouse branch. I was there from 6-9 PM and spoke in the café from 6:30-7:00, which was also very fun. I was a little nervous, but a bunch of old friends and new friends showed up. I just love my friends and my wife Tam really helped out a lot. The best thing about doing the signing was having a good excuse to see friends I hadn’t seen in a while. I miss them and my secret plan for my writing career is to use my book tours/signings to get together and see old friends—and to make new ones of course.

I hung out at my table near the front door and met lots of book lovers. The meerkat named Little Bhoki, from my meerkat mafia story, The Mob, featured in the Furry Fantastic anthology was there. Little Bhoki loves watching people, so I brought him along. I also had free booty including: chocolate nuggets in a treasure chest, promo cards with the cover of my first novel The Golden Cord, and cards with the Pirates of the Blue Kingdoms cover on it. I was signing copies of the Pirate book with my Pirate Witch story in it, and sold quite a few. Thank you all who got one. My stock is nearly out, but I have a few autographed copies left that can be purchased on my website. Remember, getting booty is good. [grin]

So, I read the first page and a half of the Pirate Witch story in the café and read the back of the book excerpt of The Golden Cord. It all turned out great and the media relations person asked me to come back when my novel comes out in April. I can’t wait. The store manager was great to me also.

I’ll be a guest at a local convention next weekend, Mountain-Con. Check out http://mountaincon.org/x/page/ for more information. It’s going to be great.
I’ll be on a bunch of panels and will be doing a reading at 4:00 on Friday September 21.

Thanks again to everyone who has supported me. I truly appreciate you all.


Love,


Paul Genesse

www.paulgenesse.com

Author of The Pirate Witch
In Pirates of the Blue Kingdoms

Author of The Golden Cord
Book One of the Iron Dragon Series
Five Star Books (April 2007)

Kitty and the City

This is Cassie, the main cat character in my story: Kitty and the City
Cassie is very cute and considers herself a fashionista.

Hello,

It’s been a good week. I finished the first draft (5,100 words/26 pages) of my story for the Catopolis anthology coming out from DAW Books in a year or more. It’s edited by Janet Deaver-Pack, a great lady who I really love. Right now I’m calling my story, Kitty and the City. It’s like Sex and the City with cats. Fun times. I sent it off to my writer friend and Sex and the City fan, Kelly Swails to check out. She’ll give me her input then I’ll rewrite the story and get the final draft ready.

The other news is that the copyedited manuscript of The Golden Cord came this week, on Friday afternoon. I love what the copyeditor did and she caught a number of small mistakes in the manuscript. Bless her forever! I could tell that a few mistakes are from my editor when he accepted changes on the last draft. Sometimes when you accept a change a new error is created. Like with the last line, which was missing a very important word.

Anyway, I’ve been working on The Golden Cord and will send it back to the copyeditor later today. It’s so great to almost be done with that.

The other news is that Tam and I went to the local Greek Festival. It was amazing. The food was good and the authentic Greek dancing by a local troop was very entertaining.

The most fun of the weekend was going to the hamster races. Yep, HAMSTER RACES!
At the local Pet Co about twenty hamsters, three chinchillas, and a few gerbils got together for the annual event. They race in their hamster balls along a straight track, going four at a time. Single elimination, so it’s quite tense, especially for the little kids who toil all year training their hamsters for this event . . .

Last years winner, Bubba, won again, successfully defending his title. We thought Mini might take it, but Bubba edged her out by about one body length.

By the way, next week, Friday September 14 is my first major book signing in Salt Lake City. It’s at the Sugarhouse branch from 6-9 PM. I’m speaking from 6:30-7:00 and I’d love to see any locals who can be there.

Well, that’s my news. I hope you are all well.