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On writing

GenreCon 2013 – Take 1

GenreCon 2013 has come and gone. We both met lots of great people, talked until we were hoarse, and learned lots from the varied presenters.

As usual, we’re both blogging about it. This is my (Karen’s) take on the event. Sherylyn’s will follow in the next post.


John Connolly was superb. Entertaining, witty and targeted perfectly to his market of writers.  I would love to be able to speak like him.

Or failing that, Kathryn Fox.  She was excellent too.

The two stand-out sessions for me were the long ones that covered practical aspects dealing with writing.

The first was Damon Cavalchini’s Say It With Feeling. Damon gave practical tips and hints on how to prepare for and do readings. Useful tips on how to overcome your nerves, how long you should read for, and the impact that changing your tone and pitch has. Tips on dealing with nervous mannerisms like waving your arms about (do it, just be careful of the mic) or giggling. Tips for practising readings and using your voice. It was good, practical advice on a topic most of us never even think about until we have to do it.

The second was Alex Adsett’s Contracts and Copyrights. Again good, practical information from a woman who obviously knew what she was talking about. Alex covered the basics of copyright and permissions and then went on to cover publishing contract clauses and rights. What the various clauses mean, which are the show stoppers for her, and so on.  And she made it easy to understand, which you have to admit is hard to do when you’re talking legal documents.

Next up: Sherylyn’s take.

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