Furry Writers' Guild Forum

Furlandia 2016 - Writer's Track

Cons and Events
#1

Folks,

My name is Thomas Gondolfi, author of Toy Wars and the CorpGov Chronicles (see www.tanstaaflpress.com). I’ve been asked by one of the directors of Furlandia to coordinate with the Furry Writer’s Guild to come up with a writer’s track for Furlandia (Portland, OR) in 2016. Poetigress mentioned that this would be the right place to bring it up.

As a veteran of thirty years of conventions and two years as a professional author, I have a something of a clue as to what we should share. I have a list of general areas we should try to fill as either seminars, demonstrations or panels. I’m willing to coordinate the writer’s track (unless someone wants to volunteer).

What I need from you is two fold… 1) Suggestions for specific panels, seminars and/or demonstrations, 2) commitment to being a part of one or more of them at Furlandia!

Here is the generic writing list (that we can make furry specific by our choices within them). The more of these we fill, the better Furlandia will be for you, me and everyone else.

  •    Plot / Story

  •    Editing / Critiquing

  •    Character

  •    Setting / World

  •    Business of writing
             - Risks / Profit-Loss / Business plan / Contracts / Lawyers / Licensing / Interstate vs International business / Sole proprietor vs LLC / Insurance / Costs / Alternative funding / Alternative cash flows

  •    Copyright 

  •    Self Publishing
              - Sales channels / distribution

  •    Traditional Publishing

  •    Marketing

  •    Ebooks

  •    Building Author platform

  •    Professional Organizations

Tom Gondolfi (aka TeddyBearMan)
tgondolfi@tanstaaflpress.com

#2

My first suggestion:

“Atavism in Anthropomorphic Literature”: Why species matters, what’s idiosyncratic to a species, and how can we convey it to readers in a way that is engaging instead of alienating?

Second suggestion:

“Award-Winning Anthropomorphics”: What anthropomorphic works have won awards, and had a broader cultural impact than just the niche of furry fandom? Explore works like “Maus”, “Digger”, “Watership Down”, and what can we learn from works that transcend genre and go on to broader popularity?

#3

I plan to attend Furlandia and am happy to be on panels.

#4

Thank you, Ryffnah for volunteering. I think we can get you in on some of these. Could you message me at tgondolfi@tanstaaflpress.com with your credentials (not to sort you out but rather so I can have them when we do the panels for introductions).

Bahumat, I love your suggestions, especially the first one. Are you willing to be on those panels or is this just something you want to see?

I still need many more hands on deck… Please

Thomas Gondolfi
www.tanstaaflpress.com

#5

So I was thinking I’d do four total seminars. Now my seminars are generic to writing and not furry specific. My thought at this moment is as follows:

Believable World Building (I could add some specific furry referents and could be a panel rather than a seminar)
Making Characters of your Characters (again, generic but I could add some specific references to Toy Wars)

And then more to the business aspects:

Flirting for Fun and Profit (this always sells out and is fun… not sexual in nature but talking about how to engage customers)
The 80-20 rule for Indie Authors (new one for me… first time will be at GenCon this year).

Any thoughts?

Thomas Gondolfi (aka TeddyBearMan)
www.tanstaaflpress.com

#6

Just something I want to see. I don’t live in the continental USA, so I seldom make it out to conventions.

#7
Just something I want to see. I don't live in the continental USA, so I seldom make it out to conventions.

Boo, hiss. Sorry to hear you won’t be around, B. Was looking forward to meeting the king of good dragons… or is that your evil twin brother?

#8

I cannot completely confirm at this time if I’ll make Furlandia–when would you need a confirmation? But if I do, I could help with the Worldbuilding and Flirting for Fun & Profit. I am shameless bookseller in person.

:smiley:

If I attend I need to be able to sell books to pay for the trip, so I’ll look into the Dealer’s Den for the convention and see what I can do.

#9

CopperGryfon,
I had a spot in the dealers room for the 2015 con and did fairly well. I’ll also be helping with the writing track for next year’s con.

#10

Awesome! Good to know, and thanks :smiley:

#11

Arara has been our on site person for the actual Furlandia meetings (I’m 2+ hours away) and for this I thank her profusely!

We dont’ know how many slots we are going to have for the writer’s track so I think we should start getting more detailed in our planning. BTW… I’m not so egocentric that I’m trying to be in all the panels / seminars. I just have a limited pool of volunteers to draw from. I’d be more than happy to drop out of many of these and put in furry writers.

I’d like to see the following:

  • Believable World Building 1 Hr Panelists: Tom Gondolfi, Arara (yes, I volunteered you), CopperGryfon and (NIWA Authors?) and ???
    Discuss those key elements that can make or break a world. What is required?

  • Flirting for Fun and Profit 1.5 Hr Seminar: Tom Gondolfi
    A fun discussion on flirting and how it isn’t intrinsically sexual. How to use capability as a vendor and how it is done… step by step.

  • Business of Writing 1 Hr Panelists: Tom Gondolfi, (NIWA Authors?)
    Free form discussion from self-published to traditional publishing to being a publisher. Come ask questions and let us tell you what it takes to make it in the game?

  • Atavism in Anthropomorphic Literature 1 Hr Panelists: Arara, CopperGryfon, ???
    Why species matters, what’s idiosyncratic to a species, and how can we convey it to readers in a way that is engaging instead of alienating?

  • What Makes a Furry Different from any other Alien? 1 Hr Panelists: ??
    Many authors write aliens. Why should anthropomorphics be any different?

Anyone want to sign up? Anyone know anyone who would be exceptional for the job who might not be here?

#12

I regret to say I won’t be able to make it to 2016 after all. It falls in the same weekend as Miscon, which I’ve been hoping to attend for the last couple of years, but haven’t been able to.

Thank you for thinking of me, and best of luck rocking the writer’s track!

#13

Feel free to crib from RF’s writing track listing. Sched should still be up, with all the summaries.

#14

If there’s still need/desire for volunteers, and assuming I’d be considered qualified enough to participate, I’d be fine with taking up Copper’s slots. This is my hometown con so I’m definitely able to go. :slight_smile: