Mary Catelli's Erraticly Updated and Exceedingly Ill-Organized Journal

A writerly panel on writing time travel stories.

The moderator ruled out paradox at once, because it could consume the panel.
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My, what an open ended topic.

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A discussion, mostly, of the problems involved.

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That life-blood of stories, the conflict!

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Back from Arisia and ready to talk about the panels. . . .

This one was about urban fantasies.( Read more... )

How to make your characters real. . . .

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A discussion of what pieces of history are used and what aren't.  And what weirder ones are useful.

One panelist's first idea is what if Eisenhower didn't get his Interstate System through Congress.  It was a really messy battle.  What would the effect being on our psychology if it was normal to have to putt along at 30 mph through the country?  Another panelist pointed out that Route 66 was already acquiring a positive mythology by that point, and Route 1.  Higher speeds would have come, just gradually.  Perhaps not fully even to this day.
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A topic I have great interest in, even if my favorite technique is to make the POV character the one who slips behind the tree as soon as the swords start waving.
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I'm back!  From Arisia!  And ready to burble about panels!

This one was writing oriented:  how to recognize and remove the little darlings that are warping the story.  (I arrived a little late from dinner to this one.)
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Consistency -- one panelist objects to the notion, because well, it's magic.

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