Saturday did not begin auspiciously. The Nebula Awards hotel
is in downtown San Jose, which is not noteworthy for the adequacy of its public
parking. After visiting one full public lot after another and having various
adventures which left the paint of my car considerably worse for wear, I
surrendered to the inevitability of having to pay a significant fraction of the
national debt in order to leave my car somewhere. However, with the sympathetic
reception of my tale of aggravation, I determined to leave that particular
episode safely ensconced in the past…at least until I have to get my car out of
hock.
As a consequence, I caught only the last part of the SFWA
Business Meeting, and I wouldn’t have been able to report on what transpired
anyway, it being SFWA-Sekrit. However, during the discussion of pirate
websites, a couple of points arose that bear repeating and are nonspecific
enough that nobody is going to track me down for indiscretion. If your
traditionally-published books appear on a pirate site, notify your publisher,
who are, after all, adversely financially affected and often have the legal
departments, etc., to deal with it. Also, some of these sites do not actually
sell pirated copies of books – they are scams for collecting credit card
numbers. This latter notion boggles the mind with its likelihood.
Fast forward through lunch and various conversations to the
panel on Writing For Young Adults (with Leah Bobet, Sarah Beth Durst, Steven
Gould, and E.C. Myers). Herewith my notes:
Don’t be boring (especially for kids). Write well if the
subject matter is difficult, and make sure every element is there for a reason.
This advice strikes me as being rue for all fiction.
