Boskone Schedule

[jpskewedthrone]

Here's my schedule for the upcoming Boskone con. Who else is going? And help me out with the Character Assassination panel: let me know what books you've read where the author killed off a major character memorably.

Saturday 11am Character Assassination for Fun and Profit
James D. Macdonald
Joshua B. Palmatier
Allen Steele (M)
Charles Stross

The death of a major character often proves upsetting for involved
readers. How does it feel to the writer? What genre works have
killed off their own most memorably? Does it always help the story?
Which writers have a special gift for this dark art?

Saturday 12noon Mining Your Obsessions
Beth Bernobich
Patricia Bray
Gregory Frost
Joshua B. Palmatier
Tamora Pierce (M)

"Write what you know," they say. If you're writing about a poet who
lives on a space station, how does it help that you're nuts about
cycling, cryptology, forensics, mathematics, or blade weapons? Our
panelists will explore this and other questions related to finding
unlikely connections between what you're writing and what you care
about.

Saturday 5pm Kaffeeklatsch

Sunday 10am Reading (0.5 hrs)

Comments

[fireun.livejournal.com]

...you want a list for the Character Assassination? it has been suggested i am bad luck, as anyone i grow to love is inevitably killed off. in fascinatingly tragic ways *hangs head*

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

Umm . . . so who do you love most in the Throne books?

[fireun.livejournal.com]

...*narrows eyes*
not telling.

[jtglover.livejournal.com]

George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice & Fire series, of course -- death left and right. Well done, too, in that they generally seem to happen the way these things happen in real life -- suddenly, violently, and coming as a shock to everyone involved.

The death of Boromir.

For me, the first time I ever read a fantasy novel where a character died memorably was in Weis & Hickman's Dragonlance Chronicles. The death of Sturm was written well enough that it seemed to fit, but... a part of me (and anyone else I've ever discussed it with) will always think it's because that's the way the dice rolled in the gaming session.

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

I figure Martin will come up immediately, as well as Boromir.

And *snort* for Sturm. I'm sure that's what happened. I got the same feeling while reading Elizabeth Moon's second and third books of the Deed of Paksinarion. The first book was great, but the other two just felt like D&D adventures, including finding treasure in random locations.

[jtglover.livejournal.com]

One addition, depending on how far you choose to stretch the definition of fantasy -- Charlotte, of Charlotte's Web

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

Actually, that one's rather perfect. One not likely to be brought up by others, but which most people have probably read and will have an emotional reaction to. Thanks!

[jtglover.livejournal.com]

De nada. It's an interesting topic, and I'd attend if I were going.

[elizabeth-welsh.livejournal.com]

Dear God, I wish I could go to that. It's only on the other side of the country, but...

****sigh*****

I've killed or maimed major characters in every book I've written. Is this the mark of a good writer, or proof that I'm probably psycho? I don't enjoy it. I usually cry buckets. When the major character was a child, I went through three boxes of kleenex on one chapter, and I still cry whenever I reread it. But I've finally stopped crying over Wisteria's death. Originally though, I was so dpressed afterward that I actually had to take a sick day from work.

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

I'll be hitting Norwescon, too, which might be a little closer. It's in Seattle. That's a good con, IMO.

I think all writers kill off characters. It's an essential part of any story. Especially if you're going to be realistic and are writing about battles and war and such. (Or the Dredge.) I actually worried that I hadn't killed off enough characters in books 2 and 3!

deaths

[maiaarts.livejournal.com]

Lois McMaster Bujold - the death of Bothari
David Eddings - He killed off Torak, a god in the Belgariad and in the Mallorean he killed off major characters from the Belgariad
Terry Pratchett - he killed of the main characters in Small Gods, among other big deaths, such as Deaths daughter and Mort...
Anne McCaffery - she killed off Robinton the Master Harper
Agatha Christie - she killed off her detective Poirot
Dumas killed major characters left and right
and Shakespeare: Hamlet anyone?

Re: deaths

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

Ooo! Great list! Thanks!

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

One that made me cry recently I can't tell you about, because the book was in beta when I read it and isn't out yet :P

I also cried buckets over Yuri in Kate Elliot's Jaran, and how about Aslan in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe? (I know he comes back to life, like, two chapters later, but we don't know that the first time we read his death. At least, we don't if we're little Jewish kids who don't recognize the analogy...)