Kate Elliott will be attending the Sasquan 73rd World Science Fiction Convention, held 19 Aug. – 23 Aug. 2015 in Spokane, WA. Worldcon celebrates the best works and creators in the speculative fiction field and culture.

Kate Elliott’s events:
Thursday, 20 Aug. 2015

JUST ADDED:

Ditch Diggers LIVE Podcast with Matt Wallace and Mur Lafferty: 12:00 – 12:45 CC Theater 110. I’ll be one of the guests with Aliette de Bodard and Fonda Lee.

Reading – 4:30PM – 5:00PM

Friday, 21 Aug. 2015

NEW! JUST ADDED:

Kaffee Klatche - Kate Elliott (Participant)
Friday, August 21 2015, 10:00 am 
202B-KK4 (CC)

Narrative Structure and Expectation – 4:00PM – 4:45PM
How do we enter stories? By what techniques do narratives pull us in? How do the expectations we have influence how we respond? I’ll break down some narrative techniques used in openings, and then go on to discuss how openings that match expectations can encourage us to keep reading while expectations that aren’t fulfilled can sometimes cause us to stop reading. How big a part does familiarity play in how well we can understand and adjust to a story? Finally, how do the things that we think we know but may be wrong about (as in history) make it easier or harder to be drawn into a book if our beliefs aren’t met?

(Elliott adds, “This is not a panel but a lecture, with entertaining Powerpoint (almost all image/video slides, and only two text slides). I debuted this presentation at SFeraKon in Croatia and it went over so well I decided to offer it to Sasquan.”)

Saturday, 22 Aug. 2015
Fantasy Creation for the Bold (With Ken Liu) – 12:00PM – 12:45PM
What are some of the bolder and more interesting worldbuilding decisions you’ve made? What kind of details, often neglected, can end up being extremely important? How do you make use of historical knowledge and anthropological insights to free your worlds rather than constraining them to well-trodden paths? The dialog discusses techniques and approaches that have paid off as well as pitfalls and traps.
(“Not a panel but a dialogue between me and award winning SFF author Ken Liu.”)

Diversity within YA & Middle Grade Fiction (With Cynthia Ward, Cassandra Rose Clarke, Fonda Lee, and Wesley Chu) – 1:00PM – 1:45PM
Everyone is talking about diversity within science fiction and fantasy, but how are we doing with diversity within the young adult and middle grade subgenres? What writers should we be reading? What characters should we be looking to as examples? And what new fiction are we looking forward to reading?

Sunday, 23 Aug. 2015
Autographing (With Kendare Blake and Karl Schroeder) –  12:00PM – 12:45PM

Worlds We Believe: YA Building (With Lauren Roy, Jennifer Brozek, and Jessica Rising) -1:00PM – 1:45PM
Have you ever sympathized with trudging through Professor Trelawney’s divination classroom? Does living in a Hobbit hole, spaciously provisioned seem not so far-fetched? Which district do you live in?  What about traveling through a worm hole at warp speed? Worlds that are easy to picture become a part of invested creators. What makes a believable world? What have past and present authors done right? Come visit other worlds with us. 

See you there!