News

Attendees are invited to read from their current or in-progress works or to share their writing roadblocks. (An older or sold story or poem is also welcome, especially if you'd like feedback on it.) Please bring a short piece or a portion of a longer work – fewer than 1,000 words, if you can, but no more than 2,000 words, if you can't break the scene – so everyone has sufficient reading time and attendees have time to provide their feedback.

Please try to arrive before 6:45 p.m. to put your name on the reading list.

After the readings conclude and time permits, we'll go around and share with the group what we're currently reading.

Moderator: Eric Scoles
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: August 7, 2018 from 6:45pm-8:45 p.m.

For years, science fiction brought us visions of rocketing to the moon, journeying to alien planets, and voyaging under the sea. It has also given us utopian and stark, dystopian future societies in which nearly every care, whim, and convenience was given to us – or taken away.

Can you recall a time when we didn’t have telephones and computers that fit in our back pockets or on our wrists? What about video cameras, let alone those that fit into the rims of your glasses or that made nighttime images as bright and clear as those taken in daylight? How about self-driving cars and robots that didn’t need a human’s direct control? Do you remember what life was like before the Internet – before Google, Wikipedia, Twitter, and Instagram?

Have you ever asked yourself, “When will the future get here?” Well, the future is here and we’re living in it right now!

In our July 10 meeting, join us for a free-ranging discussion about technologies that used to be the dreams found only in science fiction writers’ books, TV shows, and movies. We’ll also talk about some of the designers, engineers, and futurists who took those ideas and made them reality.

Presenters: Alan Vincent Michaels
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: July 10, 2018 from 7-9 p.m.

Attendees are invited to read from their current or in-progress works or to share their writing roadblocks. (An older or sold story or poem is also welcome, especially if you'd like feedback on it.) Please bring a short piece or a portion of a longer work – fewer than 1,000 words, if you can, but no more than 2,000 words, if you can't break the scene – so everyone has sufficient reading time and attendees have time to provide their feedback.

Please try to arrive before 7 p.m. to put your name on the reading list.

After the readings conclude and time permits, we'll go around and share with the group what we're currently reading.

Moderator:Alan Vincent Michaels
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: June 5, 2018 from 7-9 p.m.

In our May 1 meeting, we’ll discuss creating languages for fiction. How much depth do you need for your story, and how can you make a fictional language feel “real” to your audience? Do you just need a “naming language” so you can sprinkle in a few place-names? Do you need a few spoken phrases? We’ll talk about how to give your language a sound scheme that feels like a coherent whole so that it hangs together from the start, and we’ll discuss some of the common variants on syntax and word order that you can exploit so that your fictional language isn’t just a word-for-word cipher for English.

Presenters: Lynn Spitz and Hugh Sullivan
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: May 1, 2018 from 7-9 p.m.

Coming up at our next meeting on April 3: Our second panel on world building, focusing on science fiction worlds!

We’re back, wearing our metaphorical overalls, wielding our literary toolboxes, and tackling the foundations that support your science fiction story or novel. Our panelists will help you explore how to create science fiction worlds that are grounded in known science, extrapolating when necessary, but presenting an overriding and strong sense of place for your characters and your readers.

You are invited to share your world-building ideas and discuss topics ranging from avoiding wornout cliches and tropes to using hard physics and engineering in shaping your worlds. Then, take it to next level by extrapolating from the latest theories and discoveries that might not, yet, be found in textbooks. Remember, science can often be stranger than science fiction. So, why not start with science and see where your story will go?

Panel: Frank Glover, Alan Vincent Michaels, Hugh Sullivan
Moderator: Lynn Spitz
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: April 3, 2017 from 7-9 p.m.

Attendees are invited to read from their current or in-progress works or to share their writing roadblocks. (An older or sold story or poem is also welcome, especially if you'd like feedback on it.) Please bring a short piece or a portion of a longer work – fewer than 1,000 words, if you can, but no more than 2,000 words, if you can't break the scene – so everyone has sufficient reading time and attendees have time to provide their feedback.

Please try to arrive before 7 p.m. to put your name on the reading list.

After the readings conclude and time permits, we'll go around and share with the group what we're currently reading.

Moderator:Ted Wenskus
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: March 6, 2018 from 7-9 p.m.

R-SPEC holds its Annual Meeting during the first half-hour of the February meeting. We'll review our accomplishments in 2017 and elect board members for the coming year. This meeting is open to the public, but only paid R-SPEC members are eligible to be on the board and to vote in the elections.

Then you’ll put on your metaphorical overalls, grab your literary toolboxes, and tackle the foundations that support your fantasy story or novel. Our panelists will help you explore how to create believable imaginary worlds in which your characters and plot can come to life and thrive.

You are invited to share your world building ideas and discuss topics ranging from using known settings in urban or historical fantasies to creating key elements from scratch to bolster heroic or magical fantasies. Creating what is needed to tell your story helps you start writing, and thinking about how to weave settings and backgrounds around your characters and plot helps you finish writing.

Panel: Alan Vincent Michaels, Eric Scoles, Ted Wenskus, Hugh Sullivan
Moderator: Lynn Spitz
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: February 6, 2018 from 7-9 p.m.

Attendees are invited to read from their current or in-progress works or to share their writing roadblocks. (An older or sold story or poem is also welcome, especially if you'd like feedback on it.) Please bring a short piece or a portion of a longer work – fewer than 1,000 words, if you can, but no more than 2,000 words, if you can't break the scene – so everyone has sufficient reading time and attendees have time to provide their feedback.

Please try to arrive before 7 p.m. to put your name on the reading list.

After the readings conclude and time permits, we'll go around and share with the group what we're currently reading.

Moderator: Alan Vincent Michaels
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: January 2, 2018 from 7-9 p.m.

Attendees are invited to read from their current or in-progress works or to share their writing roadblocks. (An older or sold story or poem is also welcome, especially if you'd like feedback on it.) Please bring a short piece or a portion of a longer work – fewer than 1,000 words, if you can, but no more than 2,000 words, if you can't break the scene – so everyone has sufficient reading time and attendees have time to provide their feedback.

Please try to arrive before 7 p.m. to put your name on the reading list.

After the readings conclude and time permits, we'll go around and share with the group what we're currently reading.

Moderator: Alan Vincent Michaels
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: November 7, 2017 from 7-9 p.m.

In our October meeting, we examine the differences and parallels between writing for traditionally non-interactive media (prose and scripts) and interactive media (board games, role playing games, choose-your-own-adventure stories, and video games). We’ll look at some of the fundamental types of writing needed for a few interactive mediums, then workshop a few examples, such as diagramming a dialogue tree, adding flavor text to a collectable card game, and coming up with branching descriptions and story consequences for a rogue-like*, randomly generated game.

Presenter: Hugh Sullivan
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: October 3, 2017 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.