Calendar

In our April meeting, we'll explore including current events in your speculative fiction stories. We'll look at selected classic and modern stories that used current events to help answer the "what if?" questions we didn't think about when the events unfolded on the evening news.

Socialism and totaliarian rule or the fear of atomic annihilation were often the focus of SF's "Golden Age" stories. Today, advancements in technology, such as artificial intelligence, biological experimentation, and genetic manipulation of the human genome, are front and center in many writers' minds. When the elements of politics, economics, warfare, terrorism, and social struggles – just to name a few – are mixed in, you have the mirrors that writers hold up for us to gaze into and contemplate the consequences of our actions.

How do you explore a current event topic without becoming preachy or writing an essay of your opinions? How do you come up with a new perspective that wasn't discussed on the evening news and prevent a regurgitation of the facts that you can find by doing an Internet search? We'll answer these questions and more through group exercises and discussion.

Moderator: Alan Vincent Michaels
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: April 5, 2016 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

For our March meeting, R-SPEC will be holing its annual meeting for the first 30 minutes or so where we will review our accomplishments in 2015 and elect board members for the coming year. As always, this is open to the public, but only paid R-SPEC members are eligible to be on the board and to vote in the elections.

Afterward, attendees are invited to read from their current or in-progress works. (Older or sold stories and poems are also welcome, especially if you'd like some kind of feedback on it.) Please bring a short piece or a portion of a longer work -- fewer than 1,000 words if you can, but up to 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 to put your name on the list for reading. 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 1, 2016 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

Your story’s success hinges on suspending disbelief in your readers’ minds. Naming your fantasy creature “Fluffy Unicorn” might be appropriate in a picture book for kindergarten-aged readers, but it will likely cause your high-fantasy novel readers to slam their books closed in disgust. Likewise, you’d be truly lucky if your readers were still reading your short story after trying to pronounce your alien’s name of “Ag-K’Li’k’-O’dam-Go’Hai, the Third” for the fifth time.

In our February 2 meeting, Alan leads a discussion on creating appropriate names for the objects, characters, and worlds that are foundation of your stories. Tips and techniques for picking good names and making sure they convey the correct meaning will be shared.

Attendees: Please bring at least one name from your favorite speculative fiction story or novel for an object, a character, and a world. If you have examples of bad or inappropriate names, feel free to bring those to share, too.

Presenter: Alan Vincent Michaels
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: February 2, 2016 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

R-Spec meets eleven months of the year on the first Tuesday of the month. (We don't hold a regular meeting in December.) Normally we meet at the Barnes & Noble in Pittsford (3349 Monroe Avenue, Rochester, NY 14618), from 7 to 9 p.m. For 'Reading' meetings, please show up early so we can put your name on the list to read. This calendar is also available as a PDF. Please contact us if you have any questions. 

In our January 5 meeting, Kurt will present our first Disturbing Frequencies story and interview podcasts.

Attendees will then be invited to read from their current or in-progress works. (Older or sold stories and poems are also welcome, especially if you'd like feedback on the piece.) Please bring a short piece or a portion of a longer work -- fewer than 1,000 words if you can, but up to 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 list for reading. After the readings conclude and time permits, we'll go around and share with the group what we're currently reading.

Presenter: Kurt Schweitzer
Moderator: Alan Vincent Michaels
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: January 5, 2016 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

Every story plot needs to be sculpted, but you don't have to start with just raw clay. Structural elements can help you find and create something new out of some basic materials. We'll discuss three major structural elements:

1. The Foundation. The basic shape of the story, as demonstrated with various styles of act structures and plot building techniques.
2. Scaffolding. How can the foundation be built on piece by piece, and how can each story arc, chapter, or episode serve to further the plot?
3. Nuts and Bolts. Dealing with the little things to help push plot along. 

We'll finish the meeting by plotting a future episode of Space Archaeologists, a serial created specifically for the R-Spec podcast!

Facilitator: Hugh Sullivan
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: September 1, 2015 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

In our July 7 meeting, attendees are invited to read from their current or in-progress works. (Older or sold stories and poems are also welcome, especially if you'd like some kind of feedback on it.) Please bring a short piece or a portion of a longer work -- fewer than 1,000 words if you can, but up to 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 to put your name on the list for reading.

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

Moderator: Alan Michaels
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: July 7, 2015 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

Fantasy and science fiction stories let your characters inhabit and explore worlds that exist only in your imagination. Yet, creating realistic and cohesive settings can be challenging, because you are dealing with imaginary and potentially transformative environments. In mainstream fiction, you can rely on the familiarity your readers may have with various cities, regions, and cultures, including descriptions from history and shared memes. It’s different for speculative fiction stories. You need to build your settings and everything else from the ground up. In many ways, your settings come to life in the same manner as do your characters.

During our June 2 meeting, our panelists will help you explore how to create speculative fiction settings that move your stories towards exciting conclusions, and leave lasting impressions with your readers – maybe even more lasting than those found in our everyday world.

Panel: Kurt Schweitzer, Eric Scoles, Lynn Spitz, and Ted Wenskus
Moderator: Alan Michaels
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: June 2, 2015 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

November is National Novel-Writing Month, so our November 3 meeting is a great time get a boost by reading your first few day's work. Please come early so we can get an idea of how many people will be reading; if we have enough folks, we'll split off into small groups for reading & feedback. 

Presenter: Alan Vincent Michaels
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: November 3, 2013 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

In October's meeting, Kurt Schweitzer will discuss podcasting. He'll offer a brief history, explore where podcasting stands today, and why you would want to do it.

From there he'll move on to a discusion of how to do it, including a hardware and software show and tell and a review of resources available to you.

Moderator: Kurt Schweitzer
Location: Barnes & Noble, Pittsford
Meeting Time: October 6, 2015 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.