Calendar

R-SPEC holds its Annual Board Meeting during the first half-hour of the February meeting. We look back upon our accomplishments in 2020 and elect Board members for the coming year. The 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, to some people, the future is a malleable, blank slate; to others, it is predetermined and unchangeable. In our Who Owns the Future? discussion, we examine many of the forces shaping the future, and how you can use these perspectives to help you examine the ideas presented in your stories.

Annual Board Meeting

• Moderator: Ted Wenskus

Who Owns the Future?

• Panelists: Lynn Spitz, Eric Scoles, Hugh Sullivan, and Ted Wenskus

• Moderator: Alan Vincent Michaels

Location: Zoom (Please join us about 10 minutes before the regular 7 p.m. start time to ensure you're connected.)

Meeting Time: Tuesday, February 2, 2021 from 7-9 p.m.

Note: R-SPEC presentations on topics of interest meetings may be recorded, and a link to the recording posted on our website.

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.

UPDATE: We're not meeting at B&N. Please join us virtually on Zoom about 10 minutes before the regular 7 p.m. start time to ensure you're connected.

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: Zoom (Please join us about 10 minutes before the regular 7:00PM start time to ensure you're connected.)
• Meeting Time: January 5, 2021 from 7-9 p.m.

Note: R-SPEC presentations on topics of interest meetings may be recorded, and a link to the recording posted on our website.

Writing a short story can be hard and writing a novel can be extraordinarily difficult for any writer. For the November challenge, signing up now for free at NaNoWriMo.org will help you get organized, set milestones, track your writing progress, and commiserate with other writers. NaNoWriMo is like having a coach and guardrails to help you start, create, and finish your novel.

Join us on December 1 to talk about your NaNoWriMo experience and, possibly, share with other meeting members a bit of what you created. No NaNoWriMo-specific work? No problem! Bring anything you’re currently working on and share some of it to receive feedback.

Presenter: Alan Vincent Michaels

Location: Zoom (virtual meeting only)

Meeting Time:Tuesday, December 1, 2020 from 7:00-9:00 p.m.

Whether in mythology, folklore, poetry, or prose, tales of vampires can be found in oldest recorded civilizations around the world. Yet, despite their differences across time and geography, they all have one thing in common: vampires themselves are always changing, reinterpreted by each generation, even down to folkloric traits such as casting reflections in mirrors … or not.

Our presenter, Ted Wenskus, examined the evolution of vampire fiction for his graduate thesis, and will take us through a guided tour of vampires in English literature. How they have developed over the centuries? How have they stayed the same? And how do they reflect the times in which their tales were told? This one-hour (or so) presentation will be followed by a short break and then by what’s sure to be a wide-ranging discussion. Join us!

Presenter: Ted Wenskus

Location: Zoom (virtual meeting only)

Meeting Time: Tuesday, October 27, 2020 from 7:00-9:00 p.m.

Whether based on well-established folklore, public domain works, or even the biggest mass media franchises of today, thousands of books have been created by authors set in realms that they themselves did not originally create. Shared worlds are popular, prevalent, and persistent.

But what do authors have to gain by writing in a shared universe or a borrowed landscape? What are its artistic merits? Its constraints? Commercial benefits and pitfalls? And what do you have to keep in mind to write successfully in them? Our roundtable discussion will delve into all of these questions and more—bring an example of a favorite shared universe to share and join in the discussion!

Panelists: Nick DiChario, Lynn Spitz, Eric Scoles, Hugh Sullivan, and Ted Wenskus

Moderator: Alan Vincent Michaels

Location: Zoom (virtual meeting only)

Meeting Time: October 6, 2020 from 7:00-9:00 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.

UPDATE: We're not meeting at B&N. Please join us virtually on Zoom about 10 minutes before the regular 7 p.m. start time to ensure you're connected.

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: Zoom (Please join us about 10 minutes before the regular 7:00PM start time to ensure you're connected.)
• Meeting Time: September 1, 2020 from 7-9 p.m.

Note: R-SPEC presentations on topics of interest meetings may be recorded, and a link to the recording posted on our website.

In part 4 of the 2020 R-SPEC Writing Series, get set to tackle one of the foundations of speculative fiction: crafting believable worlds that create a strong sense of place for your characters and your readers.

We invite you to share your world-building ideas and join in the discussion with our panelists on topics ranging from avoiding worn-out clichés and tropes to researching aspects of our known world to shape your fictional realms.

Panelists: Lynn Spitz, Eric Scoles, Hugh Sullivan, and Ted Wenskus

Moderator: Alan Vincent Michaels

Location: Zoom (virtual meeting only)

Meeting Time: August 4, 2020 from 7:00-9:00 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.

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: Zoom (Please join us about 10 minutes before the regular 7:00PM start time to ensure you're connected.)
• Meeting Time: July 7, 2020 from 7-9 p.m.

Note: R-SPEC presentations on topics of interest meetings may be recorded, and a link to the recording posted on our website.

In part 3 of the 2020 R-SPEC Writing Series, we will dive into plotting methods for your story or novel. Some elements, such as reading a lot in the genre you want to explore, are easy. While others, such as recognizing the essential narrative devices for anything you write, may take longer to embrace. Feel free to bring examples of your own writing or pieces you have read that demonstrate good story structure. Our goal is to share and discuss techniques to help you write a successful story.

• Moderator: Alan Vincent Michaels
• Location: Zoom (Please join us about 10 minutes before the regular 7:00PM start time to ensure you're connected.)
• Meeting Time: June 2, 2020 from 7-9 p.m.

Myriad Worlds of Possibilities – Read Your Work

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.

UPDATE: We're not meeting at B&N. Please join us virtually on Zoom about 10 minutes before the regular 6:30PM start time to ensure you're connected. 

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: Zoom
• Meeting Time: May 5, 2020 from 7-9 p.m.