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Sometimes art emulates life, and sometimes life emulates art. For writers who also do the work of developing stronger community networks, worldbuilding strategies show up in far more than plans for the latest story draft. What lessons for better community organizing can we take from SFF, and how does our work in community organizing improve the speculative tales we tell? This year at Quasar, four dynamic creators will invite you to think more ambitiously about how you dream up community – on the page, and in the world around you. Join us for a co-facilitated conversation between BrightFlame, Curtis Chen, and James Stegall.

Read more about Panel 1.2 Mutual Resilience: How SFF Writers Build Community On and Off the Page

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Independent authors exist across mediums, publishing books, analog games, video games, comics, and more. But for all the diversity in their final products, Indie creators face many similar struggles – with distribution platforms, payment models, and promotions strategies. If you’re an indie or hybrid SFF creator, don’t miss this pragmatic industry chat across the indie landscape. We’ll explore common pitfalls and survival tactics for SFF writers who are doing most of the work alone – but in a system where indie creators are always stronger together.

Read more about Panel 1.1: Shared Challenges for Multimedia Indie Creators

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This year, the Nebulas celebrated indie publishing in fine form with the Andre Norton Award going to Vanessa Ricci-Thode, an indie-published author.

Now it’s time to dive in and see what the rest of SFWA Indie is up to, with readings and author Q&As from some of our most dedicated members. This event is open to the public, and we look forward to showing you how the power of the written word transcends all publishing forms. Stop by and learn about SFWA Indie’s latest!

Read more about Indie Author Spotlight Reading

This panel is for everyone who’s ever wanted to cuddle up to the sharp teeth and the tentacles, or take solace in the whispering dark. There is no horror without comfort. What warmth can we find amid the nightmares; how is it evolving, and what does it mean?

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Read more about Cozy Horror: It’s Not an Oxymoron!

Writing for poetry or short story? Or are novelettes or novellas your passion? Join us to discuss the changing magazine market for these SFF forms. How do we stay up to date, strengthen our submissions, and support small publishers in shifting times?

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Read more about Magazine Market Breakdown

So, you’ve finished that story you’ve been working on for ages and… now what? What is the difference between revision and editing? What are the differences between developmental, line, and copy editing? How do you know when you’re done? How and when should you work with an editor, either on a short story in a magazine or anthology or on a book-length work? This panel aims to answer these questions and more!

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Read more about Working with editors

Urban Fantasy is the best genre ever! What are you even talking about? Space Opera forever! Pfft. You’re both wrong. Romance holds the largest share of the publishing market for a reason! Whatever. Epic Fantasy all the—STOP! We all have our personal preferences, both as readers and as writers. But what if instead of genre knockouts we explored genre mashups? This panel will explore the rich and vibrant spaces between genres and effective strategies for creating subgenre mashups that are greater than simply the sum of their parts.

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Read more about Genre Wars – Mashups Instead of Knockouts (In-Person Edition)

Perseverance. That’s the name of the game in publishing. The odds of “going viral” are akin to winning the lottery, and it often feels like agents and publishers only know the word “no.” Not to mention the options—so many options! Do I self-publish or query? What does writing to market even mean? Will changing genres mid-career be a game changer or a game over? Decision fatigue is real, but one thing is certain—if you want to “make it,” never give up, never surrender. It’s time to discuss perseverance in publishing and how to keep going when everything’s telling you to stop.

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Read more about Never Give Up! Never Surrender!

So often, we can feel alone on our publishing journeys. How do we make friends? Where do we find help and support? Let’s talk about beginnings: How and where do we find our people, especially when we may be battling distances, introversion, and/or imposter syndrome? What are the best ways to reach out to and work with each other?

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Read more about Collaboration and Building a Publishing Community

The core of any game is interaction design: how the players interact with the game to cause change. Indie game developers push the envelope, challenging expectations around mechanics and narrative choices to offer players a richer, deeper engagement with the text. In this panel, game developers discuss innovative approaches to player choice and agency, how those approaches affect narrative, and how broadening the possibilities of interaction can have real-world impacts.

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Read more about Innovating Interaction: Indie Design and Player Choice