November| DreamCasters Agenda
11-06-2022

Opening Statement

Welcome to DreamCasters, a DreamForge discussion group devoted to helping our members improve their writing and storytelling through discussion and sharing expertise.

Special This Month!

You want to join the ZOOM meeting live. We’re giving away a $120 value Patreon membership to Mary Robinette Kowal’s monthly online Q&A and co-working writing date.

Our second giveaway is a hard cover of Mary’s new novel “The Spare Man.”

Mary is joining us for a Q&A based on her Video Class on Diagnosing Story Problems. Mary has generously shared this video with DreamCasters. Before the meeting – watch it here: https://dreamforgemagazine.com/diagnosing-story-problems-with-mary-robinette-kowal/  (Available to DreamCaster Patreon Supporters Only.) Be ready with your questions!

DreamForge News –  5 min

Akis Linardos sold a story to Apex Magazine! And another sale is on the horizon.

Wulf Moon sold a story to Galaxy’s Edge, titled “Sharnathium.”

Angelique Fawns story “Kutulu in the Desert” was our 2022 Halloween story for DreamForge

Stephanie Troeth, Michael Zahniser, and Indiana Tilford all sold us stories in our current submission period. We’re working our way through 640 stories, so that’s a good showing so far.

DreamForge Anvil # 9: “Out of Place” is available, with both online and digital versions available. https://bit.ly/df-anvil-9

DreamCaster Guest Mary Robinette Kowal

Our Guest Today is Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Award winning author Mary Robinette Kowal.

Mary will join us for a Q&A for her Video Class on Diagnosing Story Problems that she has generously shared with DreamCasters. Before the meeting – watch it here: https://dreamforgemagazine.com/diagnosing-story-problems-with-mary-robinette-kowal/

The material in this video is master class level and is a must-see to help take your writing to the next level.

Mary Robinette Kowal is the author of the Lady Astronaut Universe and historical fantasy novels: The Glamourist Histories series and Ghost Talkers. She’s a member of the award-winning podcast Writing Excuses and has received the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, four Hugo awards, the RT Reviews award for Best Fantasy Novel, the Nebula, and Locus awards. Stories have appeared in Strange Horizons, Asimov’s, several Year’s Best anthologies and her collections Word Puppets and Scenting the Dark and Other Stories.

Her novel Calculating Stars is one of only eighteen novels to win the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards in a single year.

As a professional puppeteer and voice actor (SAG/AFTRA), Mary Robinette has performed for LazyTown (CBS), the Center for Puppetry Arts, Jim Henson Pictures, and founded Other Hand Productions. Her designs have garnered two UNIMA-USA Citations of Excellence, the highest award an American puppeteer can achieve. She records fiction for authors such as Seanan McGuire, Cory Doctorow and John Scalzi.

Mary Robinette lives in Nashville with her husband Rob and over a dozen manual typewriters. Visit maryrobinettekowal.com.

Special Give Aways! – 5 minutes

With Mary Robinette Kowal as our guest, we will give away 2 special prizes. By random dice roll, we will give away:

• On Year Patreon subscription at Mary’s $10/month Patreon level. Includes a monthly online Q&A followed by writing in the company of others.
• A hard copy of Mary’s latest book: The Spare Man.

Story Prompts –  5 minutes

We’ll give out a couple story prompts that might be interesting to explore.

Meeting Ends.  Thank You All!

In December 2022

We’re going to have a casual get-together online and reset for new members. We’ll talk about our goals with DreamCasters for 2023, writing templates, writing challenges, and our mission to be able to pay $0.08/word.

New Year Guests include:

In January, John Goodwin, the President of Galaxy Press (publishers of the Writers of the Future Anthologies) will be our guest and will talk with you about what you’d like to know about the WoTF contest. So let us know, and we’ll organize the meeting accordingly.