Bad Bat at Fantasycon

Bad Bat founders Ellen Gallagher and Steve Jordan will be attending this year's Fantasycon (beginning Friday 23rd October). Here are the panels where you can find them!

Room: Conference Theatre - Friday: 7.00pm Funtasy: Comedy & Humour in Genre Fiction - Arguably the greatest legacy of Sir Terry Pratchett was to prove that fantasy can be funny without reducing its power to tell great stories and move readers. But it is a delicate balance — being funny can be a serious business. Our panel discusses uses of humour in genre. Hilarity ensues.

• what is the role and effect of humour in fantasy writing?
• what type of funny? Narrative tone, situation, language, character etc.
• different humour for different readers eg. humour for YA readership; ‘broad’ humour, matters of taste
• how can you tell it is funny when you write it?
• does a humorous book have to be a comedy? How to balance humour with action, suspense, tragedy, darkness etc.
• which genre writers make us laugh?

Moderator: Donna Scott
Panellists: Frances Hardinge, Steve Jordan, Heather Lindsley, Terry Newman, Craig Saunders

Room: Suite 1 - Saturday: 3.00pm Agent Charter: From Pitch to Deal and Beyond - How to know if an agent right for you, or if you are right for an agent. This panel shares its thoughts on their role as agents, and gives the low-down on interacting with writers and publishers.

• what do they look for and what have they seen way too much of?
• how to pitch to agents and why are they so hard to get?
• beyond the book deal: why else do you need an agent?
• the agent-writer relationship: when it works and when it doesn’t

Moderator: Jared Shurin
Panellists: Meg Davis, Ellen Gallagher, Kevin Andrew Murphy, Juliet Mushens, John Wordsworth

Room: Suite 1 - Saturday: 7.00pm Script & Screen: Writing Genre for TV & Film - Writing for the screen is uncharted territory for many fiction writers and requires not only different writing disciplines but an understanding of different markets. Our panel discusses the business and technicalities of genre scriptwriting.

• the marketability of genre material in the TV & film industries
• are trends in genre TV/film aligned with genre fiction? Do the big successes (eg. Potter, GoT, Marvel) dictate trends?
• key differences in writing prose fiction and scripts
• pitching & selling speculative scripts for TV or film
• adapting books for the screen: the process, copyright issues etc.
• how to get a screenwriting agent (and do you need one?)

Moderator: Catherine Hill
Panellists: Jason Arnopp, Ellen Gallagher, Stephen Gallagher, Stephen Volk, Gavin Williams