Writing panel ideas

[annathepiper]

So I've been asked by awritersweekend for panel ideas for next year's conference (this year's being nailed down already and taking place at the very end of this month). I've already thought of a couple, both of which come out of my online gaming/roleplay experience:

• Writing POV characters that aren't your gender. I used to get semi-regularly boggled at for playing male characters on various games, and more than once I've been boggled at by other writers who have difficulty getting into the mindset of writing a character that isn't their own gender.
  
  
• Jumping from online gaming to writing and what skills are transferrable. I've identified at least four writing-related skills I've practiced during my RP years: character development (this certainly being the biggest, for the games where I've had to apply for characters with special backgrounds and/or abilities), plot development, how to effectively describe an action, and how to collaborate with others on a group work.

Anybody up for adding to this list? If you were going to attend a writing conference, what unusual panel topic would you like to see?

(x-posted between my journal and scuzzboppers)

Comments

[suzene.livejournal.com]

Heh. I have almost the opposite problem; I can rarely write female characters (or at least not human ones) in what I feel is a convincing style.

I'd like to see something on the balance between making alien characters something more than a human in a different skin, but at the same time, managing to keep some point of empathy.

[annathepiper]

Writer's Weekend unfortunately has had less of an SF/F emphasis than I'd like--it tends to slant towards romance, suspense, and mystery. I'm not the only SF/F type that shows up by any means, but there's a dearth of pertinent panel topics.

I like your idea, though. ^_^ I think I've seen panels with that concept at Norwescon before!