I have a pretty light schedule at Readercon this year, which I’m okay with. More time for talking to folks I haven’t seen in a while. And drinking.
Friday, July 11, 2014
11:00 AM F Empathy, Identification, and Stories . L. Timmel Duchamp (moderator), Andrea Hairston, Matthew Kressel, Julia Rios, Walt Williams. At a panel at Arisia 2013, Andrea Hairston said, “I can only tell you a story if you’re a human who can hear a story and imagine what it’s like to be someone who isn’t you.” Tannanarive Due added that access to stories matters: some children, for instance, can easily find books about characters like themselves, while others have to read books from outside a position of identification. Culture creates structures of identification and empathy; or, to put it another way, ways of feeling from within and ways of feeling from without. How do stories create structures of feeling, and how can writers and readers both benefit from awareness of these structures?
12:00 PM ENV Reading: Matthew Kressel. Matthew Kressel. Matthew Kressel reads from a new, unpublished short story.
The Empathy panel sounds quite cool, and something I’ve always been interested in as a writer: how to connect with the reader on an emotional level. Some of my stories have been more successful than others at this, but it’s what I strive for. So I’m looking forward to hearing what others say about this.
And as for the story I’m going to read, it’s a new piece, just finished, about a future soldier trying to find his sister after a great battle. Obviously, I was trying to evoke reader empathy here, but also playing with expectations. I’m quite fond of this one, but that’s how things go. I’m curious to see how others will receive it, as it’s never been read by anyone besides myself. That’s a risk I don’t usually take, but I feel pretty confident about this one.
Hope to see you there.
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