Page Created: 02/16/12. Last Updated: 08/04/12.
DAVID BARR KIRTLEY
Official Site: http://www.davidbarrkirtley.com/
Author / Co-Host of Geek's Guide to the Galaxy
Newsletter Account:
MEETING SUMMARY:
Meeting Date: March 10, 2012.
Meeting Site: Saddle River Valley Cultural Center, Upper Saddle River.
Official Attendance: 20.
Meeting Program: Talk by Writer / Podcaster.
Notes:
Newsletter Account:
The following account is reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2012 Philip J De Parto:
The Science Fiction Association of Bergen County held its monthly General Meeting on Saturday, March 10, 2012 at the Saddle River Valley Cultural Center in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Author / podcaster David Barr Kirtley was our guest.
The pre meeting activities consisted of a screening of episodes of the anime series TRINITY BLOOD in the basement and a wide-ranging discussion of movies (JOHN CARTER), comics (Watchmen prequels), television (AWAKE, THE RIVER), technology (3D television, invisible cars) and more.
David Barr Kirtley is an only child born to two science fiction fans. He did his share of reading growing up, but truly discovered science fiction when a grade school classmate thrust MYTH CONCEPTIONS by Robert Asprin into his hands. He was hooked from the first line: "Of all the various unpleasant ways to be aroused from a sound sleep, one of the worst is the noise of a dragon and a unicorn playing tag." From there it was on to Roger Zelazny's Amber books (read 70 times) and the works of H P Lovecraft, Douglas Adams and Gene Wolfe.
Like many other fans, our guest wanted to be a writer, too. He discovered that he was a good plotter who handled dialogue well, but not good with description or characterization. Over the years he attended a number of science fiction writers' workshops. At Odyssey, author / editor Jeanne Cavelos suggested that he retype a story by another writer to better study the mechanics of the work. Mr Kirtley figured that if retyping a short story was good, recopying a novel (by hand) would be even better. He has repeated the process for several other books. Our guest explained that when you read a book, you get swept up in the story. The process of retyping / recopying a work lets you see the mechanics of the words and punctuation.
One of the lessons Mr Kirtley learned concerned rejection. Our guest recalled author Kay Joy Fowler opening her Clarion workshop presentation by dumping a suitcase full of rejection letters onto a table. He said that being a writer and not expecting to be rejected is like being a boxer and not expecting to be punched. (To be continued.)