Missoula's Science Fiction & Fantasy Convention

Part of what defines a culture is its system of shared beliefs--not only religious, but also secular. Designing and understanding the belief systems of your characters adds depth to the world in which they live, so let's discuss how to do so.

Let's discuss how to show why characters do what they do without giving big info dumps or lecturing.

Magical healing is found in many fantasy (and science fiction, depending on your definition of “magical”) stories. What are the limits of it, and what are the costs to either the caster or the recipient? Can magic heal mental trauma as well as physical? If the mind can be healed with magic, does it require something different than physical healing?

Let's discuss the relevancy of the Star Wars series Andor's themes in today's bleak real world landscape, and how they enhance, deepen, and reflect the original ideas of escapist fantasy and heroism, getting to the core of what Star Wars truly means while both deconstructing and humanizing the combatants.

What are tropes, how are they used, and how can we use them effectively as story-telling tools without falling back on the same old cliches?
Tropes are one of the building blocks of stories, but they can be misused, overused, and just plain worn out. How can you use tropes effectively in your writing? What are some stories that have done to well? Let's talk about using tropes, with and without flipping them around.

Explore how to get started in crafting your own leather armor, and building a functional/realistic kit.

Improv is about much more than pop culture references, and Tabletop Games are about much more than hogging the stage. This panel will teach you how to use long form improv techniques to tell the stories you want to tell, but also, how to support the other players at your table to have fun!

The 20-books movement is a perfectly viable business plan to make money as an author, but it's had an unfortunate side effect on readers. If you have a slow, hand-crafted, revised, and perfected novel--what do you do with it in the middle of a market controlled by an algorithm that prefers quantity to quality?

Our panelists will discuss mistakes and epic blunders they've made while working in comics.