So, this Boskone thing...
I went very late on Friday - mostly to pick up my registration stuff and see if I could track people down. The original plan was to meet yuki_onna at the con, but alas that was not to be. My friend N also completely lamed due to being a grad student with a deadline, so I just walked around briefly and headed home, exhausted.
Saturday was much better, con-wise.
Fantasy, Folklore, and Myth was the first panel I attended, bright and early at 10AM. There was an unusual number of panelists: matociquala (aka, our fair moderator), Esther Friesner, Greer Gilman, Josepha Sherman, Tobias Buckell, and Gary Lippincott, who was relatively quiet and on the end. The panel began by establishing that "myth" is usually about the Big Things (tm) such as creation and why we exist. Folklore, on the other hand, is for smaller things - old wives' tales, house stories. Esther Friesner volunteered that her philosophy on this point had always been to "kill them all and let G-d sort it out," where as Greer Gilman suggested we think of myth as the physics of storytelling. Bear then asked if folklore could be myth that has lost its attributions, to which Josepha Sherman agreed.
Bear then asked how the authors bring their background into their work, to which Tobias Buckell volunteered that having grown up on tiny islands in the Caribbean, he tries to add it into his steampunk - put forth the myths that he grew up with into a more modern concept. And I have "no pirates!" down here too. Bear then asked how that contrasts to someone like Tolkien establishing his own modern mythology, and Greer Gilman noted that she "doesn't hold with hydroponic literature" - in other words, myth and folklore have to resonate as such, not be too alien to the reader. Josepha Sherman then volunteered that Lovecraft got most of his folklore from his dreams, and Esther Friesner noted that some of her favorite myths come from South America and Hawaii and involve the creation of women by woodpeckers and Madam Pele as the vanishing hitch-hiker.
The next question was how you give fantasy the patina of myth. Esther Friesner suggested you put it close to what is already out there, like literary comfort food. Josepha Sherman volunteered that it could be formed like fairy tales for a modern generation, and Tobias Buckell added that you lace it with familiar symbols. Here there was a tangent regarding Tanya Huff and the police procedurals with blood and unicorns, Le Guin's ability to put folklore in from the side, and that British fantasy requires a lot of food, especially tea and crumpets - probably dating to the WWII shortages. Bear suggested that folklore can be used as a foundation, and Josepha Sherman offered that your folklore comes out as you put in your background unconsciously. Her example was that revenge stories bear out differently, often dependent on the religion of the author (Catholics have forgiveness, etc).
There was a minor foray into how Terry Pratchett makes you think about religion, myth, and folklore through humor, and the myths homeless Florida kids constructed to explain their world (such as La Llorona and the Blue Lady). Esther Friesner suggested that these myths came about because if you can tell a story, you can end a story, and if you can end that story, you have control. Greer Gilman suggested that modern audiences regard people on the edge as closer to myth and folklore, and the conversation naturally progressed to Charles de Lint and Holly Black's works.
In the end, the panel concluded with:
Josepha Sherman: "People are starved for stories."
Greer Gilman: "Stories hold the world together."
and Tobias Buckell: "To understand the world, construct a narrative."
More later, work now.
Saturday was much better, con-wise.
Fantasy, Folklore, and Myth was the first panel I attended, bright and early at 10AM. There was an unusual number of panelists: matociquala (aka, our fair moderator), Esther Friesner, Greer Gilman, Josepha Sherman, Tobias Buckell, and Gary Lippincott, who was relatively quiet and on the end. The panel began by establishing that "myth" is usually about the Big Things (tm) such as creation and why we exist. Folklore, on the other hand, is for smaller things - old wives' tales, house stories. Esther Friesner volunteered that her philosophy on this point had always been to "kill them all and let G-d sort it out," where as Greer Gilman suggested we think of myth as the physics of storytelling. Bear then asked if folklore could be myth that has lost its attributions, to which Josepha Sherman agreed.
Bear then asked how the authors bring their background into their work, to which Tobias Buckell volunteered that having grown up on tiny islands in the Caribbean, he tries to add it into his steampunk - put forth the myths that he grew up with into a more modern concept. And I have "no pirates!" down here too. Bear then asked how that contrasts to someone like Tolkien establishing his own modern mythology, and Greer Gilman noted that she "doesn't hold with hydroponic literature" - in other words, myth and folklore have to resonate as such, not be too alien to the reader. Josepha Sherman then volunteered that Lovecraft got most of his folklore from his dreams, and Esther Friesner noted that some of her favorite myths come from South America and Hawaii and involve the creation of women by woodpeckers and Madam Pele as the vanishing hitch-hiker.
The next question was how you give fantasy the patina of myth. Esther Friesner suggested you put it close to what is already out there, like literary comfort food. Josepha Sherman volunteered that it could be formed like fairy tales for a modern generation, and Tobias Buckell added that you lace it with familiar symbols. Here there was a tangent regarding Tanya Huff and the police procedurals with blood and unicorns, Le Guin's ability to put folklore in from the side, and that British fantasy requires a lot of food, especially tea and crumpets - probably dating to the WWII shortages. Bear suggested that folklore can be used as a foundation, and Josepha Sherman offered that your folklore comes out as you put in your background unconsciously. Her example was that revenge stories bear out differently, often dependent on the religion of the author (Catholics have forgiveness, etc).
There was a minor foray into how Terry Pratchett makes you think about religion, myth, and folklore through humor, and the myths homeless Florida kids constructed to explain their world (such as La Llorona and the Blue Lady). Esther Friesner suggested that these myths came about because if you can tell a story, you can end a story, and if you can end that story, you have control. Greer Gilman suggested that modern audiences regard people on the edge as closer to myth and folklore, and the conversation naturally progressed to Charles de Lint and Holly Black's works.
In the end, the panel concluded with:
Josepha Sherman: "People are starved for stories."
Greer Gilman: "Stories hold the world together."
and Tobias Buckell: "To understand the world, construct a narrative."
More later, work now.