Road to Reno

I-80 Across Nevada - Photo:John Cook

Worldcon was a lot of fun, but why is it that when you're driving home from a trip, it seems to take twice as long? And I just have to say, the scenery on the I-80 drive across Nevada is not very picturesque.

I'm pretty sure if Kirk and Spock beamed down there, finding neither Orion slave girls or tomes of knowledge, they'd beam right back up. Endless yellow grass on brown hills for hours on end makes for a looonng drive. More so on the ride home.

Fortunately, my writing group amused ourselves with discussions of the finer points of literature and writing, including two hours of character development where we asked and answered questions about our characters.

For those of you who don't write, think of a character you've read and ask how that character would answer these questions. Here are some of the sample questions:

• Justice or mercy? Why?
• If you could spend a year in another country, where would you pick and why?
• With unlimited expenses, what type of party would you throw and why?
• Is art or science more important to humanity?
• If you could be brilliant and ugly or gorgeous with a mediocre intelligence, which would you choose and why?
• Do you believe in fate?
• If you could spend a day with anyone, living or dead, who would it be? Why?
• Is the male or female form more beautiful?
• What animal best matches your personality? Why?
• What is your favorite scent?
• Is kindness or courage more admirable?
• What will your world be like in twenty years?

The discussion was great and gave me some nice ideas for deepening my characters. Since the questions were for a game designed to help people get to know each other, they helped me learn more about my characters and, oddly enough, myself.

I'll post more this week on the experiences I had and the awesome people I met. And if I can figure out how to attach audio files to my blog, I'll even post some of the panel discussions from Worldcon. But right now, I have to get my daily word count in.

And a nap... I never sleep well away from home.