We’ve had some discussions, tossed around a few ideas and here is the next list of possible panels. Feel free to comment, add your own suggestions and if you’re coming, and there’s a panel you just have to be on, let me know. Note that Conflux will have a maximum of four people on a panel, and we want to try to limit people to three or four appearances at the convention, so there are lots of different views shared.

Welcome to the con – how to get the most out of the experience

Where to start – the must-reads

Writing the tie-ins – novels from series

Moving on from mobiles – where to next for technology

Filking 101 – the secret of the great song

Cultural tales – writing ethnicities into your work

What people want – spec fic booksellers tell all

Flying fire – dragons in literature and story

Fans v.2 – how do we grow fandom

Clarion revisted – do structured writing workshops work

AAAARRRRGGGHHHH! – the worst SF and Fantasy in history

Blinded by science – the state of psychological sci fi

Pilots with pms – women in sci fi

Blowing the ship with one shot – fiction of science fiction battles

Levels 1 to 10 – the role of gaming in developing the genre

How to find a hero – avoiding the king-hidden-as-shepherd type clichés

Beach balls and strobes – cheap but effective special effects

It came in a dream – how to generate story ideas

Writing for the end of the world – environmental sci fi

Returning to the world – when you have to go back.

It’s great – the art of the review

Type and photocopy – creating a fanzine

Scary or weird – what is horror

10 things beginning writers get wrong

Prayer and prophet – creating an authentic fictional religion

Keep the hero going – just what does he/she need to reach the end of the story? Looking at food, sleep and so on

Writing disciplines – the impacts of other styles of writing

The dead body – how to kill someone

Young adult fiction – is it real or just marketing

Blogs – the new community

What is fear and what is evil

Gothic romance – the genre

Literature vs film – where does horror belong

What makes a good villain in story and real life

Scientification – the history of fandom

Dr Who – the fans talk

Beasts of Burden – moving around in literature

Space opera – did it ever die

Love, crime and spells – cross-genre work

Scrolling through the story – past, present and future of webpublishing

Cons – why do it

Making you squirm – horror writers read their work

It’s over – what we think of Harry Potter

Authors blogs – good pr or a waste of time

Take me to your leader – who the aliens should talk to

Original versus derived – spec fic movies