The joys of programming

Hi All,

Alt.Fiction seems to still be moving along and this week I have been taking on the task of programming the event. I'd consider myself about halfway but the biggest problem that I am encountering is fitting everything and everyone in! I want all the participants to be able to say their piece and be involved in a way they are happy with.

I think that the day will almost certainly be longer than last year as there are more writers on board and also a set of book launches taking place that will (hopefully) have their own distinct space. It's currently looking like we will have eight sessions throughout the day rather than seven and I'm currently toying with an earlier start rather than a later finish. However if anyone did have any strong opinions on this please feel free to express them! I'm also hoping to have some more 'paired' readings and bring some new topics for discussion such as scriptwriting and the work of small presses.

Hopefully the plan will be in place by the end of the week to send out to participants. The final plan will probably look nothing like this original as obviously I absolutely want to ensure that all particpants are happy with their time allocation and their topics (where appropriate). So the whole programming process I would estimate takes a couple of months. But it's a great feeling when you have the layout finished...it somehow makes the whole thing more real. It's that point of transformation from a list of participants to a very focussed plan of action.

In other news...

It looks likely that Alt.Fiction 2007 will have an accompanying film show at the Metro Cinema in Derby. Had a very positive meeting there yesterday and they seem happy to work with us to bring some movie material to the Alt.Fiction audience (do I dare say Alt.Film? Hmmmm....). I'd love these to be films with literature connections in particular but obviously it's not something for me to dictate on. I'd quite like a few films to be suggested by the day's writers to see if Metro could get those. That's all up for grabs but the upshot is that there will be a post-Alt.Fiction screening, which is reall exciting news.

I've been in preliminary discussions with Damien Walter, Literature Development Officer for Leicester, to take a couple of Alt.Fiction events over there in early 2007...watch this space for updates on that one. Damien has been very supportive towards Alt.Fiction and I know is a very keen sci-fi fan, so I'm really looking forward to working with him on those.

I guess that's all for now- things are continuing to tick along towards next year. I'll be working on updating the Council's Alt.Fiction webpage in the near future too so will be putting some info on there also.

I'll be back for another update next week...

Thanks

Alex