Sunday, August 1, 2010

Weekly Urban Fantasy Chat Begins on Twitter

Do you like UF? Monsters? Lots happening! New releases, writing contests, trends/tips.. come join #UFchat
Ton of resources to back-up tomorrow's #UFchat! We haz urban fantasy kickassitude right here!

#UFchat! Bring your monsters & stomping boots. We'll dissect the ingredients in urban fantasy and much more...

Countdown to #UFchat. All monsters, monster-spotters and monster-makers welcome. Bring your boots...
(Every Saturday 3pm PST/6pm EST)

In case you didn't get the hint, Urban Fantasy writers and readers now have a place to talk all things UF on Twitter!

Every Saturday at 3pm PST (6pm EST) all monster-inclined, er, interested people can join in the chat by using the #UFChat hashtag. It's a great place (possibly an alternate universe, it's so fun!) to discover other urban fantasy people, including UF authors, you can connect with on Twitter. The chat lasts for an hour-ish. (Very 'ish', especially when les interwebs are infused with gremlins and other mischievous lightning bugs but that's another story...)

Oh - and I'm moderating. :)

Every week the topic will be posted the day before and the transcript of the chat will be posted within 24 hours following it (apocalypses excepted) on the #UFChat Blog. (Anyone who missed the chat is welcome to add their comments later in the day/night - must allow for night creatures! - and I'll make sure they're added too. Just use the #UFChat hashtag to be included.)
So far we've had a resoundingly successful first smackdown, er, session with the amazing Stacia Kane (@StaciaKane on Twitter) doing a Q&A on writing UF and her Downside books (which are also UFChat's first recommended reads. Our second chat this past Saturday was excellent too (in spite of it being conference season and family escape/vacation time), talking further about definitions of UF (oh how they vary!), how people discovered it (from TV ads to Gaiman to Red Riding Hood and more) and what ingredients are typical in the UF genre (as it's currently represented, 'cause, ya know, it's morphed/shape-shifted a lot since the 1920's when it first roared into being).

You can find the 1st week transcript HERE (with the Q&A part only HERE in a separate post for an easier read), the 2nd week's HERE and the recommended read for the month HERE.

The idea is that the chats will build a good resource for people, both in content, links to pertinent posts and essays, contests, book release information, community and more. In only two weeks , true to UF form the chats have had a ton of 'kickassitude'. (How could they not?) There's already a ton of awesome to dig into. (Woot!) I'm excited for the potential (can you tell?) and for stretching all our writing and thinking muscles. Oh OK - and for encouraging more UF (the good stuff!) to be written - we need more - seriously - society depends upon it ;).

You can follow @UF_Chat on Twitter for updates and announcements (and I also try to do countdowns to the chat ahead of time to remind people - boots are often mentioned being as necessary as they are) and you can follow me too (@inkgypsy). I never seem to shut up about the genre so if you like UF there will always be something in my tweet-timeline for you. :)