Friday, 8:00-9:15 P.M.

How to Build Your Own City (Without an Urban Planning Degree): Part I, The Past

Redwood Room

Aqueducts allowed cities to stray farther from rivers. Letters of free trade moved settlers from forts and castles to free towns. How do you evolve a city for your fantasy novel that feels specific and plausible, not generic?
M: Yonatan Zunger, Erin Hoffman, Daniel Starr, Katharine Kerr

The first of three panels designed to help writers create believable cities in their imaginary worlds, this panel could be called "Civil Engineering for Dreamers." As Terry Pratchett has shown in several of the recent Discworld novels, the way the city works (or fails to work) can be an enthralling element of a fantasy novel. Looks like a fascinating discussion.