Avatar photoSteven Savage

Make It So: Cosplay And Health

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

(Here’s a series I haven’t touched in awhile.)

At Con-Volution I got into a fascinating discussion with a cosplayer on how complicated outfits were.  This led to the usual discussion of “how the hell do you go to the bathroom.”  That, fortunately led to a productive discussion, and one I want to cover.

Conventions should do a panel on Healthy Cosplay.

What do I mean?  Think about all the challenges that cosplay involves – eating food, tightness, maneuverability, going to the bathroom.  I’ve heard many horror stories from cosplayers about their experiences.  You know even experienced ones are surprising themselves.  So I think most any con with a cosplay presence should have a panel on Healthy Cosplay – and if your con is about Cosplay, this should already be there.

I’ve seen a few panels like this, but after our discussion I realized how many subjects there are to cover.  So I want to toss out this idea to encourage you to do this.

Imagine panels covering things like:

  • Well, how to go to the bathroom.  Please include gender differences.
  • Bindings, corsets, and tightness – breathing is important as is circulation.
  • Eating and drinking.  Can you get nutrition and more importantly fluid easily?
  • Visibility.  How do you make something you can see in?
  • Safe mobility.  It’s not easy to maneuver, and in some cases this can be dangerous.
  • Common allergies to materials.
  • Ventilation and temperature.  I’m in California, trust me.

There’s a lot of ways to do this but I would encourage any group that does this to make sure it has:

  • Handouts.
  • Online references.
  • Perhaps a free ebook.

if I can spend ten minutes in a discussion on cosplay and using the bathroom, you know there’s an audience for this.  Maybe we don’t talk about such things as much as we should, but . . . let’s Make It So.

 

– Steve

Steves Update 10/9/2017

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

It’s my weekly Scrum style standup for my audience, so where am I?

So what have I done the last week?

  • “A Bridge To The Quiet Planet”: Whew.  Finished a big edit-run through.  Posted Chapter 8.  I am back to writing but also need to do a bit more plot fleshing out – as now we’re sliding into the crazy.
  • Way With Worlds Minibook #4: Launched
  • Con-Volution: Attended.  More on that perhaps later!

What am I going to do this week:

  • Way With Worlds Minibook #5: I’m behind on this and have a lot going on.  So this week I want to get the cover and some editing done.
  • “A Bridge To The Quiet Planet:” Writing and hopefully a plot review.
  • Other: I need to queue up some blog posts and prepare for NaNoWriMo sales, along with the RWBY premier, and more.  As noted, October is going to be messy.

As an upcoming note, I am probably going to be blogging more diversely – and more erratically.  My “Agile Life” series seems to be coming to a close as I’ve shared a ton of insights, so I may only do it intermediately.  I miss career stuff.  I also want to be a bit more spontaneous.  So let’s see what happens!

Still debating if I’ll do the sixth minibook.  Certainly it WONT drop in November with NaNo, but not sure I wanna have one drop at Christmas.  Plus it needs to be finished and it might combine better with other words.  Well, we’ll see!

– Steve

A Writer’s Life: Taking Notes And Improving Writing

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

As I write “A Bridge To The Quiet Planet,” I’ve started taking notes on my writing techniques.

Getting back into this was a bit tougher than I thought, so it took me awhile to get going.  Fortunately I kind of got a writing system going again – only, as I used it, I had other insights.

So I figured, why not write them down for later?

This is something I hadn’t thought of before, but as I do so I find the act of reviewing these findings, these new techniques, and recording them helps my writing even more.  I’m activley thinking about how to get better.

This is really classic Agile practice; you don’t just do things.  You review them in order to improve.  I strongly recommend every writer keep a list of “technique notes” and gradually review them.  If possible, actually write up your techniques, maybe review them every work, to help build a system in your head.

This may sound a bit excessive, but so far?  It’s helped me a lot.

Besides, it gives you something to share with other writers . . .

(Remember I do all sorts of books on creativity to help you out!)

– Steve