FenCon
The weekend before last, I went to FenCon in Dallas, my first fan convention as a guest author. It wasn’t my first con ever—I volunteered at Conestoga in Tulsa for the (sadly) last few years of its life, and I went to FenCon last year with friends. But this was the first time I’d be on the other side of things. So, what did I l take away from FenCon?
1) Panels aren’t so scary. I was on two panels, one on villains and the other on outlining. I was a bit nervous, especially sitting down for the first time at the first panel, but the other panelists were super-nice and put me right at ease. And I got right into the swing of things once the moderator and audience started asking questions. The top thing I took away from the villains panel is that authors and readers want their villains to have a believable motive. As I put it, I like them with a five-year plan for after the whole taking-over-the-world-thing has succeeded. The top thing I took away from the outlining panel was that, as a writer, you have to do what works for you. It doesn’t matter if that’s making a fifty page outline that tells you where to break every chapter or doing the kind of “big picture” outlining that I do, where you know the big beats you need to hit but not necessarily how to get there. If it works for you, that’s what you need to do. And if something doesn’t, you have to feel free to try new things to find what does.
2) Time your reading beforehand. I read from the same passage of TFP that I did at an event here in Tulsa, but I hadn’t re-timed it for FenCon. I ended up finishing the reading a bit early, though that wasn’t all bad, because it meant that I just took a couple of questions and had a nice chat with the folks there. But next time, I’ll be a bit more diligent in my prep.
3) YA isn’t just for kids. It’s something I already knew (particularly given my own reading habits), but it’s nice to have it confirmed in the real world. About half the people who talked to me were not in the “target age range” of my writing, but they seemed to have enjoyed TFP as much as the kids. The funniest was a dad who said he’d read the book twice and was trying to get his fifteen-year-old to read it—total role reversal.
4) Gail Carriger has amazing style. Gail was the GoH, and I went to several panels that she was on. She’s funny and always interesting, but what I really loved was her fashion sense. I hadn’t realized that she wears vintage clothing almost exclusively. (and I was really sad to have to duck out of her panel great places to find vintage clothes early to get to my signing). She looked awesome, and made me wish that I had the patience to wear stockings on a regular basis. But at least now I know about her vintage fashion blog!
Gail Carriger at FenCon
I want pretty much this whole outfit.
5) And, speaking of clothes, getting to see real Victorian clothes up close and personal is still a treat. I went to the panel on Victorian clothes last year, but this year they had a bigger room and thus more clothing out! So drool-worthy. (Though you have to control that to keep it off the clothes.)
So pretty
Love the beading on the collar.
Apparently, this dress was once eye-blindly lime green,
Wedding dress to die for.
6) Driving to and from Texas is always weird. Top two sights: We passed a pick-up truck with a huge deer head in it. As in, it was staring up at the sky, antlers poking over the sides of the truck. And, on the way back, we stopped in the weirdest rest stop restroom I’ve ever been in. It was disturbingly nice—tiled walls, marble counters, huge stalls. And it had a TV in one of the mirrors. I went to wash my hands and realized that the bottom half of the mirror was a TV with two-way glass over it, so you could see the TV and yourself. And it was playing 80s music videos. I’ve never seen anything that strange in a bathroom before. I mean, how long do they expect people to be washing their hands in Durant, Oklahoma?
7) Any excuse to wear a top hate is a good one.
Sadly, the very pretty wand my friend made is cut off. And I'm doing something weird with my hand. But you get the idea.
So, in short, FenCon was great, and a good way for me to get my feet wet in the con world. Hopefully, I’ll be able to do a more thorough dunking next year!
1) Panels aren’t so scary. I was on two panels, one on villains and the other on outlining. I was a bit nervous, especially sitting down for the first time at the first panel, but the other panelists were super-nice and put me right at ease. And I got right into the swing of things once the moderator and audience started asking questions. The top thing I took away from the villains panel is that authors and readers want their villains to have a believable motive. As I put it, I like them with a five-year plan for after the whole taking-over-the-world-thing has succeeded. The top thing I took away from the outlining panel was that, as a writer, you have to do what works for you. It doesn’t matter if that’s making a fifty page outline that tells you where to break every chapter or doing the kind of “big picture” outlining that I do, where you know the big beats you need to hit but not necessarily how to get there. If it works for you, that’s what you need to do. And if something doesn’t, you have to feel free to try new things to find what does.
2) Time your reading beforehand. I read from the same passage of TFP that I did at an event here in Tulsa, but I hadn’t re-timed it for FenCon. I ended up finishing the reading a bit early, though that wasn’t all bad, because it meant that I just took a couple of questions and had a nice chat with the folks there. But next time, I’ll be a bit more diligent in my prep.
3) YA isn’t just for kids. It’s something I already knew (particularly given my own reading habits), but it’s nice to have it confirmed in the real world. About half the people who talked to me were not in the “target age range” of my writing, but they seemed to have enjoyed TFP as much as the kids. The funniest was a dad who said he’d read the book twice and was trying to get his fifteen-year-old to read it—total role reversal.
4) Gail Carriger has amazing style. Gail was the GoH, and I went to several panels that she was on. She’s funny and always interesting, but what I really loved was her fashion sense. I hadn’t realized that she wears vintage clothing almost exclusively. (and I was really sad to have to duck out of her panel great places to find vintage clothes early to get to my signing). She looked awesome, and made me wish that I had the patience to wear stockings on a regular basis. But at least now I know about her vintage fashion blog!
Gail Carriger at FenCon
I want pretty much this whole outfit.
5) And, speaking of clothes, getting to see real Victorian clothes up close and personal is still a treat. I went to the panel on Victorian clothes last year, but this year they had a bigger room and thus more clothing out! So drool-worthy. (Though you have to control that to keep it off the clothes.)
So pretty
Love the beading on the collar.
Apparently, this dress was once eye-blindly lime green,
Wedding dress to die for.
6) Driving to and from Texas is always weird. Top two sights: We passed a pick-up truck with a huge deer head in it. As in, it was staring up at the sky, antlers poking over the sides of the truck. And, on the way back, we stopped in the weirdest rest stop restroom I’ve ever been in. It was disturbingly nice—tiled walls, marble counters, huge stalls. And it had a TV in one of the mirrors. I went to wash my hands and realized that the bottom half of the mirror was a TV with two-way glass over it, so you could see the TV and yourself. And it was playing 80s music videos. I’ve never seen anything that strange in a bathroom before. I mean, how long do they expect people to be washing their hands in Durant, Oklahoma?
7) Any excuse to wear a top hate is a good one.
Sadly, the very pretty wand my friend made is cut off. And I'm doing something weird with my hand. But you get the idea.
So, in short, FenCon was great, and a good way for me to get my feet wet in the con world. Hopefully, I’ll be able to do a more thorough dunking next year!
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