World Fantasy Convention 2013 – report – part 2
Sat 02nov13
On Saturday my first seminar was the obligatory agent panel.
Any news? Not really… John Jarrold said there are no absolutes in publishing.
Someone else said that 90% of all queries generate an instant “no”.
The market is over-flooded by content (heard that phrase quite a number of times during this con).
An established agency like JABberwocky has a 75% placement rate.
However, even an agent like Barry Goldblatt sometimes needs to send out one or the other manuscript up to 25 times until someone picks it up.
The first ten pages of your manuscript are ridiculously important.
Good luck with getting an agent (and/or a publisher) – you’ll need a lot of it.
I Just Had a Crazy Idea… (spec script) panel
For one brief panel I returned to my “roots” and attended the TV and movie spec script writing panel of the WFC. I got the impression that nothing much has changed since my screenplay days. You should have several brilliant spec scripts under your belt and preferably not ridiculously expensive ones, that you can pull out at any occasion. The old familiar phrases like pitch sessions, high concept, be relentless, “Final Draft” (screenwriting software), build up your network and have a high tolerance for frustration and rejection flew around the room.
And, oh, be prepared for the production company hiring in another screenwriter after you maybe maybe sold them your spec script and be prepared for it to be totally rewritten to the point of being not recognizable. If you cannot deal with that: write novels. And yes, that’s what I’ve done 
What Else Have You Got (editor) panel
At an editor panel about “what else have you got” or what editors have seen an awful lot of and don’t want to see again, there was no general consensus. Even if you write about stuff we’ve seen a hundred times before but manage to pull it off in a mind-blowing way you might be able to get away with it.
That said, Jo Fletcher is getting too much of not so well written literary fantasy. Gordon Van Gelder gets a lot of contemporary fantasy short stories with not enough fantasy in them.
Gillian Redfearn from Gollanz only said she is getting too many submissions that have not followed the submission guidelines. Just please read the darn things and follow them.
Further, no more teenagers or housewives turned vampire hunters please, and zombies are now awfully ripe as well. However, as mentioned before, if the cliche is exceptionally well done, they might still buy it.
Another few don’ts: Just don’t say your stuff is the next George R.R. Martin in your query letter.
Don’t say your aunt, granny and cat liked your book very much, that’s just not professional.
Another thing is don’t say you have a funny novel, give an example for why it is funny instead.
Label your book intelligently and while some editors like comparisons to other authors (intelligent ones), some don’t. It’s a gamble as so many things in publishing.
Other editors like stuff in the lines of “I noticed you edited X and X and therefore I think my story might appeal to you.”
Taboos don’t really exist, however, cruelty to animals and children are close to taboos, and if you do rape it must be the center of the story and not just a side plot where who has been raped comes over it just like that and forgets it quickly, because nobody who has been raped comes over it quickly in reality.
Again here the statement that the first few pages, or even only the first few paragraphs or sentences are the knock out criteria. You better get your beginnings super super right (no definition given for what “right” is, of course). You “gotta hook the reader” with the first sentence.
Sun 03nov13
On the last day, I only attended half of the pseudonym (“By Any Other Name”) panel, since I talked to two other WFC members and also left the “How To Write That Difficult Second Book” panel since I am long past that stage and did not find the discussion very engaging.
The banquet and ensuing WFC and British Fantasy Award presentations were fun though and an artist I had talked to for quite a bit during the days before won the WFC award for best artist! Wow! His name is Vincent Chong and check out his very cool stuff under this link.
Congratulations Vinny!!!
After the dead dog party, things winded down and in another epic wind and rain storm (more about that in the upcoming travel report blog entry) I took a taxi back to my hotel sharing it with another acquaintance from the days past.
So what’s the difference to the World Science Fiction Convention? The most important one is that there are less fans around. Of the 1000 or so WFC participants more or less everyone is a writer, agent, editor or otherwise professional in the F and SF world.
I found the nature of the panels to be quite similar to World SF Con, at least the kind of panels I am attending there. World SF Con has of course also “fan panels” and not only ones that deal with one or the other aspect of writing and publishing.
The parties are less wild and there are no “hallway” or hotel room parties like the ones you can find at World SF con. The Fantasy Con is more “professional”.
Unfortunately it is always end of October, beginning of November, which means it is rather hard for me to take off from work. Next year I’ll be at the World SF Con again, which will happen in London. I don’t know yet what to do about 2015.
It was well worth going to WFC13 and to “show face”, but I again realized that networking etc. works only one at a time and is an arduous endeavor (at least for me). But: “never give up, never surrender” 
