Category Archives: Conventions

Planning for the World Fantasy Convention 2013

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I’ll admit, my track record with attending the World Fantasy Convention (WFC) is a bit spotty. I usually end up going every other year. My last was in 2011 in San Diego, so this year is my year to go again, and I’m finding myself quite jazzed about that.

As a writer, I’ve got a few books that will definitely be in shape to be pitched, and I’ll hopefully already be submitting those, so I’ll actually have a few things to talk about with people. In the past, I haven’t been as aggressive at conventions as I should be. It’s one of my goals to fix that this year, and WFC always pulls in great authors, publishers, editors and agents focusing on speculative fiction. It’s a great place to network with people in the industry. Since it’s got a membership cap, it’s pretty easy to rub elbows with the right people. This is a working convention rather than a fan one, so it’s a good place to start for those of us who want to break into the business and get advice from professionals.

As with any convention, there are panels running pretty non-stop and parties for socializing and networking. And of course, if you’re really interested in getting some business done, one must spend quality time at the bar.

As a reader, WFC has always been a great place to find new books to read–more than any other convention I go to. The dealer’s room can burn a whole in anyone’s pocket especially with the number of writers running around, there’s no problem finding signed copies of things or hard to find items. Or you can bring your own books for the evening where all the writers show up for one mass signing event. I’ve learned to leave extra room in my suitcase because I always come home with a huge stack of new books. Heck, you usually get a bag full of books when you arrive just for showing up.

Okay, I’ll confess that part of my enthusiasm in wanting to attend WFC this year is the location. I’ve always wanted to go to the UK, and here’s a great excuse.

Of course, this means I’ll have to put in a little extra effort–a bit more planning–than when WFC is held in North America. Frankly, this trip is gonna get expensive fast. Flights alone from the US right now are over $1000. That’s more than I usually spend on the entire trip to this convention. And, come on, what’s the point to going to England just for one three day convention? Might as well stick around for a few days extra to at least visit London, which is about an hour away.

Wanna come, too?

First, check out the website here.

Membership costs 125£, roughly about $200. With the membership cap, it’s a good idea to register early. Make sure you fill out the registration form as well as make your payment because you have to have both to be registered for attendance. While they claim that refunds are at the “discretion of the convention”, they usually don’t do refunds, but you can transfer your membership to someone else should you not be able to attend after all.

The host hotel, the Hilton Brighton Metropole, sold out in less than 24 hours after reservations went online. The convention is working to find overflow hotels but hasn’t posted anything yet, though they have put up a link for finding other accommodations.

The WFC 2013 homepage has a list of publishers attending, and there’s a list of currently registered members so it’s always a great idea to look both over and plan out who you might want to meet.

If you want to keep up with what’s going on, they now have an app for that for both iPhone and Android users.

If you’re like me and live in the US, there’s also the host of logistics to plan for: passports, electrical adaptors, making sure your phone works in another country, all those little things that are easy to forget when you’re going out of the country. Seriously, it’s a lot of work to go from one place to another.

So, have you gone to WFC in the past or plan to go this year? Leave a comment and let us know what you’ve enjoyed in the past and/or look forward to.

 

Finding the Right Writing Seminar for You.

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Deciding what writing seminar to go to is a daunting task. If you Google or Bing search “writing seminars fiction” or “writing conferences fiction” you’ll get well over million hits between the two. For simplicity I’m going to use the terms seminar, conference and convention interchangeably. Even when you factor in duplicate or out of date entries and wrong responses, there are thousands of writing conventions you could attend on a local, state, national or international level every year.  Add to the vast array of choices the necessary limitations of time and money, and you’re faced with a conundrum. Whether you are only attending one or five conventions that year, you still need to winnow down your choices to the “best” convention.

Since all of us here at Fictorians are setting up our convention schedules, we thought we’d address this very important topic. All month we’re going to be featuring posts on particular convention to help you make the “right” decision. There are many factors that make a convention “right” for you. A lot of it, though, comes down to what your goals are.

So, here are some of the factors I take into account when I’m planning out my conference attendance for the year.

1.         Time, Money and the Intangible Costs. All conventions are trade-offs.  Most of us have families we leave when we attend a convention. Non-writing jobs limit our available time. Limited funds may dictate that certain conventions are out of reach, for now. Even when writing is your full time jobs, the time at the convention takes hours away from your ability to write. Recognizing the trade-offs will give you one measure of whether the cost of attending the convention is more than you are willing to pay.

            I’m a mommy, writer, and lawyer. When I make decisions about most courses of action, I balance the time away from my family, and work with the benefit of the proposed action. Would I love to attend a seminar a month? Yes. Is it feasible? Heck no. Remember, we all have multiple demands on our time and attention. Don’t (knowingly or unknowingly) sacrifice more than you are willing in one area of your life for another.

2.         Take into account the convention’s focus and your needs. Each convention has its own personality, and focus. Some conventions are skills-based, some are industry-based and some are fan-based. My first seminar was skills-based. At the time I had a mess of a manuscript, but at least it was finished. The focus of the convention was how show lawyers how they too could be the next Gresham and write legal thrillers. While I was writing fantasy, the basic skills being taught applied to every type of writing. Other seminars focus on the networking opportunities, while still others focus on the costumes and pageantry of a fan convention.

Assess where you are in your career and what you want to get from the convention. For fun, there are some great conventions. A word of caution though, keep in mind if you are attending as a fan, you may not watch to pitch your dream editor while you are wearing a superhero outfit.

If you are starting out your writing career, my suggestion would be to focus on the general skills-based seminars for your first conference.  As your writing skills increase, there are seminars that focus on particular elements of the writing process like outlining, editing and pitching your story to agents and editors. Seminars like Superstars will also give you a lot of insight as to how the industry works and what it means to be a professional writer.

When you have a work looking for a home, you’ll want to focus on conventions that will give you the opportunity to meet agents, editors and publishers. At this point, you make also want to go to some of the genre specific conventions like Romance Writers of America, World Fantasy Convention, ThrillerFest and the like.

3.         Who else is going? Pay attention to the speakers and attendees, if the list is available. Attending with friends is a good safety net. Having people to be with can help bolster your confidence. A friend can prod you to go back and talk to that editor who’s looking for the same type of stories you write. Just remember not to pack up to the exclusion of new connections.

More importantly, if your dream agent is on a panel or attending at a particular conference, that conference is one that should be high on your list. This is where doing your homework before the conference comes in. Research the convention speakers. Find out if they write, edit or publish in your genre. Knowing who is speaking may help you winnow down your choices.

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4.         Is the Content Useful?  Know what sessions will be offered, and if they sound helpful to your furthering your writing career.

There’s a caveat here. For the World Fantasy Convention and several other genre specific seminars, you will often need to sign up months, if not a year, before the sessions are announced.  The keynote speaker and often some of the other speakers or award recipients are often announced when the registration process starts. While this might be all right for the premiere genre seminars like WFC or ThrillerFest, since if you’ll want to attend them if you write in those genres, but try to avoid signing up for a conference when you don’t know what will be presented. It might be that that fine sounding seminar actually isn’t what you needed when you learn the details.

5.         Ask. If you’re reading this blog, you’ve already taken a positive step. You’re connecting with others in the industry. If you know Jane went to WorldCon, but Pete went to World Fantasy and you’re trying to decide between the two, ask Jane and Pete about their experiences. Contrary to the stereotype, writers tend to be a fairly gregarious bunch when we’re not at the keyboard. We’re happy to share insights and swap war stories. Asking people who have been what they liked or didn’t like and whether the seminar was useful is a great way to narrow the options to a manageable grouping.

6.         Have Faith.  Even after you’ve winnowed down the list by doing the above, you’re likely to have more choices than you can realistically attend. At that point, take a deep breath and pick the one that appeals most to you. With the right mindset, every convention can be a great one for you. And, you can always attend a different convention next year.

A final word on this subject: regardless of what type of convention you choose, you MUST network. The friendships you make are priceless.

fictorians at superstars

Local Conventions: Priceless Gems

Local conventions tend to be, well, small. They may not seem worth the time or even the relatively small amount of cash, but as Clancy pointed out with her post on LTUE, there are  a number of good reasons to go.

First, local networking: This is your chance to get to know local authors. Clancy listed a number of writers she’s met at LTUE, most of whom I recognize as Utah natives. I live in Arizona, but I traveled up to Utah to attend a small local convention called Conduit. There, I made it on the list of people to play Magic with Brandon Sanderson. He took pity on me, and the many years since I’d played the game, and helped me out. As I got my butt kicked playing the game mano-a-mano against Brandon, I asked him writing advice that changed my life. I told him where I was with my writing and asked him where I should go next. He pointed me toward David Farland and his workshops, which we’ll talk about in a later post. My point is that I could have never had that opportunity at a large convention. In a small one, the authors aren’t so busy, and they’re more able to be themselves and talk with  people on a personal basis. I had a similar experience with James A. Owen at CopperCon last August, having another life-changing conversation that had nothing to do with writing. But wait, everything has to do with writing, because writing is life portrayed through story.

In a local con, you also meet local fans. If you’re a novice, self-published writer, or just getting started in the NY publishing industry, or even if you’re well-known across the world, at a local con you have local fans who take an interest in their home-grown stars. I once had a well-published writer tell me that the local cons are imperative, because the fans there are your home-base, they’re your friends that will give you support when the going gets rough. It’s true, and I’ve met some wonderful people and wonderful friends through local conventions.

Second, Guests: Almost every convention on the planet, no matter how small, brings in an outside talent. As with local authors, the guests are usually more accessible at a local con than at a world-renowned convention. At LepreCon 2011, Elizabeth Bear was their Guest of Honor. I never saw Elizabeth long enough to start up a conversation, but to my surprise, her editor, Beth Meacham of Tor, had come. I sat at a cafe table with Ms. Meacham for a few minutes, and though she had to know I sat with her for the sole purpose of meeting her, she was gracious and kind. We talked about the future of publishing and she explained the options for YA science fiction from an editor’s point of view. When the party she waited for arrived, I thanked her for her time, and made a quick exit. I didn’t pitch, and she didn’t ask about my work, which means I didn’t make a nuisance of myself. If I ever have the privilege of speaking with her again, probably by means of an agent, then I hope she’ll remember me favorably because I didn’t play the part of an annoying wannabe who pinned her down for twenty minutes to talk about my novel.

Third, the money: Local conventions are so much cheaper than the big ones. Conduit is $35 as is LepreCon, compared to the $180 and up that most of the big conventions cost. Also, if you live local, you can choose to drive to the convention and back instead of staying at the hotel, and though their hospitality suites aren’t usually quite as nice as the big conventions, they still have decent enough ones to grab a snack here and there and cut on your food costs.

Fourth, community service: When you go to a local convention, and encourage your friends to attend, you’re supporting  your genre within your community. Local fans have a place to go that they can afford, and your genre has a venue from which to publicize. It’s a win-win for everyone.

Here are some upcoming conventions in AZ : Tuscon Festival of Books (related post), March 9-10, Free; LepreCon, May 9-12, $35; Phoenix Comicon (fairly crowded), May 23-26, $40; Coppercon, August 9-11; TusCon, November 9-11, $35

Some outside of AZ that I’ve heard about: CarolinaCon in North Carolina, March 15-17, $20; Conduit in Utah, May 24-26, $35; FenCon in Dallas/Fort Worth, TX, October 4-6, $30

For a more comprehensive list of science fiction conventions, go to www.westernsfa.org

(All prices represent the current cost. Some registration costs go up at later dates.)

These are the ones I know about. I’d love to hear about others, especially for other genres.

Life, the Universe, & Everything Symposium aka LTUE

Taken from LTUE’s website:  LTUE “is a three day academic symposium on all aspects of Science Fiction and Fantasy. LTUE is comprised of panels, workshops, presentations and papers on writing, art, literature, media, science and other aspects of speculative fiction.”

I attended it the first time several years back and have been a few times.  It has changed over time growing from a small student-run symposium for active Brigham Young University students being held in random rooms on campus to taking over the Continuing Ed building to now being held in a nearby hotel.  Although it is held in Provo, Utah and run by the Mormon students of BYU, everyone is welcome and it is not religious based.

One time I attended, Richard Hatch, Apollo from the original Battlestar Gallactica, gave a two hour presentation.  I was in full Battlestar-loving-geek mode sitting in the front row… six feet from my favorite teenage crush idol.  I have to think Richard Hatch is used to the glazed looks and drooling women cause he is as cute as ever!

But I digress.  This is a great event.  I’ve met authors like David Farland, James Dashner, Dan Wells, Brandon Sanderson, Larry Correia, James Eric Stone, J. Scott Savage, Lee Allred, Jessica Day George, and Howard Tayler at LTUE.

It’s small enough that you can easily visit with the presenters and panelists.  They have readings, panel discussions, presentations, Q&As, workshops and book signings.  There are generally three or more activities occurring at any one time and you can literally go from event to event for five to ten hours a day… for three days.

Some stand outs for me over the years have been a workshop on how to create your own language, how costuming affects how we see characters, how accurate do you need to be with facts and history in fiction, how to generate ideas, how to create plot, many aspects of world-building, tips on collaborating, how to create web-comics/comic books/graphic novels, how to do research, writing stellar openings, marketing, editing and revision and too many more to mention.

It is a feast of options, knowledge and networking.  People travel to attend this event because it provides so much for the crazy reasonable price of only $30 for three days (and it used to be free).

I do recommend as soon as the schedule is available, highlight the topics you are most passionate about seeing and plan out your day.  You have a few minutes to get from talk to talk, but trust me, you’ll want to know in advance where you are going to next.  Bring lots of paper or a device for note-taking.  In the past, I’ve taken snacks with me so I didn’t have to miss anything by taking a lunch break.  They have evening fun like filking and a banquet as well.

If you are anywhere near Utah or can get here February 14-16, 2013, I highly recommend you do.  LTUE is worth attending in ways you can’t even imagine.

Anyone else attend LTUE before and want to share?