Want to Book Con?

Book Conventions: love them or leave them?

When you read a book you love what’s one of the first things you want to do? Talk about it with someone else who loves it too! And that’s how book conventions came to be.

At least in my mind. 

But as an author conventions become more than being a fan, they also become work. If you’re new to the book/author convention world maybe you’re wondering which ones are worth the money. Or maybe you’re wondering which ones will give your shiny new book the most exposure. Or maybe you want to meet other writers who might end up becoming writing buddies, or critique partners, or mentors. 

All of those reasons and more are why attending one might be right for you. But every con is different and you’ll need to research to find out which ones match with your goals. And no matter what goal you’ve got, attending a con will cost you $$. So, let’s take a look at what’s out there!

This list is by no means comprehensive. There are cons of all sizes that cater to all genres. The easiest ones to quickly look up are the ones connected to professional writing groups and associations. SFWA holds the Nebulas. Worldcon has the Hugos. If you’re looking for a fantasy specific con check out FantasyCons.com. They list these smaller conventions by date and show the location.  

If you’re looking for general fiction ones, check out the list The Write Life put together. Select by genre or location, they’re all on the same page. Or maybe you’re looking for something local to do a signing at or rub elbows with authors within driving distance of you. In that case, check out Writer’s Digest’s list of book fairs and festivals. 

There are also plenty of writing conventions aimed at teaching you how to put together a novel, how to format, how to pitch, how to self-publish, etc. Watch out for those. Some have useful information, but sometimes it’s packaged at a steep price or the information could’ve been gleaned by reading some free online resources. Some offer pitch appointments with agents if you're on the traditional publishing pathway, which can be the highlight of attending this type.

Attending a book/author convention can be energizing! Meeting people in the same writing stage as you can be uplifting. And making connections with industry professionals can be beneficial. Weigh your pros and cons after doing your research. Hopefully you’ll find one that’s easy to get to that you’ll enjoy!

Do you have any cons on your wishlist or ones you’ve been to that you’d recommend?

Jeffe's Top Five Worldbuilding Tips

SHADOW WIZARD coming September 29, 2022! Preorder now!!

     

This week at the SFF Seven, we're sharing our top five worldbuilding tips. Since I just returned from WorldCon in Chicago, where I gave a workshop on worldbuilding from a character-driven perspective, I'm going to cheat ever so slightly and pull from that.

1. All stories require worldbuilding

Even a story set in our contemporary world, written as realistically as possible, still requires worldbuilding because it's impossible to to replicate the complexity of our world. You will always be picking and choosing relevant details. Choose wisely. (And see Tip #5.)

2. Don't allow worldbuilding to be displacement activity for writing the actual story

Worldbuilding is fun! Writing is hard. It's easy to spend tons of time on research and worldbuilding and kid yourself that it's writing. It's not. Don't become the person with megabytes of maps and details and no actual text.

3. The world is yours to shape however you like - build it to challenge your characters

Story is about characters facing conflict. The world they live in creates external conflict for them and informs their internal conflict. Since you get to play deity here, build the world with challenging your characters in mind.

4. RPGs - role-playing games can distort your worldbuilding sense.

Many creatives learn worldbuilding from gaming, which can be a great exercise, but - as dedicated gamers have pointed out (I am not one) - game worlds often don't make any internal sense. Use caution in emulating that model.

5. Use the iceberg model

While you should know - or discover - all about your world, most of that detail should be like the iceberg beneath the surface. Only the tip of all that knowledge should show up in the story. If you've done the work and your world is internally consistent, that tip of the iceberg will be representative of the rest.

Being Proud of Being Different

I'm just back from #WorldCon76, which was a whirlwind of great stuff. I caught a moment of downtime at the lovely Fairmont pool, including a much-needed nap.

This week at the SFF Seven, we're asking "What are you most proud about with regards to your writing?"

It's an interesting question for me, coming out of WorldCon, which is the World Science Fiction convention. While there is some fantasy representation, the con is heavily focused on Science Fiction fandom. It's also an older institution and seems to attract a lot of the "purists" in the field.

SFF fandom can be weird that way, at least to me - and I often feel like an outsider. I sometimes joke that I'm an exoplanet. It's funny to me to discover that I'm as serious a Trekkie as any, though I never got involved in that community. And for me, coming from this blend of SFF and Romance, I'm not really what people who are solidly SSF expect.

And yeah, there's an ongoing perception of Romance Cooties. This one gal came by my autographing table and tried to explain how the romance tropes in Paranormal Romance just hit her all wrong. I explained that I don't write Paranormal Romance - and that it's quite different from Fantasy Romance - and she said "I know, but still."

There's a lot to unpack that way - about reader expectations, internalized misogyny, the perception that positive emotions are less important, that male-gaze sex and romance are fine but the female-gaze versions are "icky" - and none of that is all that relevant to this post. Except to say that it can be easy to from that kind of convention feeling "less than."

Really, any of us can find opportunities to feel that way, right?

Because, the next person to come up to my table said "I didn't know you'd be here or I would've brought all my copies of your books." Then she bought copies of all three that I had so I could sign them for her, and had me sign bookplates for the rest.

It's easy to focus on the negatives and forget the positives. I received a whole lot of positives at WorldCon. People saying I did a fantastic job on a panel, even that I was the best one on it. My fellow SFWA Board members taking time to say how much they appreciate my input on the board. Meetings with friends and fans who think I'm special.

I think that being proud of what we write takes constant reaffirmation. Like renewing vows in a marriage. I've known from the beginning that my choices would make my career more difficult. "Like wading through hip-deep snow," Catherine Asaro told me, way back before I published my first book. I could've tried to change this about myself - or at least about what I write.

I've repeatedly chosen not to. And I am proud of that.

While I'd love to have lines out the door like Seanan McGuire, I also don't want to write what she writes. I love to read her October Daye series. I don't want to write that.

So, what am I most proud of in my writing? I'm proud that I am writing the stories that I really want to tell. I've been called stubborn, but I think my tenacity has paid off and I've found an audience - one that's growing all the time. It's not easy to stand up to the pressure to fit in with the more mainstream, more successful stuff. I feel it in myself all the time. Every time someone says "Romance" with that eye-roll and sneer, I feel it. Every time someone wants to read my books and someone else warns them off because it's too sexy, I feel that pressure to change.

That's part of creating art, whatever kind beckons to us. Creating means bringing something into the world that wasn't there before - so sometimes people don't recognize right away. Or only some do.

And that's okay, too.

The Character I'd Love to Write? Phèdre!

Our topic this week among the Seven of us SFF types is The Established Character We'd Love to Write.

Because, of course, all writers start out as readers (or they should), and we're all fangirls and fanboys at heart. In fact, I'd wager that many writers conceive the first spurring desire to *really* write something (as opposed to playing around with stories about our pets) from reading a story, world or character that lit us up. I think this is why so many writers get started by writing fan fiction. Yes, it's easier to play in a world with characters someone else has created - but also that love is what sparks enough fuel to do the work.

(Writing is hard work, whether fan fiction or creating your own worlds. Never believe anyone who says otherwise.)

There are a LOT of established characters I'd love to write. Or wish I'd written, which comes out to about the same thing. In fact, I suspect a lot of my writing is me working out how I would have written certain characters or worlds.

But today I'm picking Phédre nó Delaunay of Jacqueline Carey's absolutely brilliant Kushiel series.

Full confession: not coincidentally I read these books only a year or two before I got serious about writing my own fantasy. Thus I do think of this character as a spark that finally gave me enough propulsion to do the hard work.

Why Phédre?

First of all, at that time (book one came out in 2002), there were few epic fantasy novels or series with a fully gratifying political and mythological sweep that featured a heroine as protagonist. The initial trilogy centers on Phédre - told in first person point of view - and the story is about her journey. She's not a partner or an accessory. In fact, the male characters, while heroic in their own ways, are accessories to her story.

That electrified me.

(I can't tell you how many epic fantasies I set aside over the years because I wearied of reading about men romping about doing interesting things while the female characters barely registered as more than cardboard props.)

Also, Phédre is a sexual being. She's a courtesan. She's also a spy, a brilliant linguist and an skillful navigator of tricky political waters. She is all of these things at the same time. Her sexuality is integral to who she is - and is a strength that allows her to triumph. Love love love.

Finally, Phédre possesses a kind of unshakable integrity that I admire in my heroes. She always fights to do what's best, even in the face of others' disdain or dismay. Her internal compass leads her unfailingly. Not that she doesn't doubt, not that she doesn't suffer tremendous setbacks - but she always sticks with what she believes to be right, even if the people she loves most disagree.

Amazing series. Amazing character. Amazing world.

Oh! Also, I'll be at WorldCon this week. Check here for my schedule!