Breaking the Ice with an Author

Across the room, you see the author from whom you buy every book the moment it hits pre-order. Your hands get sweaty. The room gets warmer. At twenty yards, you're blushing. At ten, you're having the pre-conversation in your head. At five, three people step in front of you and grab the author's attention first. No, no; it's good, it's good. You replay the script you've been practicing and remind yourself not to mumble You check your breath. Oh, hell, it smells like gym feet. Mints. Mints, you brought mints just in case. Where'd that little tin go. Pocket? Bag? No other pock--

You're face to face with the author. There's no one in between you now. The author smiles at you. All that witty banter you'd practiced ~poof~. There is nothing but a thousand and one memes of the slow blink rolling through your head. You start to smile back...but the bad breath. Better keep your lips together.  You don't want to accidentally breathe on the author and cause them to faint. You're vaguely aware that your smile feels more like a grimace. This is not going the way you'd imagined.

You could bolt. Pretend like this never happened. But this author, this author has written words that have made you cheer, laugh, cry. They've given you book boyfriends and reasons to buy new shelves. You've missed train stops and coffee dates to finish just one more chapter.

Don't run. Forget about the mints and the grimace and the sweaty palms.

Hi.

I'm a fan.

My favorite book is...because

My favorite character is...because

My favorite moment is when...because

I'm excited to read the next book.

That, right there, is how you break the ice with an author. That is how you make their day.

Three tips for the introverted fan

Heck, that's easy.

1) be yourself. You're probably a lot cooler than you give yourself credit for and genuine responses always go over better than contrived nonsense.

2) Say "hi." You'd be amazed how far that can take a conversation.

True story: Not long ago at Boston ComiCon, I ran across a lady who had read all four my Seven Forges books. She had no idea I was going to be there and when she realized who I was, she freaked a little. Believe me, it's very flattering. It was also cool to just talk with her and calm her down and discuss what she liked about the books.
As I had no copies of THE LAST SACRIFICE with me, I gave her a postcard with thew cover on the front and the link to the Angry Robot website page on the back. She had all of my books on Kindle, but she bought them again so I could sign them.
Put a smile on my face that lasted the whole day.

3) Relax. With VERY few exceptions, (they do exist) writers are delighted to meet you. I always am. Maybe not in the bathroom at the local convention or anything but still, delighted to meet a fan of my work or even someone who is curious about it.

4) Bonus round: Be friendly and be polite. Happily it hasn't happened to me (YET) but there are a few people who've had "fans" come up and be nasty about a book they didn't like or understand. Never gonna be my favorite thing.

But especially remember rule number 2. I can't have a conversation with you if you don't engage and I'm looking forward to meeting you. It's why I attend conventions, etc.

In the meantime, look at my cool new cover!!!!

Three Tips for the Introverted Fan

Today at the lake I kept my seltzer cold in my Bacchus Bag from St. Martin. Counting my blessings and thinking good thoughts for everyone in the path of the storms.

Our topic this week at the SFF Seven is The Introverted Fan: Three things a fan could say in person or via social media that would help break the ice.

Because, of course, we've all been there. I know I have. Meeting the author of that book that transported me, trying to convey my excitement and all the love I've built up over time to them in one big gush. It inevitably comes out as something like:

Hi!I'mJeffeKennedyandI'vebeenreaddingyourbooksforeverandIloveyousomuchandI'mjustsoexcitedtomeetyouomgomgomg

And they, just as inevitably, look like the deer in the headlights of the onrushing Psycho Fan Train.

It's simply a weird conversation to try to have. And I've seen it from the other side now, too. Readers come up to my signing table, blurt out that they love my books, I say thank you, we stare at each other for a moment, and they dash away, muttering something about not bothering me anymore. There's a social media equivalent, though almost always less awkward.

I don't know about breaking the ice, but here's three things I love to hear.

1. Specifics

I love to hear which book is your favorite, which character you love best, and why. Feel free to go into detail. Getting to hear what exactly worked for you is super fun and hugely helpful, too.

2. Gushing Is Great

Never apologize for gushing! It's so wonderful to hear the good stuff that makes people happy. I could listen to it all day. That kind of thing is never a bother.

3. Ask Questions

I love questions! Especially about the books. Please ask those things you wonder while you're reading. If you're afraid you'll forget in the excitement, write them down. That's high praise, that you cared enough to do that.

What else works for all of you - what's the best way to talk to a favorite author?

What Genre Will I Not Write?

Still from 'Hill House'

Horror. Hands down, no question.

I was always an overly imaginative kid and I worried about things that went BUMP in the night. (Still do!)...the creature lurking under the bed waiting to grab a dangling foot was my worst nightmare. I'm in good company - here's Stephen King's take on it:

“The thing under my bed waiting to grab my ankle isn't real. I know that, and I also know that if I'm careful to keep my foot under the covers, it will never be able to grab my ankle.”

Yup. I also saw a horror movie on TV when I was pretty young, "The Haunting," based on Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. At one point two of the female characters are sharing a room, with twin beds. The ghost is rattling the door and spooky things are happening and the heroine stretches out her hand to hold her friend's hand for courage through the ordeal. Afterward (and this is how I recall it and and I never watched the movie again so who knows if I actually got it right...) she thanks her friend for holding hands and comforting her. And the friend says, "I wasn't holding your hand." OK, for YEARS after that I slept with my hands firmly under my pillow.

So vivid bad things stick in my memory way longer than they should. Yes, I used to read Stephen King novels - not all of them, but a lot of them and I especially loved The Shining but somewhere along the way I had to put down one of his books in the middle because the imagery would not go away and I was having terrible nightmares, and I've never gone back.

As an adult I've become aware that there are Things Best Not Disturbed...

And so, in summary, I'll never be writing a horror story.

Never Say Never Except Now

If brevity is the soul of wit, then Imma be a genius tonight. Cause I should be asleep so I can get up at o'stupid thirty to travel to the North Cascades where I have the great privilege of officiating a handfasting. Sure. You say wedding, I say pagan handfasting. Which leads us to the genre I am totally comfortable saying I will never ever write. Inspirational. No way. No how will this witch write that stuff. Faith from a pagan perspective? Sure! Count me in! But there is not the least hope I will pick up someone else's religion to write about in that way. By which I mean using a romance to preach or illustrate Christian principles.

I'm also comfortably certain the Inspirational market doesn't weep over my refusal to do so.

The Subgenre I Can't Write

There's an idea I've seen pop up and get some traction in my circles lately.  A very simple thing, really:

The opposite of grimdark is hopepunk.

This simple phrase was like a lightning bolt to me.

Let me step back a bit.  You see, "grimdark" is a subgenre of fantasy that just doesn't work for me. What is "grimdark"?  If the name wasn't cue enough, from the wikipages: "Grimdark is a subgenre or a way to describe the tone, style or setting of speculative fiction that is particularly dystopian, amoral or violent."

And, yeah, for me and my fantasy, this represents everything that doesn't work for me. I don't begrudge anyone who writes or likes it, mind you.  It just doesn't work for me.
So when I saw the post that expanded on the idea "the opposite of grimdark is hopepunk", I was immediately invested in it, because "the opposite of grimdark" is exactly the kind of fantasy I want to do.

Now, this doesn't mean fantasy that's light and fluffy and consequence-free. Bad things happen.  I mean, I like to put my characters through the wringer.  Fundamentally, with each of my various Maradaine series, I'm exploring heroism at different angles, and each of my protagonists are capital-C Champions who aim toward the light.  They may miss, they may have a journey through the darkness that threatens to break them.  But what I want to write, what drives me, is fantasy where no matter how bad it gets, it's worth trying to make it better.  No matter how hard my characters fall down, they're still going to stand up, tie their hair back, set their sails and get their Moana on.

Because hope is always the star that guides them.

POST-DRAGONCON POST **TOP TEN THINGS I OVERHEARD AT DRAGON CON**

I've heard DragonCon set a new record this year with 82,000 people.

Myself, I kept to the Westin as much as possible. Even so, I had a fantastic time. Saw so many friends, made new friends, and participated on some splendid panels. Despite my rather sequestered visit, I did manage to make my annual list....but first, the weeks topic: what genre would I be least likely to write and why.

Short answer: I won't do myself the disservice of thinking or saying that there's anything I'd be unlikely to write. I've already written in many genres and there are elements of other genres within that work. I refuse to put that limitation on myself.


ShortER answer: I DO WHAT I WANT!

And now....

THE TOP TEN THINGS 

I OVERHEARD AT DRAGONCON

*Random quotes as heard in passing 

that may have been spoken in complete innocence, 

but taken out of context and 

having passed through my dirty mind, 

they are all the more funny.*

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

THE "I WISH I HAD SAID THAT" AWARD

    Often, I have a glut of fucks, but right now I'm all out.

PSEUDO WISDOM AWARD:

     The absence of confusion is not the confusion of absence.

MOST CONFUSING AWARD:

     It's not delivering. Get on the table.

10.) If you give a pun and receive a guffaw in return, 

well, that's a little too self-important.

9.) I just like talking about it, not doing it.

8.) I admit it, I was playing with my sack.

7.) I went in, took a sniff, and decided 

to stand in the back and watch the lights.

6.) I don't need to smack rods with people to know mine is better.

5.) Aw, she has a long shiny one in her hands. 

4.) Hey...that is not normal.

3.) Just lick him and stay there.

2.) I only come to DragonCon to get things stuck in me 

so I can get a free t-shirt.

1.) Of all the mostly naked people I've seen today, you're the best.

The Genre Safest From Me

What genre (or sub-sub-sub) genre is safest from me? Which one am I least likely to write? Uhm...hmm.  My ego would like to think it can rise to any challenge, yea though that challenge might end in the Universe caving in on itself.

I'm least likely to write some sort of earnest sweet Amish romance. I don't know that I could resist going all Sir Terry Pratchett on it.

Ya know what? Probably should bump that up to "least likely to write a sweet romance."  Aliens, shifters, dragons...they really do like to show up in the most unexpected places. Keeps things interesting.