Last week, I attended the World Fantasy Convention (“WFC”) in Toronto, Canada. This is the second time I’ve attended a WFC, and again I had a great time. This post is a brief summary of some of the highlights. Today I also joined several other Fictorians who attended the con in a discussion of our experiences. You can see our discussion here.
1. The panels. As always, I try to take in as many panels as possible. One in particular that stood out for me this year explored ways to best use humor in fantasy. Since I am trying to add more humor in Set In Stone, this was a timely panel for me.
2. Networking. This is one of the most important reasons for attending WFC. More than almost any other con, WFC is a place for professionals to come and mingle. I spoke with many authors, a couple of agents, several small independent publishers, and a couple of editors. I walked away from the conference motivated by the many alternatives an author has these days to publish. Each has their pros and cons, and I talked with authors who are exploring just about every possibility, from traditional publishing deals to self publishing hard covers, to e-publishing, to a combination of all three.
I spent a lot of time with other Fictorians and alumni of the Superstars Writing Seminars, and it really helped to have such a strong base of friends and colleagues. We encouraged each other, helped each other meet people, and answered questions or provided feedback on each other’s projects. Several were people I’ve interacted with online for years, and it was great to make a personal, face-to-face connection.
3. Meeting with my agent, John Richard Parker from ZENO. We talked for a couple of hours over lunch and set specific plans for moving forward and hopefully landing a publishing deal in 2013. I’ll write another post later this week with more specifics, but suffice it to say I am motivated and optimistic.
4. Meeting with Brandon Sanderson. He spent over two hours in a small group discussion with about 10 alumni of the Superstars Writing Seminar. Brandon never ceases to impress me with his knowledge of the industry, his enthusiasm, and his openness. He discussed many details of various contracts, his multiple projects, and where he sees the industry now and in the near future. That kind of direct mentoring is invaluable.
One aspect of the con that I found fascinating was how different it felt for me personally. In 2010 I attended my first con. Luckily I connected with several other newbie authors and we spent much of the con hunting for agents and editors. It was exciting and new, and proved successful. It was there I met John Parker.
This year, I again was focused on networking, but of a different flavor. I felt far more comfortable at the con and around other industry professionals. I am finally feeling like I really fit in, that I’ve reached a professional level in my craft and understanding of the business. And, different from the last con, this time I spent a significant portion of my networking time while talking with other authors offering advice, and some of the mentoring that was given to me last time. It felt good to give back a little, pay it forward, as they say. No longer was I just taking from others, and I hope it helped them have a more successful con as a result.
That is one thing I’ve been very impressed with this industry. Most of the authors I have met are very open in sharing their experience and in helping new authors. I look forward to getting more opportunities to do so in the future.
Next year’s con is in England. Here’s to hoping I can make it.
