Late August, 2015
Are you ready for a mostly canine-free discussion of Worldcon? I am.
Sasquan was my first Worldcon. I had expected it to be more like Norwescon or Orycon; more costumes, more panels on costuming and art and vastly more merchants. I was naively surprised by how much the focus was on writing, although that "focus" might be more a result of the panels I chose to attend. It was quite cool and massive; I missed nine-tenths of the possible events but there is only one of me, and a introverted one at that.
Wednesday night I started with Ruby: the Adventures of a Galactic Gumshoe, which turned out to be merely a playing of the radio show (I didn't look closely enough at the description and had hoped to meet one or two of the voice actors.) But it was shows I had not heard, so that made up for it. RUBY!
Thursday morning I did the Stroll with the Stars thing which was about 100 attendees clomping along with various notables from the convention mixed in among us. Walked behind David Gerrold being interviewed for a bit. Very gracious man. It was a nice morning in Spokane, the last we'd have before the smoke came in hard, and a good walk. The bridge we were to take on the way back (Spokane has a fantastic trail system along the river) was closed with ambulance, police and rescue personnel focused on something below them. A few rescue folk had rappelled down onto a rock formation above a small set of rapids and were focused on something (or someone) above them I couldn't see. Eventually a few rescue personnel put inflatable kayaks in the water below the rapids. The stories I heard: guy was trying to retrieve a bike and fell; guy had put a rope around his neck and was threatening to jump; guy had fallen and they couldn't get to him. So, I can say that I'm pretty sure there was a guy on the rocks below the bridge. Other than that, notsomuch. Felt sorry for all involved but I was amused by the inadvertent game of telephone/gossip running up and down the group, and how I obliged I felt to play.
First presentation I attended was one on Australian astrology, which was disappointing in that it was taught by a guy who'd visited--hadn't lived there, wasn't Australian, kept referring to the aborigines as "them," gave a few factoids that I seriously doubt, and shut down his delayed slide show the instant the tech got it started. However, he did teach me a number of things I did not know, so it was not a loss.
Writing Diverse Characters had an excellent panel of presenters. That one was harder to sum up but basically came down to: be real with your worlds: write more than just white people, recognize you're going to screw up writing POVs you're not familiar with but try anyway, be willing to learn and be open to advice, and treat people with respect.
The presentation by Book View Cafe, a cooperative, was fascinating to me because of a venture some colleagues are considering; would a cooperative work better than an LLC? They specifically did not want an LLC, they wanted something where everyone, not just an officer or two, was responsible for the work and profit of the group. And it seems to be working for them; they have about 50 members and do their own website, ebooks, covers and marketing and presumably handle the accounting and related business details. They do contract with Audible for audio books. They clearly aren't all agreed on every decision and there are areas of expertise they still feel they need, but they've found a workable process with trial and error. I'm not sure I could handle the necessary processing involved; you have a book for launch, you ask for a team to help you: a cover person, a formatting/ebook person, etc. Author gets 95 percent of the profit (or proceeds, my notes aren't clear) and the co-op gets five to pay for the website and other costs.
That evening we went to the Girl Genius Ball, which was fun. I've forgotten how to waltz.
Friday started well. I went to Afrofuturism in Comics and Science Fiction. Was mostly about superheros of color and the comic books that feature them, with a smattering of black culture. I was a horrified at how few I'd even heard about, let alone recognized.
Also attended Build an Empire on the Fly. It was fun watching the panelists construct a world, but it was so heavily based on old earth cultures and assumptions that it quickly bored me. I left to attend another panel, thinking they'd left out the essential bit, which was the "So what? Why should I care?" factor. I want my fantasy fiction (the world they were building was not going to be Sci Fi) to be *interesting,* something more than basic Civilization 101. Hardly fair to ask of a group-created world in 60 minutes, I suppose.
I tried to go to a silk-dying workshop but someone moved it across the conference to a black-box-curtained area near the art show. And then didn't put up any signs. Couldn't find it, thought the screened-off area was convention business because it was behind the registration area. Shrugged, went to the art show -- half an hour later, I realize there is a class going on there. *headdesk* HERALDRY, PEOPLE. Signage is a Good Idea.
Chinese Myths and Traditions was a letdown because the moderator didn't moderate, and one of them had a presentation that had technical issues and delayed the entire panel. The thesis of one of the panelists, who dominated the discussion, was that China is an evolving culture just like all cultures and to focus on old traditions was to try to force the culture to stand still. I get the idea, but people can still be interested in Chinese folklore and grok that China is an evolving modern nation, and the panel was on CHINESE MYTHS AND TRADITIONS. Two of the panelists barely got to speak beyond their introductions, and another was so obviously awed by being on the panel with the oxygen-taker (whose written work I admire and therefore am not naming) that she kept returning the conversation to that panelist. It was annoying.
Then we watched the masquerade on a big screen in Guinan's, where we could have beer and cider, and life got considerably rosier.
Saturday I went to "The Alien Among Us, The Fiction of CJ Cherryh," which had Ann Leckie saying her work was far more influenced by Cherryh than Ian Banks, who everyone compares it to, and Jo Walton said Banks had told her over drinks that HE was heavily influenced by Cherryh, so it would be more proper to say both Banks and Leckie had been influenced by Cherryh. That seemed to make people happy. Cherryh's treatment of the alien perspective struck many on the panel as one of the influential aspects of her work.
Alien Linguistics was an interesting panel that told me I know next to nothing about linguistics and that if I wanted, I could *hire* someone to come up with a language for my worlds. Which is sooo tempting.
The rest of Saturday afternoon was eaten up by trying to pay for the art I'd bid on at the art show, and then the art auction, because one of the pieces I'd bid on went to auction. The auction was fun and raised money for a literacy program in Spokane, so that was cool.
Then there was the Hugo Awards, which was handled deftly but also made better by alcohol.
Sunday I went to What New Pros Need to Know, which was about the new set of problems you get after your first serious sales. First bit of advice: after that first sale, you feel great....for about 10 minutes. You need to generate supportive friends but more importantly ways to feel your own confidence, because that's what will carry you through the bad reviews and the bad times. Speaking of which, it doesn't matter if someone is saying something factually incorrect or even lying about you; do not interact with reviewers. Don't worry about your reputation in the writing community being hurt by such reviewers; nobody else is reading your reviews. Everyone tells you not to read them and they know you will anyway; the good news is that your obsession with them will fade. One woman has no problem with poor reviews because she can imagine worse ones in her head. Someone else views them as eavesdropping because in her world it would be rude to bring attention to the fact that she's been listening in. Also, do not fall into the trap of believing that reviews/ratings and sales are connected -- someone said your 3-4 star reviews are better for you than fives because they are NEW PEOPLE reading your work. That means your readership is growing, and that's good for sales. Protect your creative bubble; find a routine that works for you. "Day jobs get a bad rap," said one panelist, but hers gets her out of the house, forces her to interact with humans and allows her a piece of her life where effort leads to reward, a relationship in writing that is neither short nor straight. Practice reading aloud (Mary Robinett Kowal's videos on the subject were recommended).
and finally,
Colleagues as Family, which was a lovely way to end... Vonda Macintyre, GRR Martin, Connie Willis and David Gerrold talking about the long-view of controversy, conflict and colleagues in the writing community. David pointed out how even being nominated to a slate with fantastic writers on it was a huge honor. GRR Martin said something profound about friendship. He and Connie batted back and forth about the Hugos they'd "stolen" from one another. And Vonda sat back and watched the three of them rattle on, with what *looked* like bemusement. At one point they all stopped and looked at her and she said, "Are we done?" She recommended Ursula LeGuin's experiment in online Q and A.
Things I missed:
A. I will forever kick myself for missing the Discworld exhibit, especially since I walked past it five times going someplace else.
B. I wanted my asterisk signed by Jim Wright, and I only saw him once, when I didn't have it on me.
Things I didn't miss:
1. the parties. I'm delighted people had a great time at the various parties but putting me in a room full of partying, talking people is like throwing a hissing stray cat into a room full of well-fed chihuahuas. Nobody thinks I'm much fun and I just want out of there. Even on the rare occasions I can be up for such an event, I don't last long.
2. the rabid/sad puppy kerfluffle. Having just watched people's homes and the heart of my county go up in smoke, I had a hard time giving a shit about a literary squabble. I do care, and I understand why it's important, but I had it firmly wedged into a petty political pigeonhole by the time I arrived in Spokane. Other people have done a magnificent job of writing about it, I don't have to.
Onward!
