I tried to discovery write my way through my first two National Novel Writing Months, but failed both times. It wasn’t until my third attempt that I committed to the change that made the difference. For years, my friends and mentors tried to tempt me into outlining, promising mad productivity gains, stronger stories, and less time spent drudging through the editing phase. I resisted because I was convinced that outlining would ruin the joy of creation, dampen the rush I got through discovering my story and my characters. But between you and I? The real reason was because I had no idea how to outline effectively.
Every other time I tried outlining, I started by listing plot points. What I didn’t realize was that I was stacking up two-by-fours and hoping to end up with a house. My first major challenge was to realize that I needed to instead start with the big picture.
Story and plot are not the same thing. The plot is what the character does, the story is what the plot does to them. The plot of Star Wars: A New Hope starts with a boy who grows up on a moisture farm before running away with a space wizard, two droids, and a pair of smugglers. They are captured, and during his escape, the boy saves a princess before fleeing the Empire. They all join the Rebellion and our hero ends up blowing up a weapon of ultimate destruction and evil. The movie’s plot takes 67 words and 3 sentences to describe. The story can be stated much more simply. Star Wars: A New Hope is about a boy who comes from humble beginnings only to discover that he has the ability to change his world by standing up to a great evil. 33 words, 1 sentence.
If that’s not a familiar story, you haven’t been consuming much fiction. Frodo from Lord of the Rings, the titular character of the Harry Potter series, and even Simba from Disney’s The Lion King all experience the same story. Truth be told, humans have been telling each other the same stories for most of our history. Keep it simple and find a story that will resonate with your readership. This will be the foundation for your outline.
My next breakthrough came when I took Dave Farland’s Story Puzzle class. I learned that I needed to build my story like I would build a house, by starting with the studs and working my way out. A plot’s studs are its scenes, and scenes are nothing more than goals paired with failures that lead to an eventual success. Understanding your story’s try-fail cycles means that you need to dig down into your characters’ motivations. How is your protagonist going to respond to the initiating event, both emotionally and then through action? How is that reaction going to interfere with the antagonist’s designs and how is that character going to respond? Rinse, and repeat. Once you understand what your protagonist and antagonist want and how they’ll go about getting it, the rest falls into place.
So, after much work I had a functional outline, by far the best I had ever written. I started my third NaNoWriMo attempt. I was only days in before I found a plot problem. It wasn’t a big plothole, but enough of a stumbling block that I missed my daily goal. In the past, I would have agonized and insisted on filling the hole before being able to move on. However, the next day I started my writing session by typing, “<<Assume my character accomplishes her goal, she disarms the bomb and saves her friends.>>” I then opened a new scrivening and started writing my next scene. The beauty of the outline was that I didn’t need to discover the end of the scene. It was all planned out, I could move on and come back to fix it later.
Things were going well, I was reaping all the benefits that my friends and mentors had promised me. I was cruising along, exceeding my daily word counts. Then one day I had an idea. It was good enough that it was worth changing my whole outline. This was my third challenge. I was worried that my discovery writer past was catching up with me, that I was going to ditch my novel’s blueprint and would end up wasting all the time I had saved and all the progress I had made. Rather than starting to knock down the walls I had already built, I took a few days off of writing and reworked my outline mid-NaNoWriMo. It seemed crazy to do, but the idea was just that much better than what I had planned before.
The outline may have been my book’s blueprint, but I wasn’t committed to following every detail. It was there to help me visualize the whole structure of my novel and decide where my renovations fit in. I knew which walls were load bearing, where all the piping was run, and how the rooms would flow one to the other. Because I understood the totality of what I was trying to build, I could honestly and objectively decide if my new idea was better. I went back to writing with a newly revised outline and I ended up finishing strong, winning my third NaNoWriMo attempt.
Though I have been wooed into becoming an outliner, I still find ways to discover. It hasn’t taken away from the thrill, but rather increased the satisfaction of a story well crafted. This month on the Fictorians, you’re going to hear from many writers about their own experiences with prewriting and the techniques that allow them to keep up the grueling NaNoWriMo pace. If you are an experienced NaNo’er, welcome back. If you are a newbie who is considering taking on the mountain for the first time, welcome to the family. We have 30 days left to build our base camps, folks. Will you be ready to start the climb?
Earlier this month, I talked about SLC comicon, which I have attended multiple times. In the past, I attended as one of the authors participating with the Bard’s Tower. Those experiences were awesome. I not only learned a ton about how to run a successful vendor booth, but I loved meeting and networking with all the other authors and cross-selling each others’ books.
I just returned from yet another SLC comicon, and for the first time I was an official vendor. I shared a booth with author and friend, Gama Ray Martinez. (check out his books – they’re great).
I had actually planned to just join the Bard’s Tower group again, but they’re so popular, they had too many authors already signed up. Gama mentioned that he was interested in going as a vendor, and it made a ton of sense to split the cost of a 10×10 booth, share the space, and sell our books there.
How did it go?
Extremely well. We both sold a lot of books, covered our booth costs, and had a great time. I can’t say I made a profit, but I came closer than ever before. Besides the direct booth expenses, I have to factor in the cost of the books, hotels for myself and my family (Yes, I brought my own minions to help out), gas, food, etc.
What worked well?
There are several benefits to sharing a booth. Besides the obvious benefit of splitting the cost, you’ve got someone to chat with, cross-sell with, and brainstorm the best way to make the booth work. We got more space on the table than we would have if we joined a larger group. Additionally, we were both panelists at the convention, and it was easy for one of us to cover the booth while the other one headed out to a panel. Or, if we needed a restroom or food break, we didn’t have to leave the booth unattended. All that stress was gone.
And of course the best benefit is getting to meet so many people. Here are a few who posed with one of my books. The Assassins always choose Memory Hunter because that series is described as Mission Impossible meets Assassin’s Creed. Fun stuff.
What could have been a problem?
Gama and I didn’t have any major issues, but it’s important to recognize that there are potential hazards with sharing a booth like we did. Make sure you’re a good fit with your partner and that the agreement is clear.
Money. How to collect and track sales? We could have each handled our sales separately, but what if someone wanted to buy books from both of us? This actually happened more than once. We decided that we would use Gama’s Square account. That way only one of us had to apply for a Utah state tax license and we could sell all of our books through the same account. That meant all sales had to be tracked, both cash and credit. Gama will pay the tax and send me my net profit. I have access to the account, so there’s no question of trustworthiness, not that I would ever doubt Gama, but this way there’s no chance for the problem to come up.
Stealing each other’s sales. Our books target similar audiences, so we could have run into issues with each of us trying to sell over the other and in effect stealing the other’s sales. We didn’t have that problem because we both acted like professionals. We did have an instance where one of my over-eager kids interrupted Gama’s pitch to pitch one of my books too, but we discussed that and made sure everyone understood the importance of giving each of us the necessary space to work. We actually ended up cross-selling each other’s books quite a bit. The goal is always to find the book that best fits the reader’s tastes. We both made sales, and readers are happy. They’ll buy again.
There are certainly other potential issues, like personality conflicts, issues with sharing the table space equally, etc, but we didn’t run into those. Most potential issues can be resolved with open communication and bilateral respect, but it’s important to consider them when considering a vendor partner.
Will I share a booth again?
Absolutely. Gama and I are already discussing next year’s SLC comicon. I might do something similar at other cons, although I’m still very happy to participate with Bard’s Tower again if a particular situation would work out better that way. Be flexible, and there are ways to work the conventions as a vendor without going broke.
We all attend writer conventions, but what if you wanted to start one? Where do you start? What makes a con good? How do you draw in the big literary names?
I had the pleasure of asking Randy for his tips and insights into establishing a successful writing convention. There’s a link for some special content at the end of the interview so please don’t miss that!
WWC’s tagline is A Reader’s and Writer’s Festival. Why this branding rather than simply making it a writers’ convention or a writers’ and fan convention?
If you are a writer, you will know that there are numerous writers conferences out there, even in western Canada. When looking to start a literary event in Calgary, I didn’t want to start an event like one I could already go to, but something different. I did want to provide a networking opportunity for writers and publishers, but I also wanted to create an opportunity for readers to meet authors they might have read as well as discover new authors. The tag line is a very good description of our event. We chose the word ‘festival’ over ‘convention’ because it is more apt to what we are about. Though we are educational, we are also fun. Smiles and laughter are encouraged.
Our demographics show that almost half of our attendees consider themselves readers. We attract readers by offering inexpensive passes ($45-$55 for a weekend pass, depending on when it is purchased), while most writers conferences cost much more. Inexpensive passes are common to speculative fiction fan conventions that are designed primarily for non-professionals. Very few readers will spend $100-$300, not even to see their favourite author (especially as we also provide several free events where the public can meet our guests.)
Though many conferences and festivals are genre-specific, it has always been my feeling that genres have more in common than differences. Most readers, also, read across multiple genres. The speculative fiction convention model is not common outside of SF&F, but we wanted to see if other genres as well as literary readers & writers would give it a try, so we invited them. To our delight, they came. We now try to have representatives for each genre an well as literary and poetry on our organization board.
There is a very dynamic dealer’s room at WWC. Writers congregate, presses sell books, writers and presses are talking business and making book deals, all the while books are being sold by writing groups, book sellers, and publishers.
Many conferences (and book stores) offer a range of non-book products. Our Merchants Corner is a book-only room, though we do include some art. Our most unique table is the Shared Authors Table, where attending authors not represented by other vendors may have their books sold. This table typical does over $2,500 worth of sales over the weekend. As far as I am aware, we did it first back in 2011, though I have seen the concept more recently at other events.
We also have a hotel-provided snack bar and seating area in the Merchants Corner where people can get drinks, soup, sandwiches, and salads. Something I haven’t seen anywhere else.
Randy explains the rules for Live Action Slush
For a convention to have a good reputation, several factors must come together from programming, to guests of honour, attendee packages, and advertising. I’d like to talk about some of these aspects so that we can understand what it takes for them to work well.
Any event must decide on a mission statement and a business model. Our mission statement is: to bring readers and writers together in a celebration of the written word. Our business model is a fusion of best practices I’ve taken from other events I have attended. A few important concepts are:
Inclusive and inexpensive to attend.
100% volunteer run.
Multi-track so attendees always have something of interest going on.
A safe and fun environment.
Since an event will fail if no one shows up, let’s begin with advertising. While we do have a modest marketing budget and place posters and pamphlets in book stores, word-of-mouth is by far the best advertising. When we started in 2011 we made sure to promote our new event by speaking to writers groups and placing marketing literature in books stores. Even so, we budgeted for 150 people showing up. 280 did, so we were off to a good start, growing each year until we are now peaked out at 750 people. Most people found out about us from a friend. We have no desire to grow past 750 attendees as I find larger events too impersonal.
Guest speakers are tricky as no one can agree on who to invite. If we receive 100 feedback forms from attendees we will receive 100 guest suggestions. Each year we try to invite guests that cover a range of disciplines who are good speakers. If we need to reduce our budget somewhere, we look to the guest budget first (example: finding guests closer to home).
Our attendee package is very simple and economical: a plastic name badge on a string, a 5.5” x 8.5” stapled program book, and a single sheet quick guide. We don’t have a welcome bag, though book bags and fancy badge holders are available.
Our venue, the Delta Calgary South, has meeting space for as many as 15 concurrent events, giving attendees lots to choose from during the weekend. This means our program has over 200 different sessions to plan. Again, using the speculative fiction model, we open the program to attending professionals, encouraging them to speak, take manuscript pitches (if they are acquisition editors), and participate in our Blue Pencil Café, all on a volunteer basis. Each year around 150 attending experts join with our 5 or 6 festival guests to provide a dynamic and diverse program for the attendees.
There are other aspects to the festival, including a hospitality suite, a mass autograph session, a banquet, and even awards ceremonies as we sometimes host awards. As you can imagine, all of this requires a large number of volunteers putting in time and effort. We also try to do things efficiently with the lowest demand on volunteer time as possible.
On the topic of programming, in WWC 2017, there were ~80 panels on craft and business, blocks of time with guests of honour, blue pencil cafes, and pitching sessions. There is a variety of topics which appeal to both readers and writers and this can be seen by the packed rooms at many of the panels. How do you assess and what is needed and then deliver it?
The short answer is: we don’t. Like our staff, our presenters are volunteers. We ask them what they would like to present, and then we try to accommodate them. We do let them know what types of programming, such as what you listed above, we are looking for. This approach has some drawbacks, but in the end I believe it has more advantages. Presenters come up with all sorts of brilliant ideas we would never think of. This approach also greatly reduces demand on volunteer effort to put the program together.
Guests of Honour Guy Gavriel Kay, Diana Gabaldon, Brandon Mull, Brandon Sanderson, Jack Whyte, Kevin J. Anderson, David B. Coe, Robert J. Sawyer, Ian Hamilton, Patricia Briggs, Anthony Bidulka, Kelly Armstrong, Sam Hiyate (The Rights Factory), and Sally Harding (Cooke Agency) are a few of the big selling authors and agents who have come to WWC. Some continue to come back as festival attendees because, as I’ve heard them say, it’s an awesome experience.
Since we are a 100% volunteer event, we do not budget for speakers fees. While we do cover travel and hotel for our festival guests, they, like everyone else, are donating their time and talents to participate at our festival. People need to understand that the business model of many speakers does not include speaking at events such as ours on a voluntary basis. Many of our invitations have been turned down. No hard feelings. That’s just the way it is. The outcome, however, is that speakers who do accept our invitations enjoy events such as ours and regularly accept invitations such as ours. And yes, we are fortunate that many of our guests choose to return when they can.
The main reason that guests return, I believe, is that we are different from most other conventions. We chose to call ourselves a festival rather than a conference or convention, because we want our event to be a party. While many writers do network and learn from each other, they also attend our festival because it is fun. People are having a good time. Our guests have a good time.
The other reason guests return is because we treat them well. Each guest is assigned a liaison to handle transportation and any needs they may have. We provide our guests breakfast and banquet tickets and take them out to dinner a couple of times. They each receive a welcome basket with souvenirs and goodies. In other words, we give them the respect they deserve for agreeing to join us on their own time.
I must say, that attendees really appreciate how accessible the guests have been, not only with their readings and key note speeches, but some hold workshops and most are willing to chat informally with readers and writers.
One of the things that makes us different from other conventions is that we don’t have a presenter green room. I never understood the point of separating the speakers from the people who have come to see them. Our guests usually spend their free time in the Merchants Corner, the Hospitality room, or the bar where they can mingle with attendees.
We also give our guests the option of holding a master class so that a smaller group of attendees can spend several hours with them. I, for one, very much enjoy attending master classes whenever I can.
In 2011 WWC had 282 people attend. 2017 had 750 attendees. WWC has been nominated for the Aurora Award for best volunteer-run organization every year and has won the award 6 times. Incidentally, for those who aren’t aware, the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association’s Aurora Award is a fan appreciation award so being nominated and winning is a great vote of confidence. Obviously, you have a lot of happy customers! What have they told you why they like WWC so much and what does your volunteer core do to ensure their satisfaction?
We are thrilled to be nominated for the award each year and to have won so often. As you say, the award is for fan-run events (meaning volunteer-run), such as CanCon in Ottawa, VCon in Vancouver, and numerous other volunteer-run events across Canada, ranging from international conventions that are sometimes hosted in Canada to various public reading series.
All volunteer-run events, no matter the size, are limited by the ability of the organizers to put something together. For free. In their spare time. When Words Collide is fortunate in that we have a board of 20+ volunteers to plan each year’s festival. We also rely on an addition 50+ on-site volunteers during the festival. Even so, there is only so much we can do, so we try to make sure that whatever we do looks, from the outside at least, amazing and flawless. We are regularly asked by attendees why we don’t add something to the festival. My reply is always the same. It would require more manpower than we have. This might be a good time to ask your readers if they are interested in joining our board or participating as an on-site volunteer. J We can always use more help.
What tips do you have for anyone wishing to start a convention in their community?
First off, a convention is big. Very big. WWC costs around $40,000 to put on. When Creative Ink (Burnaby, BC) asked for advice getting started, I suggested they do a 1-day event to get their feet wet, which they did in 2015. They learned a lot and went to a full weekend in 2016. Here are some quick tips to consider:
Attend other events to see what they do, what you like, and what you don’t like.
Do what you want to do, not what others want, even if it is totally different (like WWC was in 2011).
Find some good help.
Start small and set the bar low. Grow as circumstances allow.
Spend money wisely and build a modest rainy day fund.
Make sure you have fun doing it.
Something to know is that people are happy to be helpful. If you are unsure about anything, ask around and you’ll get lots of advice. If something sounds like it will work, problem solved.
Any special announcements for 2018?
Our 2018 festival is 11 months away and we have already sold 25% of the passes. We are typically sold out in June, so don’t wait too long to get your pass. The only thing I’d like to say at this time is that we have an amazing line-up of festival guests next year: Peter V. Brett, Harold Johnson, Erin Lindsey, Deanna Raybourn, and Arthur Slade. If you are unfamiliar with these authors, you will want to change that. Literary agent Sam Morgan of Foundry Media is also joining us. Several of our past guests are returning. I’m looking forward to yet another excellent festival.
And now for the SPECIAL LINK: WWC has a variety of podcasts available on it’s website and they’re awesome! Check them out here! Who knows, maybe they’ll inspire you to come to When Words Collide in 2018.
RANDY MCCHARLES is a full-time author of speculative and crime fiction.
He is the recipient of several Aurora Awards (Canada’s most prestigious award for speculative fiction) and in 2013 his short story Ghost-B-Gone Incorporated won the House of Anansi 7-day Ghost Story Contest. Randy’s most recent publications include the 2016 Aurora Award shortlisted novel Much Ado about Macbeth from Tyche Books, the short story Murder at the Mall from Coffin Hop Press, and the 2017 Aurora Award shortlisted novel The Day of the Demon. In addition to writing, Randy organizes various events including the award-winning When Words Collide Festival for Readers and Writers. To learn more about Randy and his books, go to www.randymccharles.com.
This year, I had the privilege of attending a few cons that I’ve never been to courtesy of Bard’s Tower. Much more than a traveling bookstore, Bard’s Tower is a celebrity author experience. All of the books at the booth for a particular show have their authors there selling, signing, taking photographs, and much more. It’s been a great experience with them this year at both Florida SuperCon and Phoenix Comic Con.
Out of all the shows and cons I went to this year, my favorite (to this point) was Phoenix. I used to live in the Phoenix area and I have many family and friends there, so in a sense going to Phoenix was like going home. Being back in the Valley of the Sun was outstanding, but the show itself taught me a lot of how successful conventions really operate. The staff took exceptional care of all the authors present, and there were some outstanding science fiction and fantasy authors present. The panels were well themed and always attended well. For me, it was my first real chance to get to know several authors I’ve been social media friends with for years and even to meet a few new ones. I have the opportunity to sit on a panel of military fiction authors including Jason M. Hough, Weston Ochse, Myke Cole, Alan Smale, and me. I can’t even begin to tell you how nervous I was at the start of the panel. We had a tremendous discussion and I left there with some incredible role models in how to be a great panelist. Everyone brought a unique perspective to the discussion and their professionalism was incredible.
At the booth, on the convention floor, was another area that completely astounded me. When I arrived, my books were placed next to the legendary Alan Dean Foster. I’d met Alan last year at WorldCon and we had several great discussions during our time at the booth. On the other side of me was Dan Wells. I seriously had imposter syndrome for about an hour until I heard Dan Wells pitch someone my novel SLEEPER PROTOCOL. At that point, I settled down and got to work. Meeting fans and potential readers is a great experience and Phoenix did not disappoint at all. Many of you might have heard of the security incident on Thursday that snarled up the entrances on Friday for a little while. Standing in a line anytime is frustrating – imagine doing it in near triple digit temperatures by 9am. The delays that fans experienced on Friday were quickly solved by the amazing uniformed security personnel and the con staff. More importantly, the fans took it in stride with more than I could count trading their cosplay weaponry for weapons made from cardboard. It was outstanding to see everyone working together to keep the con a great safe experience. I was completely impressed.
While there, I had the chance to hang out with my brother James A. Owen, my friends Mark Gardner and Christopher Ferguson, and I got to meet one of my comics idols from the 90s, artist Whilce Portacio. I got to talk with Chaos Comics founder Brian Pulido and his wife Francesca again (and again in Denver, too) and met too many readers and fans to count. Our Bard’s Tower booth was a pretty big hit anyway, with authors like Jim Butcher, Claudia Gray, and Sherrilyn Kenyon joining the others I’ve mentioned along with Kevin J. Anderson, Michelle Cori, S. Usher Evans, Quincy J. Allen, Neo Edmund, Ramon Terrell, LJ Hachmeister and Steve Diamond. The weekend was a whirlwind. Several fellow Superstars came by the booth, too – Jace Killian, Helen Savore, Holly Heisey, and Eva Eldridge. I barely sat down the entire time. During the convention, I sold more books that at any other convention I’d previously attended. It was amazing. Outside of the convention, I had drinks with amazing authors and got the chance to have one of my favorite Phoenix food experiences after a too long wait.
Will I return to Phoenix next year? Yes. I’m looking forward to it already. That’s the thing about good conventions that go the extra mile to take care of their guests and their fans. Sometimes a convention will choose one over the other and the effects are noticeable. Phoenix was never that way. Every day, at least one staff member stopped by and asked if they could help us in any way. The security personnel were amazing, too. To have a serious incident one day and be a smoothly ran machine by the end of the convention was incredible. I’m in awe of their effort.
If you’re in the Phoenix area next year, come to the convention. I guarantee you that you will not be disappointed.
