Conventions

Conventions Marketing Matt Jones The Writing Life 5 Comments

World Fantasy Convention starts in less than a week. This year the focus is on urban fantasy and gothic fantasy. If you’ve never been to a convention, going to your first convention is almost a magical experience by itself. You’ll meet authors left and right that have been in your shoes. You’ll see editors and agents who are willing to give you advice and may tell you to send a copy of your new novel their way. And, if nothing else, you’ll have a great time. So, if you’ve never been to a convention before, let’s look at why you should go to the next one, and what you should do when you arrive.

As you finish a novel or two, you’ll want to start submitting them to publishing houses and editors. Usually this ends up with your work starting at the bottom of a slush pile and you waiting impatiently for someone to read, and hopefully pick up your novel. The other option is to meet these publishers and editors and if they like you and your pitch, they may ask you to send them your work. While it will still end up on the slush pile, this can get you put to the top.

Even if you’re still not finished with your novel, conventions can be a great place to go for that little push. There is a common saying that says you should group yourself with people who are doing what you want to do. You can look pretty much everywhere and you’ll notice a trend of authors emerging into the publishing world in groups. You’ll have people that will push you to succeed while understanding the troubles you’re facing. Along these lines, conventions can act as a support group. For a couple days a year, you’ll be immersed into the middle of your peers and idols. You’ll hear about success and everyone will tell you that it can, and will, happen to you if you persevere.

If you’re still not convinced, Brandon Sanderson tells a story about when he was trying to get published. Brandon was taking a class with David Wolverton/Farland and David learned about the books Brandon had written. David told Brandon that he needed to make it to the next convention, even if it required selling everything he owned. Brandon listened to that advice, met his editor, and the rest is history.

So, you’ve made it to the convention that fits your work, now what? The best advice I can give you is to be social. The panels and talks are good and you should definitely attend the ones you find of interest, but the real magic usually happens outside the convention hall. Learn where the parties are happening and make an appearance. Hang out at the bar and introduce yourself. Be friendly and be ready to give that elevator pitch you’ve worked so hard on. Get business cards and email addresses. Start building up your circle of authors and industry professionals who know your name. It might give you the edge you need in the future.

If you have a novel ready to be published, you’ll want to do your homework before the convention and put on the dreaded marketers cap. Many conventions, such a world fantasy, have a list of who will be attending. If not, you should be following the publishers you want to submit to on twitter and facebook anyway, so you should have an idea of who is attending. Take this list and learn everything you can about the publishers and editors that you want to submit to. You should remember that they’re people as well, and like talking to people who appreciate their work. Ask them about the novels they’re currently working on, and how the last batch has done. Be friendly, and not pushy. If all goes well, they’ll reciprocate and ask what you’re working on.

Just remember to be friendly and listen to social cues. Being too pushy or problematic can hurt your chances as well. If the other person is in a hurry or trying to leave, wait for another opportunity. Talk to others in the group and make friends. Even if you don’t kick it off with your favorite editor, there are plenty of people around willing to talk to you and give you the push you need.

The Fictorian Era: In Community

Evan Braun The Writing Life 6 Comments

I wrote for years, but I never felt like a writer until I started reaching out to other writers and forming friendships with them. Not that you can’t be a writer all by yourself. I’m sure it’s possible, and that such writers exist, but they must be a rare breed.

I’ve written on the subject of community before, as have other bloggers here at the Fictorian Era, but I’ve been giving a lot of thought recently to this foundational concept. It truly is foundational, because I am nowhere without the support, encouragement, and accountability of the people around me.

Perhaps the matter of community speaks to me because my tendency is so strongly toward isolation. I’m not wildly social. I’m usually quite content to spend an evening in, with a good book and roaring fireplace for company. Hell, I don’t need the fireplace, but it sure helps when you live in the cold, dark reaches of the Canadian prairie. So when it comes to finding meaning all on my own… well, I’m practically an expert.

Two and a half years ago, I attended a conference for writers and found myself surrounded by friends with similar ambitions, dreams, and talents. I wouldn’t be writing this blog, or even my current work in progress, if it wasn’t for this feisty band of fellow travellers. Attending that conference required me to take a huge step outside my comfort zone, and most of the steps I’ve taken since have expanded that invisible bubble of succour and security even further. Expansion is constantly on the horizon, because I’m no longer standing still in my writing career; the figurative car I’m driving is a bit of a fixer-up, and the mileage varies (a lot), but the engine runs.

Here at the Fictorian Era, we are a community, and we’re growing all the time. Most of us started unpublished, though this has begun to change. Some of us have found publishers. Others have self-published. All of us are active in our careers, navigating the uncertain waters of the business, and using each other to make tough decisions, keep ourselves accountable, draw inspiration, and build experience. It’s been a gathering place, and it’s kept me on track more times than I can count.

Over the next few months, this blog is going to move forward with more vigor and determination than ever before. We’re pulling together to bring the best, most relevant content on the internet for writers, by writers, and in the process focusing that content more sharply on the topics that matter most to people like us-the craft of writing, the discipline of writing, and the business of writing. We’re combining a myriad of different perspectives and experiences, from the unpublished aspiring novelist to the New York Times bestseller.

If you’re a writer like us, a Fictorian at heart, at any level of skill or accomplishment, we invite you to gather here. Perhaps your writerly engine needs a bit of servicing, a bit of automotive TLC to get roadworthy again. Well, join us. This blog is for you.

Inspiration is Nice, But”¦

The Writing Life 4 Comments

Everyone loves those moments of inspiration, when we get that light bulb flashing in our brains like a cop car in a high-speed chase. There’s nothing like those electric moments when it seems like the heavens open for us and the words write themselves. They are epiphanies that make life as a writer so magical.  They make us feel gifted and help us believe that we might actually have a shot at this crazy creative enterprise of writing fiction.

But, they don’t happen every day, do they? And you’ve got pages to fill and transitions to make to tie those multiple moments of inspired text come together into a cohesive whole. It’s hard when the muse has taken a coffee break and the fires of inspiration go cold. And to wait for that next inspired spark doesn’t get the words on the page, does it? Call it writer’s block, or a lack of motivation, those dry spells can really put the brakes on our egos and make us wonder if we really have what it takes to make it in the publishing world.

I’ll confess, I’ve been going through that second phase a lot lately. I suffer from periodic bouts of depression, and if you don’t know, that can make it really hard to be creative. Of course, my primary defense mechanism for fighting my depression is to wander off into flights of fancy that, when the bout passes, can make for some pretty cool story ideas. But most of this summer, I didn’t write a single word. Even getting a post up for this blog, at times, was a struggle. I started to wonder if maybe I should just put a cap on the idea of chasing that publishing dream.

But struggle doesn’t always have to be a bad thing. I don’t know about you, but there have been times when writing felt like pulling teeth. It felt forced and flat because the words just didn’t flow the way I thought they should. The prose fought me because I wasn’t in one of those inspired moments, but I had to soldier on to get the work done. The crazy thing is that, on re-reading those difficult patches later on, they tend to be far better than the stuff that flew out of my fingers.

So, here’s what I’ve learned. Maybe those moments of inspiration are just as fantabulous as they seem, and maybe the uninspired ones are hard, but we should never let our writing be guided only by inspiration. Love the gifts when they happen, but never let a reliance on those moments hamper our productivity, or make us doubt that we can or can’t do the thing we love-write a darned good story.

 

James A. Owen: Artwork and a Winner!

Guest Posts Joshua Essoe No Comments

In conclusion to our book give-away, we have procured a very large, metaphorical hat. It is black and felty and often has rabbits in it. And those are Raisinetes. Everybody loves Raisinetes. No rabbits today, however. Today we find only a name:

Michelle Beal

Congratulations, Michelle! You’re the winner of one of the LAST of the limited-edition hardcover copies of “Drawing out the Dragons,” personally signed by James A. Owen.
Michelle, please send your mailing address to colette@fictorians.com.

We promised some big James Owen news today, but publishing and deadlines being what they are, we can’t say anything yet. However, when a big deadline is looming, it is a fantastic time to post art.

A portrait of an author contemplating a looming deadline.
A portrait of an author contemplating the next deadline.

 

Concluding point: he just made a deadline. News to come!

 

James A. Owen is the author of the Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica series, the creator of the critically acclaimed Starchild graphic novel series, and the author of the Mythworld series of novels. He is also founder and executive director of Coppervale International, a comic book company that also publishes magazines and develops and produces television and film projects. He lives in Arizona. Visit him at HereThereBeDragons.net