Saturday Keycon 2009
My much belated continuation of this year's con report is finally here. And the peasants rejoiced.
I dreamed that I slept in until after noon, and was in this incredible panic. I had panels before that, and was supposed to be taking care of Kelley, whose first panel was at 10. It was one of those incredibly detailed dreams, so I'm putting on clothes in a rush, and worrying about getting all the little things together, and I was so mad at my husband for letting me sleep in, especially because he was so nonchalant about the whole thing. Since he still had to drop the kids off at his sister's (who was taking care of them for the weekend), I was in a desperate rush to run to the convention hotel on foot. At which point I woke up and realized it wasn't even 8 o'clock yet, and perhaps I should stop panicking and get over being mad at the husband who hadn't even done anything.
In reality, despite what my stupid brain told me, we were at the hotel in plenty of time for the first panel of the day, a 10am discussion of Combat in Fantasy with Kelley, Katherine, and Tamara, all of whom have done some form or another of real life training as well as writing about it in their books. Tamara told a particular tale of woe involving a new flat-screen tv and a runaway sai as she tried to figure out the exact motion she needed her character to perform. Fortunately, it seems "death by sai" is actually covered in the insurance policy.
Then came the YA panel, which was Kelley and myself. Since she writes the stuff and I review it, we had a pretty good perspective on what makes a good YA and how it differs from the adult market. I must not have sounded like a complete idiot, since a few people came up afterwards asking where they could find my reviews. I passed out business cards in a surreal fog.
At noon was Believable Magic and Tech, where Kelley and Katherine talked about making the magic in a fantasy world make sense. Modern technology offers its challenges in contemporary fantasy ("why doesn't she just pull out her cell phone and call someone?") but a more historical fantasy isn't exactly a free pass, since it involves lots of that research thing ("but peasants didn't drink water, they drank weak beer because it had less of a bug risk!"). And keeping the rules consistent in your make-believe world is important because readers will call you on it if you goof.
At 1, there was an hour-long break during which neither Kelley or I were occupied, so she met up with a friend for lunch and I caught up with the husband while we exchanged geeky tales of what we'd been up to so far. And for the record? Every restaurant should serve lobster sandwiches. Mmm.
At 2 came the "Meet Kelley Armstrong Reading and Interview." She was the reading (and, y'know, the meet Kelley part) and I was the interview. In reality, we went for more of a Q&A, and I only stepped in when the audience quietly sat there and stared at us. Lots of fun anecdotes.
Then a short break before the Fantasy Subgenres panel, which was Kelley, Tamara, and me. I'm not entirely sure what the panel was supposed to be about (the tagline said "dark fantasy, urban fantasy: what's with all the subgenres?"), so basically we whinged about how a lot of the time, getting pigeonholed in a genre or subgenre limits your reading audience and the types of books you're "allowed" to write. All three of us agreed urban fantasy had more or less worn out its welcome (unless you're already well established) and was on its way out, which people seemed surprised to hear, considering the current market saturation. Agents and publishers aren't buying it much anymore, though, since they already have so much of it, so in the next few years there'll be a noticeable changeover. For an aspiring writer, trying to sell a new urban fantasy book or series right now is just bad timing. Steampunk is becoming hot, as is contemporary romance (as opposed to last year's paranormal romance). In both cases, it's similar, but with enough of a twist readers aren't tired of it yet. And it's not like urban fantasy and paranormal romance are gone for good; all things in publishing are cyclical, and they'll be the hot trend again in a few years.
Dinner break meant the husband and I wandered around a bit, still full from lunch. We visited the fifteenth floor, which for those who haven't been to Keycon, is the party floor. They rent out all the rooms for the fifteenth floor, so it all belongs to the convention for that weekend, and the rooms are all themed. There's a movie room, where they just play geeky movies back to back all weekend long. There's a pirates vs ninjas room, there's an animé room, and a couple of medieval-themed pubs. One of the pubs was amazingly thorough in their decoration, covering the walls with what looked like brick, bringing in their own tables and a fireplace and the whole thing bore no resemblance to a hotel room when they'd finished. It was awesome.
The husband and I are geeky enough to have a costume closet, from which we dug stuff out to wear for the masquerade. Neither of us intended to enter, but how can you show up to a masquerade in jeans, I ask you? HOW? So he wore his LARP costume, complete with pointy ears (yes, this does give him more geek points than me), and I wore this:
Yeah, I'm short and have no torso, so the hemline wasn't quite so dangerous on me. But, uh, apparently wearing a costume meant I had to be pretending to be someone in particular. People, sometimes a costume is just a costume. I promise. It was a cute army pinup thing I thought would fit in with the geek con theme. Apparently? Not allowed.
Person 1: So what are you?
Me: Um?
Person 1: You look a bit like the chick from Red Alert 3, the Russian chick. Is that the costume?
Me: Okay.
Person 15: So what are you?
Me: I'm cute!
Person 15: Well, yes...
Person 3468: So what are you?
Me: I'm a ninja.
Person 3468: A... what?
Me: Didn't see it coming, did you?
Person 3468: Good point.
I dreamed that I slept in until after noon, and was in this incredible panic. I had panels before that, and was supposed to be taking care of Kelley, whose first panel was at 10. It was one of those incredibly detailed dreams, so I'm putting on clothes in a rush, and worrying about getting all the little things together, and I was so mad at my husband for letting me sleep in, especially because he was so nonchalant about the whole thing. Since he still had to drop the kids off at his sister's (who was taking care of them for the weekend), I was in a desperate rush to run to the convention hotel on foot. At which point I woke up and realized it wasn't even 8 o'clock yet, and perhaps I should stop panicking and get over being mad at the husband who hadn't even done anything.
In reality, despite what my stupid brain told me, we were at the hotel in plenty of time for the first panel of the day, a 10am discussion of Combat in Fantasy with Kelley, Katherine, and Tamara, all of whom have done some form or another of real life training as well as writing about it in their books. Tamara told a particular tale of woe involving a new flat-screen tv and a runaway sai as she tried to figure out the exact motion she needed her character to perform. Fortunately, it seems "death by sai" is actually covered in the insurance policy.
Then came the YA panel, which was Kelley and myself. Since she writes the stuff and I review it, we had a pretty good perspective on what makes a good YA and how it differs from the adult market. I must not have sounded like a complete idiot, since a few people came up afterwards asking where they could find my reviews. I passed out business cards in a surreal fog.
At noon was Believable Magic and Tech, where Kelley and Katherine talked about making the magic in a fantasy world make sense. Modern technology offers its challenges in contemporary fantasy ("why doesn't she just pull out her cell phone and call someone?") but a more historical fantasy isn't exactly a free pass, since it involves lots of that research thing ("but peasants didn't drink water, they drank weak beer because it had less of a bug risk!"). And keeping the rules consistent in your make-believe world is important because readers will call you on it if you goof.
At 1, there was an hour-long break during which neither Kelley or I were occupied, so she met up with a friend for lunch and I caught up with the husband while we exchanged geeky tales of what we'd been up to so far. And for the record? Every restaurant should serve lobster sandwiches. Mmm.
At 2 came the "Meet Kelley Armstrong Reading and Interview." She was the reading (and, y'know, the meet Kelley part) and I was the interview. In reality, we went for more of a Q&A, and I only stepped in when the audience quietly sat there and stared at us. Lots of fun anecdotes.
Then a short break before the Fantasy Subgenres panel, which was Kelley, Tamara, and me. I'm not entirely sure what the panel was supposed to be about (the tagline said "dark fantasy, urban fantasy: what's with all the subgenres?"), so basically we whinged about how a lot of the time, getting pigeonholed in a genre or subgenre limits your reading audience and the types of books you're "allowed" to write. All three of us agreed urban fantasy had more or less worn out its welcome (unless you're already well established) and was on its way out, which people seemed surprised to hear, considering the current market saturation. Agents and publishers aren't buying it much anymore, though, since they already have so much of it, so in the next few years there'll be a noticeable changeover. For an aspiring writer, trying to sell a new urban fantasy book or series right now is just bad timing. Steampunk is becoming hot, as is contemporary romance (as opposed to last year's paranormal romance). In both cases, it's similar, but with enough of a twist readers aren't tired of it yet. And it's not like urban fantasy and paranormal romance are gone for good; all things in publishing are cyclical, and they'll be the hot trend again in a few years.
Dinner break meant the husband and I wandered around a bit, still full from lunch. We visited the fifteenth floor, which for those who haven't been to Keycon, is the party floor. They rent out all the rooms for the fifteenth floor, so it all belongs to the convention for that weekend, and the rooms are all themed. There's a movie room, where they just play geeky movies back to back all weekend long. There's a pirates vs ninjas room, there's an animé room, and a couple of medieval-themed pubs. One of the pubs was amazingly thorough in their decoration, covering the walls with what looked like brick, bringing in their own tables and a fireplace and the whole thing bore no resemblance to a hotel room when they'd finished. It was awesome.
The husband and I are geeky enough to have a costume closet, from which we dug stuff out to wear for the masquerade. Neither of us intended to enter, but how can you show up to a masquerade in jeans, I ask you? HOW? So he wore his LARP costume, complete with pointy ears (yes, this does give him more geek points than me), and I wore this:
Yeah, I'm short and have no torso, so the hemline wasn't quite so dangerous on me. But, uh, apparently wearing a costume meant I had to be pretending to be someone in particular. People, sometimes a costume is just a costume. I promise. It was a cute army pinup thing I thought would fit in with the geek con theme. Apparently? Not allowed.
Person 1: So what are you?
Me: Um?
Person 1: You look a bit like the chick from Red Alert 3, the Russian chick. Is that the costume?
Me: Okay.
Person 15: So what are you?
Me: I'm cute!
Person 15: Well, yes...
Person 3468: So what are you?
Me: I'm a ninja.
Person 3468: A... what?
Me: Didn't see it coming, did you?
Person 3468: Good point.