Writer's Weekend - actual update

[rhienelleth]

Ok. I've had eight hours of sleep, plus my morning coffee. I'm still sick, but I at least feel I can give a decent update now.


We left about an hour late on Thursday (when do you ever leave on time for a trip like this?), dropped the dog off, and still managed to get to the hotel on time. It was roughly a 4 1/2 hour drive. We registered, dropped our bags off, ate some snacks, and went to our first workshop "Fanfic and how it can affect your writing". Since our only published story is technically fanfic (Star Trek), Mark went as well.

Now, you all know that Mark is not involved in fandom. He didn't even know what fanfic was until he asked me on the way up, and I explained it to him. It boggled his poor, un-fandom-educated mind that thousands upon thousands of Harry Potter fanfics are written and posted online, many of them containing smut. Even I, an active member of fandom, was unsure of what to expect from a panel on fanfic at a professional writer's workshop. It was given by an editor for a large publishing house and an author whose first book is coming out in December. (I'm not naming names because...I don't know. I'm not sure if I should. Both are on LJ, but keep their fic LJ's separate from their RL LJ's, I think. Actually, I'm fairly certain that half the attendees this weekend are on LJ. People were walking around with their LJ identities penciled in underneath the names on their name tags.)

Anyway, not five minutes into the workshop, phrases like "slash" and "RPS" were being bandied about, and Mark kept leaning over and asking me "what's that?" Fortunately, I didn't have to explain it to him, since the panelists defined the terms shortly after using them. Then, about three quarters of the way through the panel, he asks me "You haven't written any fic, have you?" Um....yeah. This is a lesson to just tell your husband the details of your fandom life before you end up at a conference with two hundred people and have the reality of it thrust before him. "A few," I told him. "For Alias." He's all too familiar with my long standing obsession with the show, so that was easy for him to accept.

I have yet to add that all my fic are NC-17. I wasn't quite sure how to bring that up, and he didn't ask. I'll get to it. Eventually.

There was another panel that night, very, very good, on Pitch, Query, and Synopsis. (madlorivoldmort, you should e-mail me and I'll summarize my notes for you. Anyone else who's interested, feel free to e-mail.) Mark went to one on Worldbuilding at the same time. We did a lot of that over the weekend, as things were double and triple scheduled from 9:00am to 10:00pm both Friday and Saturday.

Friday morning started with breakfast, where we just happened to find the only two seats left available, next to Jim Butcher and his wife Shannon. Super, super nice people. We talked about Star Wars and the idiocy of George Lucas. Actually, that topic came up a lot this weekend, with a lot of different people. Also, it appears that I am not alone in my love for Bob the skull. It seems everyone loves Bob. :) (Go read the Dresden books if you don't know who he is.) We ended up spending quite a bit of time with them this weekend, really, and Shannon and I read a lot of the same books. I'm trying to encourage her to get an LJ. That way, when Suzanne Brockmann comes out with her next Troubleshooters book, we can all squee about it together. :) She's supposed to stop by here occassionally, so we'll see. She also watches Battlestar Galactica and Alias. See? She'd fit right in!

I don't remember all of the various panels we went to, and I don't have my list with me, but Mark went to several put on by people in the gaming industry. Wolfgang Bauer, who helped develop several worlds for TSR, now Wizards of the Coast, and an editor for Dragon magazine were there. I -- often both of us -- attended workshops on character, dialogue, novel writing, mystery writing, and even a workshop on how, and when, to write sex. (It was very well done.) Did you know there's a whole market out there for erotic fiction? I'm not talking mainstream romance, but erotica. Yeah. I was clueless, too. And e-books are getting bigger all the time. Go check out Loose Id (may not be work safe).

I also met Sherrilyn Kenyon and Simi. :) Very nice, very approachable. She kindly signed my books even though I didn't stand in line with everyone else for the booksigning portion of the event.

All in all, a fun and informative weekend. We are definitely going back next year. I'm sure there's lots more I could say, but i'm starting to fade again and must go refill my coffee. Ask me if you have questions, and I'll do my best to answer.

We also got a flat tire on the way home, which was an adventure all itself. The upshot is, I get to buy new tires today, instead of two months from now like we'd planned. Yeah. I'm thrilled.

ETA: Oh, and for those of you wondering, something else this weekend left me with was a whole new approach to finishing Starlight and Shadow. I'll keep y'all updated on my progress.

Comments

[rue10.livejournal.com]

The weekend sounds like it was fantastic.

I'm emailing you to ask further questions about the Fanfic and How it Can Affect Your Writing panel, but I wanted to let you know first because I'm using a different email than the one other time we had an email convo . . . and I always figure I'm not horribly memorable anyway. :)

[rhienelleth.livejournal.com]

Well, I find you memorable. :) Got your e-mail, and will send a response tonight. It'll be a little bit -- I've got to feed the husband before his class starts.

[haleyj-the-bat.livejournal.com]

That sounded like so much fun! What was the event specifically and where is it located?

I can't imagine telling your husband that you write NC-17 fics. *blushes* I can't even admit to the people closest in my life that I write fics at all, and NOBODY would understand what they were.

[rhienelleth.livejournal.com]

Writer's Weekend is an annual workshop in Seattle for writers looking to write for publication. Authors, editors and agents are all there to do panels and workshops for us. It was awesome! :)

[haleyj-the-bat.livejournal.com]

It sounds cool from what you've posted about it. I might look into it, but I doubt I'd be able to go.