Post: Reply | Quote

Today was going to be a full day. There are so many things I wanted to attend that, after checking the daily schedule, I realized I wouldn't be able to get anything to eat between 10h00 and 16h00. Oh well. No matter.

I attended a few panels on how to approach the market once your manuscript is ready, and although most of the same things were repeated from one panel to the other, there was always something someone forgot to mention, or another point of view was offered which shed light on a few mysteries of the publishing industry. I'm amazed at the things people do, or try to do, to get the attention of an editor. The panel "Never Say You Took a Creative Writing Course!" is a good example, and the title only indicates how editors dread such things in a cover or query letter.

Later, I went to a panel that was going to discuss the maturing of science-fiction and fantasy. Hmmmm… Not only was this a mystery for the attendees, but so was it to the panelists! hrug"> Another bump on the road of convention organization: this panel was thrown together at the last minute, and no one explained, or briefed the panelists as to what they were expected to discuss. Ideas floated around, mostly in regards with science-fiction and how the market evolved since the 1950s.

British writer James Barclay made me laugh quite a bit with his jokes of the software engineer becoming a fantasy writer: "nothing's changed there," he says, "wasn't software engineering another form of fantasy writing?" Thus started the panel "Fantasy Backgrounds: Prefab or Custom?" Daniel Grotta, critique and writer of a book that analyzes Tolkien's world (I forget the title), had interesting views on this, but mostly from a literary point of view. Carol Berg - the former software engineer - is of opinion that a complete custom Fantasy background leaves more leeway to the writer to do whatever he/she wants. James, former investor (professional liar, as he says) and author of the "Chronicles of the Raven", seems also to agree with that.

Then came the panel on Historical Fantasy, where Mr. Kay discussed his views on how to use history in writing, and how to write a historical fantasy novel. In his opinion, no writer should write a story through the eyes of a known historical figure. Use them, yes, only as supporting characters. Otherwise, it may be too dangerous, and to illustrate his point, he gives the example of the movie "The English Patient," adapted from a book by the same title. This character is in fact a real-life person who was a Nazi informant during the war. After the movie came out, many letters were sent to the director from the families of the people that died as a direct result of the information this man passed to the Nazi: they resented the fact that he was being depicted as a romantic figure when his actions throughout WWII caused the death of so many.

At the end of the panel, I took my courage in hand and approached Mr. Kay: I had a message to deliver. Now, you have to understand that I'm a very shy person around people I don't know. I prefer to stand aside and observe, listen what goes on around me. Also, I detest being hoarded, in any situation: I don't want to be that kind of person in the eyes of an author, so I'm not one for asking for autographs unless there's a special signing just for that. Anyway, I walked to Mr. Kay and told him: "I have a message to deliver: Mrs. Fiona McIntosh, an Australian Fantasy writer, asked me to tell you that she loves your work, and it is mostly to the inspiration it brought her that she owes her current success." He was very, very pleased to hear that.

Mission accomplished!

Post: Reply | Quote

Well done Manon. Bravery has its own rewards.

Not only did you get to listen to GGK but you also spoke to him. I am so jealous, that is one session I would have loved to hear.