World Fantasy 2010: The Aftermath
I attended my first World Fantasy Convention, and now, after a day or so to ponder the event, I believe I’m finally ready to share my experiences. For those not in the know, World Fantasy Convention is not a Dungeons & Dragons type event where everyone dresses up and there are tons and tons of fans (which is what many at my day job believe–and let them believe that and remain ignorant, it works better for me anyway). WFC is a professional event where publishers, editors, writers, and yes, some fans (but isn’t everyone who attends this a fan in some way?) attend to go to panels, talk business, listen to readings, network and hang out at the hotel bar.
I went to World Fantasy with super low expectations regarding chances to pitch my book to editors and literary agents. My goal was to simply meet a lot of people (which I did) and also to listen and learn (which I did as well). My goals were met and exceeded–far exceeded.
I’m going to illustrate how crazy and wonderful World Fantasy can be, and yes, there will be some name dropping here, but it just proves how amazing the experience can be. My first night at WFC and I’m sitting at the bar next to Ted Chiang, a few seats down I see John Scalzi chatting and laughing with a few people (one of which I thought to myself “boy, he looks like a dick”, but he proved to be one of the coolest people I met, and we ended up hanging out for most of the convention). I look over again at the Scalzi group, and Joe Haldeman has joined in. Then a very nice woman I met brought me into her circle of friends and during our conversation, Paolo Bacigalupi joins in for a good fifteen minutes–this is all in the first night of the convention and I’m sure I’m leaving out a ton of names!
Fast forward to the second day: I attended a panel on why fantasy has so few guns. The panel was very interesting, and some comments I made during the panel brought me some interesting conversation and opportunities. I managed to speak with a literary agent for close to an hour and a half, during which time he gave me his business card and said we’d be sure to talk soon. Another point I’ll make about WFC. Bringing a wingman is important, but I had no wingman–at first. So…
I met a kindred spirit who had brought along one of his best friends. Together, they made perfect wingmen. For instance–I’m trying to speak with the literary agent and up walks this joker who had just eaten his breakfast IN FRONT OF THE PANEL and made entirely too much noise. He attempts to hijack the conversation and ruin my pitch attempt to the agent. But–my newly found wingmen understand what is going on and pull the clown away before he did any damage or scared off the literary agent!
Later that same day I’m hanging out with my new friends and Bill Schafer of Subterranean Press. Bill says he has to leave and have dinner with Mike Resnick and his wife, but then asks us if we want to come along. Uh, yes? Dinner was hilarious as Mike and his wife recounted stories from his early days of writing. All I can say is that the experience was unbelievable.
And just think–this is all during the first day and a half of the convention! I think I’ll split this post and talk about the rest of the craziness in the aftermath part 2.
man, I can not tell you how many people who told me about that breakfast eating dude! or, wait… maybe it was just you guys that night when I met you. Yeah, wingmen are so crucial to a better con experience! I’m glad you found yours, I swear the three of you are kindred spirits and kept me cracking up every night
My first WFC was pretty much identical. It was Madison, 2003. I had one pro sale to my name, and came away with a fist full of business cards, one of which ended up as my agent and another as my editor. It’s priceless, this con.
@Tim Akers – another name I left out, sorry Tim! You were definitely one of the more memorable people I met at the con! I’ll be reading your books for sure, and looking forward to it. You are indeed right, the con was priceless.
@Sara McClung – the breakfast dude was unbelievable, and for a moment I thought, wow, will the entire con be like this? Thank goodness it wasn’t. And I was lucky to meet up with Kyle and Griffin early on, hanging out with them was quite an adventure. And I got to meet you and your friends, of which I’m very fortunate.
The best part of reading this post was being able to picture every person you were talking about. Even those you didn’t name.
I had such a blast with you guys. Can’t wait to read more of your stuff–especially part 2.
@Karen Hooper — I had such a good time hanging out with everyone, and can’t wait for another chance!
Such fun! Wish me luck, I submit next week, and am working on the final final edits before submission.
@Griffin – Good luck on the edits and the submission, but I bet it’ll be great! I’ll be polishing my own work in the next week or two to hopefully get representation.