I’ve become part
of a group that meets each year at ConCarolinas, and this is becoming one of
the highlights of my annual convention circuit. Last year, many of us agreed to
arrive on Thursday (“the new Friday”) to enjoy a relaxed dinner and evening
together before the non-stop panels and hall conversations and dealers’ room
browsing and more panels and costume gawking and more hall conversations that
make up ConCarolinas.
An additional
benefit to driving and arriving on Thursday was a lovely relaxed morning, up
through lunchtime and into the early afternoon. It felt like a real vacation,
not the super-rushed experience of most cons. I could get used to this!
I was surprised,
actually, to realize that programming began before the opening ceremonies at
4pm. I had planned to get a little work-work done after lunch and before
setting it aside for the weekend. There were a couple of writers’ panels I
would have like to see, but it’s never possible to do it all.
I headed down to
the convention space about 3pm and said hello to a lot of familiar faces,
mostly along the authors row in front of the main “Lakeshore” programming
rooms. I was delighted to see Faith Hunter, author of the Jane Yellowrock and
Rogue Mage series; Tamsin Silver, A.J. Hartley and Stuart Jaffre, whom I’ve
come to know and admire through the MagicalWords.net community; David B. Coe,
one of the first fantasy authors I ever befriended; and John Hartness, author
of the hilarious Bubba the Monster Hunter series. John and Emily Leverett
co-edited last year’s Big Bad anthology,
and although I wouldn’t have thought it my usual fare, hearing them talk about
the incredible stories they worked with has made me enthusiastic to read it. So
I bought the hardcover and had both of them sign it, as well as a handful of
contributing authors who are also guests here this weekend.
So began the
initial rounds of hall conversations. I made my way to Danny Birt’s first
concert of the weekend—always a treat, including his homage to National Pi Day
(March 14th, or 3.14), to the tune of “American Pie”.
My next panel was
the media track’s “Rise of the Strong Princess”—they were specifically focused on
film, and talked about the evolution of Disney princesses, as well as Leia’s
role in Star Wars, and other “I don’t need a hero to rescue me” characters.
Maybe I wasn’t in full con mode yet, because I didn’t find this panel as
engaging as I had thought it would be. Towards the end of the panel, the lights
mysteriously went off, and that was my cue to duck out to the Buffy Sing Along…
This screening the
musical episode, “Once more with Feeling” of Buffy’s 6th season, was
acted out in front of the screen by the talented cast of the Pineapple Shaped
Lamps comedy troupe. Audience singing was encouraged, so I belted out “Going
Through the Motions”, “I’ve Got a Theory”, “I’ll Never Tell,” “Under Your
Spell,” and “Rest in Peace”.
Then it was time
to head out to one of the few steampunk panels, featuring the inimitable John
Hartness. John and Tonia Brown led a lively audience discussion on favorite examples
of steampunk in TV and film, as well as literature. They helped to define the
genre for several audience members who were curious but didn’t really know what
steampunk *is*. And they satisfactorily answered the question “Is Steampunk
Dead?” with a resounding “No!”
One favorite
recommendation that’s new to me was The
Windup Girl, a “biopunk” science fiction novel, by Paolo Bacigalupi. John
called it “polarizing”—in his observation, people either love it or hate it. Firefly was described as “future
steampunk”, and John Carter of Mars
was given a nod, which I thought was interesting given that Burroughs was
writing at end of the Industrial Revolution (which broadly defines the era of
steampunk). Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and Nikola Tesla were described as the
first authors of the genre. One audience member made a surprising reference to
one of my favorite books, Edward Bellamy’s Looking
Backward, published in 1888. I’m not sure I would describe it as steampunk,
per se, but always a treat to think about and discuss this delightful story.
One funny side
note to this panel. During a conversation about the amount of research that is
appropriate for a story, John related Joe Haldeman on a panel, where an
audience member was quizzing him about the depth of research for one of his
books. Haldeman finally threw up his hands and said, “It’s just a story!” And
as authors, it’s ultimately *our* story to do with as we will.
The last panel I
attended today was Romance in Fantasy, a full row of panelists talking to a
packed room. I’m currently debating how much romance (and sex) to include in a
couple of my stories, so I was very interested in this premise. I came in a bit
late (hall conversations and and and…), in the middle of panelists describing
their “pet peeves” in romance stories: sex as a reward for the hero for saving
the heroine; fated love, or love at first sight; love triangles; sex in the
middle of an adventure/danger scene; rape fantasy.
Interesting recommendations
for Man Made Boy, by Jon Skovron, and
another story I missed the title, about shapeshifting dragons who are partners
as both men and dragons. Discussion on bestiality, and what crosses the line
(and who draws that line). Strong discussion on rape fantasy. Good discussion
about the differences between romance, erotica, and porn, which boil down to
the development of character and story vs pure sex. Interesting comments about
writing breakups, and a quote to the effect of “Every relationship is a failure
until your last one”… Other strong recommendations included the movie Closer, featuring four very intimate and
difficult relationships; and Harry Turtledove’s story about a German tanker and
a Russian pilot.
The discussion
ended with a great question for tomorrow night’s “Writing A Sex Scene” panel: “When you’re
writing a lot of sex scenes, how do you ‘keep it fresh’?” Keep it fun, playful,
and lighthearted. Switch up situations and locations, not just sexual
positions. There are so many different *kinds* of sex: hot, angry, tender,
bittersweet, callous, satisfying, unsatisfying, unexpected, out of the ordinary…
Remember to ask yourself, “What’s the f***ing point?”
Feeling a little
tired, I was actually thinking of heading up to my room for an early night,
when I ran into a couple of friends I had been planning to see tomorrow. We
settled at the bar for a couple of beers and long, fun, rambling conversation.
The very best part of any con!
And now, a good
night’s sleep, with no alarm. We’ll see if I’m motivated enough to get up for “Breakfast
and Books” in the morning…
Time
writing
|
~1 hour, including a little research
|
May
word count
|
14,133
|
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