Gen Con Write-up
Gen Con 2016 landed right in the middle of the giant ball of crazy/chaos I call life. The fact that the con-buzz has not worn off yet and that I am finding new life in a bunch of writing projects I had put up on the shelf (directly related to Gen Con), has made this year’s Gen Con a huge success for me.
Gen Con is the largest gaming convention in the world, the tagline is: “the best four days in gaming”. It is like the San Diego Comicon of gaming. Games, games and more games, from role-playing games (RPGs), board games, card games, and even a bit of electronic gaming. Throw in some cosplay and anime for fun as well, and turn it up well past eleven. It is simply more than you can really take in, I spend about the first day wandering around in a daze. And, all of that is kind of like the cherry on top, for me the most exciting part and what keeps me going back is the Gen Con Writer’s Symposium.
The Gen Con Writer’s Symposium is a con within a con. Over the course of the four days, the symposium has six rooms set aside just for it. There are sessions running all day all four days, with over 175 sessions this year. For me there are three things that sets Gen Con Writer’s Symposium apart. The guests they get are amazing, just check out this list of guests. Unlike a lot of writing focused classes or events, the focus here is on craft and business. And finally, the critiques are amazing, having published authors and editors commenting on your work is both harrowing and rewarding.
Gen Con Writer’s Symposium pulls in lot of authors from both the gaming world and in the world of science fiction and fantasy. Gen Con started out as a D&D convention (the Gen in Gen Con is for Lake Geneva, where D&D started), but has grown to including gaming of all types. Science Fiction and Fantasy as genres have always been intertwined with games, and especially RPGs. Lots of Science Fiction and Fantasy authors have not only played RPGs, but many have written for RPGs, written tie-in novels, or even had their worlds turned into RPGs. So, there are a large number of authors who have ties to the convention. Indianapolis is pretty cheap to get to and very cheap to stay in. It also is pretty centrally located, not too hard to get to from most anywhere. For all those reasons, Gen Con gets a ton of great authors to come out for it. For participants it is an embarrassment of riches, having to choose a great sounding session vs. seeing an author you have always wanted hear speak. One of the best parts is there are always free a few empty seats, so you can get in on a session without having to sign-up ahead of time. The exception is Q&A or other sessions with guests of honor, like Jim Butcher or Terry Brooks, big name authors with a lot of crossover fans. And all of the sessions are no additional cost beyond the Gen Con badge.
A unique part of the Writer’s Symposium is the focus on both the craft and the business of writing. One complaint a lot of people have about a lot writing classes and programs is the lack of respect for genre writing. Clearly, that is one thing you will just not see at Gen Con. People will not only gush about their love of all things geeky, but will go out of their way to out geek everyone in the room, and that is just the authors on the panel. One could say that people revel in the love of Science Fiction and Fantasy. I have even attended panels where genres as varied as cozy mysteries and romance novels are discussed with straight face. But, the best part is that people are talking about how you write stories that not just have something to say, but about stories that compel people to read and finish them. How you structure stories to keep people coming back for more. And discussions of things like plot and description are not shied away from, but encouraged. This is a pretty unique thing, hearing people talk about these subjects with this level and depth. People talk about these subjects with not just enthusiasm, but proven track records of successful published works. Beyond that, the discussion of how publishing works, how people found their way to getting published, and what (and how little) working authors make. How people navigate the world of publishing is always interesting to hear, and every author has both good and bad stories to share.
One of the few sessions that are not free are the Sunday morning critiques. They are not so expensive, ten bucks this year. They are especially not so bad when you think about what you get: a critique from a group of published and working authors and editors. Anytime you share you work with anyone can be stressful, but critiques are a special kind of stress. The editing you do, both in your mind and on paper in the moments leading up to a critique can be some of the best. And the ones at Gen Con Writer’s add another layer of stress, you are not just reading for a small room full of people, but also some real professionals. But, it can also be incredibly inspiring, if not perspiring. Again, you see an incredible variety of authors and editor at Gen Con, so the crits do fill up. Not a place to sell you piece, but if you are looking for some ideas of what to work on they can be amazing.
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