Post by Jason Whittle on Oct 3, 2011 23:54:49 GMT 1
FantasyCon 2011
After staging last year’s World Horror Convention, Brighton was again selected to stage this year’s FantasyCon, from September 30th to October 2nd.
The first Friday afternoon panel was on Small Press Markets, and Simon Marshall-Jones was forthright in his opinion on self-publishing. He claimed that people who shouldn’t be writing were calling themselves authors, and cited a science fiction novel where the only adjective seemed to be “quite large”. Adrian Chamberlin pointed out that anyone can be a publisher nowadays and it’s best not to trust those that have been in business less than a year. True enough, I was with a publisher that folded in its first year, but I’m happier to have been in and out of print in six months than I would be if I was never published.
Second panel was on Maintaining Your Online Presence, a topic so important that it was often repeated in subsequent panels. The message was that you must have your own website and update it regularly (oops!), and should be on at least one of the social networking sites. However, you should beware letting them cut too deeply into your writing time, and the other thing to avoid is writing spiteful reviews of other works, or reacting defensively to criticism of your own.
The panel on Making a Living as a Writer also strongly emphasised the need for a good web presence, and it was suggested that having an agent can be useful but not essential. The most important points were to keep a high output and work rate, don’t be afraid to try something new, and never say no.
Trying something new and never saying no were also key features of Has Crossover Overtaken Genre?, the day’s final panel. Sarah Pinborough described herself as a “writing slut” and gradually wore down most of the panel to admit that they were too. She said horror writers can become bogged down in description, and could learn from the page turners in crime fiction. Her opinion was that if you can get your book on any shelf other than horror, you’ll take it.
In the evening they showed a fascinating documentary on the tragically short life of Charles Beaumont, author of seminal anti-racist novel The Intruder and numerous Twilight Zone episodes, before I attended readings from Gary McMahon and S.K. Unsworth. McMahon led us into the darkness with the opening of a forthcoming novel which deals with issues reminiscent of the James Bulger murder case. His voice was weakened by a sore throat, but this actually helped by adding a real sense of emotional frailty to the reading. Unsworth’s suspenseful tale Borough Station was told next, aided and abetted by Emily McMahon, and provided a punchier experience, more immediate if less emotional.
The climax of Friday night was the big raffle, with Sarah Pinborough and Guy Adams lovingly recreating the feel of the 1989 BRIT awards as they dished out hundreds of books to a room of raucous authors in varying states of drunkenness. I was fortunate enough to win a signed copy of Reggie Oliver’s beautifully presented (and absolutely massive!) collection Dramas from the Depths.
I began Saturday by enjoying my surroundings, as it seemed like Brighton was the centre of the universe. As well as our fantastic gathering, a convoy of Volkswagen camper vans was lined up along the prom, the rich and over-privileged were taking their daughters to Roedean’s open day, and thousands of sun-worshippers hit the beach on the U.K.s hottest ever October day.
I reached the convention in time for a couple of interviews with an international flavour. American author Christopher Paolini hinted that despite his success in the Young Adult market with the Eragon series, he would venture into sci-fi for his next project, and Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist explained how he managed to stay in charge of his film adaptations. In fact, the only impediment to his creative control was The Smiths, who banned him from quoting their song lyrics in his novel. Bad news for me, as I was planning to do just that in my next book.
The rest of the afternoon was dominated by Solaris and their incredibly generous hospitality. Signed novels by Richard Ford, James Lovegrove, Juliet McKenna, Gary McMahon, Nicholas Royle, Ian Whates and Conrad Williams, and an anthology edited by Jonathan Oliver, were given away absolutely free along with all the wine you could drink. Consequently I missed the rest of the afternoon schedule.
More free drinks in the evening at Jo Fletcher’s big launch party, but I left that to go to Simon Bestwick’s reading, which was so powerful that it actually sobered me up! The second reading, the opening of his novella Angels of the Silences, described a murder from the first person point of view of the victim and had me terrified, heartbroken and furious in equal measures. I look forward to reading the rest of it and hopefully seeing the killer suffering a terrible retribution.
There was a massive change of mood next, through John Llewellyn Probert and Thana Niveau’s pantomime and burlesque show, which offered two hours of high jinks, mild erotica, and a stripper who wasn’t all (s)he seemed, before the disco dragged the hardcore party people onto the dancefloor and I dragged myself to my hotel.
Given the previous night’s merriment, I was expecting a low turnout for the Sunday morning panels but it was anything but. In front of a packed audience, the first talk was on How to Market Your Novel, and again the importance of a good web presence was discussed. Gary McMahon revealed that he’d experimented with renaming his blog “Britney Spears’ Nipples” and got a load of extra hits, but I don’t know how many of his newcomers stayed around after realising they weren’t getting what they expected. As well as online, the importance of good face to face contact was also discussed, especially at events like this. Unfortunately I’ve just blown a chance there as I was my usual shy self at this convention, but have vowed to be more outgoing next time round.
Final panel of the convention was on the best and worst films of the year, and to briefly go through a few of the conclusions, there were positives for Black Swan, Troll Hunter, Insidious, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Source Code, mixed reviews for Attack the Block, Monsters and Thor, and scorn for A Serbian Film, Battle: Los Angeles, Season of the Witch and Sucker Punch. I wouldn’t argue with too many of their conclusions, although I refuse to believe that Insidious is a better film than Monsters. And strangely, Inception wasn’t even mentioned, yet went on to win the BFS award for Best Film that very afternoon!
Big winners at the awards ceremony were Sam Stone and Vincent Chong, who collected two prizes apiece. I was on my way home by then, taking with me some good tips, good memories, a renewed determination to succeed and a to-read pile stacked so high that King Kong is trying to climb it.
After staging last year’s World Horror Convention, Brighton was again selected to stage this year’s FantasyCon, from September 30th to October 2nd.
The first Friday afternoon panel was on Small Press Markets, and Simon Marshall-Jones was forthright in his opinion on self-publishing. He claimed that people who shouldn’t be writing were calling themselves authors, and cited a science fiction novel where the only adjective seemed to be “quite large”. Adrian Chamberlin pointed out that anyone can be a publisher nowadays and it’s best not to trust those that have been in business less than a year. True enough, I was with a publisher that folded in its first year, but I’m happier to have been in and out of print in six months than I would be if I was never published.
Second panel was on Maintaining Your Online Presence, a topic so important that it was often repeated in subsequent panels. The message was that you must have your own website and update it regularly (oops!), and should be on at least one of the social networking sites. However, you should beware letting them cut too deeply into your writing time, and the other thing to avoid is writing spiteful reviews of other works, or reacting defensively to criticism of your own.
The panel on Making a Living as a Writer also strongly emphasised the need for a good web presence, and it was suggested that having an agent can be useful but not essential. The most important points were to keep a high output and work rate, don’t be afraid to try something new, and never say no.
Trying something new and never saying no were also key features of Has Crossover Overtaken Genre?, the day’s final panel. Sarah Pinborough described herself as a “writing slut” and gradually wore down most of the panel to admit that they were too. She said horror writers can become bogged down in description, and could learn from the page turners in crime fiction. Her opinion was that if you can get your book on any shelf other than horror, you’ll take it.
In the evening they showed a fascinating documentary on the tragically short life of Charles Beaumont, author of seminal anti-racist novel The Intruder and numerous Twilight Zone episodes, before I attended readings from Gary McMahon and S.K. Unsworth. McMahon led us into the darkness with the opening of a forthcoming novel which deals with issues reminiscent of the James Bulger murder case. His voice was weakened by a sore throat, but this actually helped by adding a real sense of emotional frailty to the reading. Unsworth’s suspenseful tale Borough Station was told next, aided and abetted by Emily McMahon, and provided a punchier experience, more immediate if less emotional.
The climax of Friday night was the big raffle, with Sarah Pinborough and Guy Adams lovingly recreating the feel of the 1989 BRIT awards as they dished out hundreds of books to a room of raucous authors in varying states of drunkenness. I was fortunate enough to win a signed copy of Reggie Oliver’s beautifully presented (and absolutely massive!) collection Dramas from the Depths.
I began Saturday by enjoying my surroundings, as it seemed like Brighton was the centre of the universe. As well as our fantastic gathering, a convoy of Volkswagen camper vans was lined up along the prom, the rich and over-privileged were taking their daughters to Roedean’s open day, and thousands of sun-worshippers hit the beach on the U.K.s hottest ever October day.
I reached the convention in time for a couple of interviews with an international flavour. American author Christopher Paolini hinted that despite his success in the Young Adult market with the Eragon series, he would venture into sci-fi for his next project, and Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist explained how he managed to stay in charge of his film adaptations. In fact, the only impediment to his creative control was The Smiths, who banned him from quoting their song lyrics in his novel. Bad news for me, as I was planning to do just that in my next book.
The rest of the afternoon was dominated by Solaris and their incredibly generous hospitality. Signed novels by Richard Ford, James Lovegrove, Juliet McKenna, Gary McMahon, Nicholas Royle, Ian Whates and Conrad Williams, and an anthology edited by Jonathan Oliver, were given away absolutely free along with all the wine you could drink. Consequently I missed the rest of the afternoon schedule.
More free drinks in the evening at Jo Fletcher’s big launch party, but I left that to go to Simon Bestwick’s reading, which was so powerful that it actually sobered me up! The second reading, the opening of his novella Angels of the Silences, described a murder from the first person point of view of the victim and had me terrified, heartbroken and furious in equal measures. I look forward to reading the rest of it and hopefully seeing the killer suffering a terrible retribution.
There was a massive change of mood next, through John Llewellyn Probert and Thana Niveau’s pantomime and burlesque show, which offered two hours of high jinks, mild erotica, and a stripper who wasn’t all (s)he seemed, before the disco dragged the hardcore party people onto the dancefloor and I dragged myself to my hotel.
Given the previous night’s merriment, I was expecting a low turnout for the Sunday morning panels but it was anything but. In front of a packed audience, the first talk was on How to Market Your Novel, and again the importance of a good web presence was discussed. Gary McMahon revealed that he’d experimented with renaming his blog “Britney Spears’ Nipples” and got a load of extra hits, but I don’t know how many of his newcomers stayed around after realising they weren’t getting what they expected. As well as online, the importance of good face to face contact was also discussed, especially at events like this. Unfortunately I’ve just blown a chance there as I was my usual shy self at this convention, but have vowed to be more outgoing next time round.
Final panel of the convention was on the best and worst films of the year, and to briefly go through a few of the conclusions, there were positives for Black Swan, Troll Hunter, Insidious, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Source Code, mixed reviews for Attack the Block, Monsters and Thor, and scorn for A Serbian Film, Battle: Los Angeles, Season of the Witch and Sucker Punch. I wouldn’t argue with too many of their conclusions, although I refuse to believe that Insidious is a better film than Monsters. And strangely, Inception wasn’t even mentioned, yet went on to win the BFS award for Best Film that very afternoon!
Big winners at the awards ceremony were Sam Stone and Vincent Chong, who collected two prizes apiece. I was on my way home by then, taking with me some good tips, good memories, a renewed determination to succeed and a to-read pile stacked so high that King Kong is trying to climb it.
