Readercon!
Jul. 16th, 2023 08:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jajalalaI attended my first con (or at least my first "convention", I've been to academic "conferences" which seem to have similar structures but not quite the same).
A friend of mine in Boston is a huge reader and gets involved in a lot of events like this. A few months ago she took my roommate to something called Boskone (another book focused convention) which my roommate loved. Unfortunately that friend couldn't attend Readercon due to other commitments, but she recommended my roomie attend Readercon as well. So I ended up going with my roomie so she wouldn't be alone; since it's in our area the commitment wasn't too much.
It was fortunately pretty tame, which is good for me because I truly do not enjoy high-stress environments of huge crowds (I saw some videos of a recent anime con with people waiting to go up an escalator where the entire hall was completely packed shoulder-to-shoulder.... ugh it makes me shudder).
I think I maybe didn't go as hard as I should have with getting to know new people, I ended up with some business cards and chatted to some people randomly, but I didn't really try to get particularly deep. I think also a lot of people were more close and interacting like, before and after the panels and in hotel room areas, while my roommate and I were much more casual as locals popping in and out as we pleased (like leaving early when we got tired lol). Also neither of us knew anyone there - the friend of ours who knows a ton of the people who goes to these events could not attend, so we were kind of walking in blind and meeting a bunch of strangers without any anchors.
Neither of us are super deeply entrenched in the specific spec fic circles this focused on, like there were a lot of literary magazines and people and stories that I had NO clue about (tho they sounded interesting!!!). So I was a bit unmoored and I felt under-qualified, but I enjoyed the panels quite a lot! And again, it was quite low-stress vibes. The only stress was trying to squeeze in a lunch and dinner break... they scheduled talks for every hour, so if you wanted an hour to eat you had to miss out on things, and they said they weren't going to record any of the talks, so it's like... if you missed it, you missed it :'(.
My least favorite panel was the Everything You Know is Wrong panel, which was all about throwing out the "classic" writing rules (like "Show not Tell" etc) which... I didn't disagree with the central thesis of the talk which was "Rules are not universal and if the story you want to tell requires breaking them then do that". But I think it was frustrating that a lot of the talk was just "State a rule, say you don't have to follow it! Laugh about the rule!" and not usually much DEPTH about the topic in terms of like, "So why has this 'rule' perpetuated? How does it address common pitfalls writers fall into? What sorts of situations does it make sense to break the rule?" To me, discussing WHY these rules get treated as universal and breaking down more exact hows and whys as to why you might not want to heed them in certain situations would have been more interesting and useful.
Instead, it was more of a hype-up of like "Your writing is beautiful as it is, even if it breaks the rules! Fuck the rules!" which like... is nice I guess? And it came after some more sedate panels so the energy was welcome... but I guess I was craving something more practical and nuanced.
My favorite panel (which was a hard choice, as there were several great ones!) was probably The Lure of the Heist, which had some excellent breakdowns of why heists are so appealing and compelling. This included breaking down some of the mechanics used in specific ways (like especially how it often uses something in the environment in a way that's not intended - for example parkour, and how for the audience it's super satisfying to see creativity which makes you see a basic object/environment in a new way).
It also had a larger conversation about tension and catharsis, as applied to a heist story where the catharsis involves seeing a beautiful technical machine play out while knowing what's supposed to happen but with twists to delight. There were also chats about different stakes, such as technical stakes (do they have the skills to get out of this pickle?) versus emotional stakes (can they set aside their personal issues long enough to pull this off?)
I think what I liked most about the panel was that it went into depth about mechanics and the larger structures of writing and genre expectations creating a guiding rail and how to play with it and give the audience an enjoyable experience. I similarly liked a panel called "Space: The Ultimate Locked Room" which had some notable thoughts both about locked-room and country-house mysteries are setup and structured AND cogent thoughts on how space provides new setups and solutions to these classic mystery story premises.
Overall fun, I would go again, but I think overall what I wished there was more of was more depth into specifics of writing... then again, it's READERcon, not WRITERcon. The talks I enjoyed most had more details and practical stuff to work with (an Alternative Voicing panel about going beyond 1st-person and limited 3rd-person had intriguing advice I'll summarize as "Why could the story be told from NO other POV?").
I think also I need to read more broadly, there was a TON of referencing stuff I'd never read (although at some point someone mentioned the Ancillary Justice series by Ann Leckie and I was like "!!!! Oh I've actually read that!" and someone else referenced the MXTX novels which at least I'd read the first Heaven's Official Blessings volume). I have a huge list of things I want to try out, though it'll be awhile before I get that, as I'm currently only part-way through reading Harrow the Ninth by Tasmyn Muir (yes I'm not okay but I'm slowly working through it my roommate promises it will all make sense in the end I'm just clinging on to the ride). On my reading list is "Docile" by K.M. Szpara (Szpara was on a panel about sex scenes and people referenced it as a book where the sex scenes ARE the plot), a mermaid erotica book that my roommate somehow snagged in a book dealer room for free, I need to look up musical drama podcasts, and I need to check out at least a few of the dozens of literary magazines referenced throughout... and just try out some short stories.
One of the Q&A sections had someone asking about diversifying what they read, and the panelist had some great advice about just checking out some short story anthologies/magazines and to chase whatever compels (so if you love a story, find the author's other works! Or if a magazine consistently has good short stories, check the reviews section for book recommendations). Short stories are a super accessible way to see what vibes without buying a whole book. Maybe that should sound obvious, but it makes me feel like I can more systematically start to try things out.
I still have so many other thoughts about Readercon, but I'm gonna pause myself here so this journal entry doesn't spiral too far out of control XD.
Anyways, I'd like to start getting more into reading short stories, so I tried out one and oops started crying. To be fair, I am very sensitive to the intended emotions from media, and I am high-key at the crying part of my monthly cycle, so it won't necessarily hit you as hard as it hit me, but since I read it a few days ago I've started crying every time I think about it too hard.
It's called Mouse Number Six by Marguerite Sheffer (There's an audio reading there if you prefer that, I personally just read the text). The vibe is a very small and human: "What if the fate could be changed?" and somehow, narratives about fighting fate have been hitting me hard recently (it's the Revolutionary Girl Utena fan in me... what if we could break the cycle of violence? What if we could save the 'villain'?)
A friend of mine in Boston is a huge reader and gets involved in a lot of events like this. A few months ago she took my roommate to something called Boskone (another book focused convention) which my roommate loved. Unfortunately that friend couldn't attend Readercon due to other commitments, but she recommended my roomie attend Readercon as well. So I ended up going with my roomie so she wouldn't be alone; since it's in our area the commitment wasn't too much.
It was fortunately pretty tame, which is good for me because I truly do not enjoy high-stress environments of huge crowds (I saw some videos of a recent anime con with people waiting to go up an escalator where the entire hall was completely packed shoulder-to-shoulder.... ugh it makes me shudder).
I think I maybe didn't go as hard as I should have with getting to know new people, I ended up with some business cards and chatted to some people randomly, but I didn't really try to get particularly deep. I think also a lot of people were more close and interacting like, before and after the panels and in hotel room areas, while my roommate and I were much more casual as locals popping in and out as we pleased (like leaving early when we got tired lol). Also neither of us knew anyone there - the friend of ours who knows a ton of the people who goes to these events could not attend, so we were kind of walking in blind and meeting a bunch of strangers without any anchors.
Neither of us are super deeply entrenched in the specific spec fic circles this focused on, like there were a lot of literary magazines and people and stories that I had NO clue about (tho they sounded interesting!!!). So I was a bit unmoored and I felt under-qualified, but I enjoyed the panels quite a lot! And again, it was quite low-stress vibes. The only stress was trying to squeeze in a lunch and dinner break... they scheduled talks for every hour, so if you wanted an hour to eat you had to miss out on things, and they said they weren't going to record any of the talks, so it's like... if you missed it, you missed it :'(.
My least favorite panel was the Everything You Know is Wrong panel, which was all about throwing out the "classic" writing rules (like "Show not Tell" etc) which... I didn't disagree with the central thesis of the talk which was "Rules are not universal and if the story you want to tell requires breaking them then do that". But I think it was frustrating that a lot of the talk was just "State a rule, say you don't have to follow it! Laugh about the rule!" and not usually much DEPTH about the topic in terms of like, "So why has this 'rule' perpetuated? How does it address common pitfalls writers fall into? What sorts of situations does it make sense to break the rule?" To me, discussing WHY these rules get treated as universal and breaking down more exact hows and whys as to why you might not want to heed them in certain situations would have been more interesting and useful.
Instead, it was more of a hype-up of like "Your writing is beautiful as it is, even if it breaks the rules! Fuck the rules!" which like... is nice I guess? And it came after some more sedate panels so the energy was welcome... but I guess I was craving something more practical and nuanced.
My favorite panel (which was a hard choice, as there were several great ones!) was probably The Lure of the Heist, which had some excellent breakdowns of why heists are so appealing and compelling. This included breaking down some of the mechanics used in specific ways (like especially how it often uses something in the environment in a way that's not intended - for example parkour, and how for the audience it's super satisfying to see creativity which makes you see a basic object/environment in a new way).
It also had a larger conversation about tension and catharsis, as applied to a heist story where the catharsis involves seeing a beautiful technical machine play out while knowing what's supposed to happen but with twists to delight. There were also chats about different stakes, such as technical stakes (do they have the skills to get out of this pickle?) versus emotional stakes (can they set aside their personal issues long enough to pull this off?)
I think what I liked most about the panel was that it went into depth about mechanics and the larger structures of writing and genre expectations creating a guiding rail and how to play with it and give the audience an enjoyable experience. I similarly liked a panel called "Space: The Ultimate Locked Room" which had some notable thoughts both about locked-room and country-house mysteries are setup and structured AND cogent thoughts on how space provides new setups and solutions to these classic mystery story premises.
Overall fun, I would go again, but I think overall what I wished there was more of was more depth into specifics of writing... then again, it's READERcon, not WRITERcon. The talks I enjoyed most had more details and practical stuff to work with (an Alternative Voicing panel about going beyond 1st-person and limited 3rd-person had intriguing advice I'll summarize as "Why could the story be told from NO other POV?").
I think also I need to read more broadly, there was a TON of referencing stuff I'd never read (although at some point someone mentioned the Ancillary Justice series by Ann Leckie and I was like "!!!! Oh I've actually read that!" and someone else referenced the MXTX novels which at least I'd read the first Heaven's Official Blessings volume). I have a huge list of things I want to try out, though it'll be awhile before I get that, as I'm currently only part-way through reading Harrow the Ninth by Tasmyn Muir (yes I'm not okay but I'm slowly working through it my roommate promises it will all make sense in the end I'm just clinging on to the ride). On my reading list is "Docile" by K.M. Szpara (Szpara was on a panel about sex scenes and people referenced it as a book where the sex scenes ARE the plot), a mermaid erotica book that my roommate somehow snagged in a book dealer room for free, I need to look up musical drama podcasts, and I need to check out at least a few of the dozens of literary magazines referenced throughout... and just try out some short stories.
One of the Q&A sections had someone asking about diversifying what they read, and the panelist had some great advice about just checking out some short story anthologies/magazines and to chase whatever compels (so if you love a story, find the author's other works! Or if a magazine consistently has good short stories, check the reviews section for book recommendations). Short stories are a super accessible way to see what vibes without buying a whole book. Maybe that should sound obvious, but it makes me feel like I can more systematically start to try things out.
I still have so many other thoughts about Readercon, but I'm gonna pause myself here so this journal entry doesn't spiral too far out of control XD.
Anyways, I'd like to start getting more into reading short stories, so I tried out one and oops started crying. To be fair, I am very sensitive to the intended emotions from media, and I am high-key at the crying part of my monthly cycle, so it won't necessarily hit you as hard as it hit me, but since I read it a few days ago I've started crying every time I think about it too hard.
It's called Mouse Number Six by Marguerite Sheffer (There's an audio reading there if you prefer that, I personally just read the text). The vibe is a very small and human: "What if the fate could be changed?" and somehow, narratives about fighting fate have been hitting me hard recently (it's the Revolutionary Girl Utena fan in me... what if we could break the cycle of violence? What if we could save the 'villain'?)
no subject
Date: 2023-07-17 10:52 pm (UTC)Was the anime con in the video you mentioned Anime Expo by any chance? I used to attend it every year from 2004-2013. It's grown a ton, and I don't know if I could handle the crowds very well now.
no subject
Date: 2023-07-18 12:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-18 07:55 am (UTC)I was going to say, it sounds like the con was quite writer-focused, for something called ReaderCon, but then you got into it :D I guess these were the panels you chose to focus on.
no subject
Date: 2023-07-18 12:10 pm (UTC)I think the crux of the con was that most the people there were readers of speculative fiction in the sci-fi and fantasy realm, but of course that overlaps quite a lot with writers as well (and many of the guests were writers). The people I chatted with were a combination of both readers and writers (perhaps slightly on the writer side), including folks who are like, editors as well!
I def leaned towards the more writing-oriented talks, there were broader talks (including authors doing readings or autographs, and interviews and such), and there were usually 4 different panels going on every hour so there was a lot of choice, but I was interested in the writing ones usually
no subject
Date: 2023-07-22 11:13 am (UTC)It kinda sounds like the cons I've been able to go to, now that I think about it. Hearing authors on panels talking about how to find good settings for stories or whatever, and there's value for both writers and readers even if it's not necessarily meant to be a practical guide for fellow writers. Sounds fun! :)
no subject
Date: 2023-07-19 07:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-24 10:35 pm (UTC)