Emerald City Comicon 2012

EMERALD CITY COMICON 2012 Last weekend I hopped in my automobile and went to one of many great loves of my life: an area convention. I’ve had a kind of love/hate relationship with conventions for the final decade or so. “Working the sales space” can flip something right into a grind, however since being free of that responsibility, I’m pleased to report that most of the “hate” part has lastly fallen away. But then I’m not an enormous fan of travel, particularly lonely solo travel, so some conventions still have slightly little bit of that hate part left, which is to say I hate going there, but love being there. But when the conference is a twenty-minute drive down I-90 into downtown Seattle? Well, people, it’s all love. Last 12 months, I flew all the way down to San Francisco at appreciable expense to attend Wondercon. I had a terrific time, and spoke in entrance of a large crowd (I nonetheless can’t consider that crowd!). Then a good friend asked me why I flew all the best way to San Franci sco after I could have just gone to Emerald City Comicon? I dismissed ECCC, having been to it a couple instances, some years earlier than. It was a really, very small con, with a tiny sellers area, very few publishers, a handful of fourth-tier celebrities, and almost no precise programming. Well, that pal advised me, that was then, and that is now. From these humble beginnings ECCC has grown into a critical convention . . . way larger, and I mean method larger than the final time I attended. It’s moved from a too-small space in Qwest Field to a a lot, much, much bigger however already too small area on the Washington State Convention Center in the heart of downtown Seattle. I made some new friends! I’m undecided of the ultimate attendance numbers nevertheless it was crowded as can be. The solely criticism I had was that there were too many individuals for the house they took up, sharing the conference middle with some kind of ceramics convention. That’s not likely a complaint, but a compliment. They underestimated themselves, and I hope they received’t make that mistake next yr. I signed up with the convention organizers to run my one-man seminar based on The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction. I was slotted into a decent-sized room for 4:00 on Friday. Not a foul time slot, and when I first noticed the room I was positive it was plenty huge. It being a Friday, and college is in session here, the crowds weren’t that dangerous yet, all of it appeared a lot smaller-scale than Wondercon, so I was sure I would be okay in that room, enjoying to some empty seats at least. But after I came again to the room at about 3:30 there was an indication saying “Room Full” and a line of people ready outdoors. The seminar before me was about Photoshop methods, and I assumed the line of folks that stretched on and on again into the dimly lit corridors of the convention middle was overflow from thatâ€"folks waiting for a seat to open up. I was wrong. They w ere there for me. Music swells, as does ego. Still, it was a pretty big room. I had no concept that a few friends and former co-worker from Wizards of the Coast had been waiting in that line. Two of them gave up their seats after they noticed that the line was being cut off, and one was stuck too far again in the line and was turned away. Ego swells farther, music turns into deafening. Really? Room Full, individuals turned away . . . for lil ol’ me? Believe me, folks, I wanted that. I needed that so badly, I can’t even tell you. That seminar didn’t just make my day, even my weekend, however it’s actually rescued me from what was turning into a really miserable yr. There’s no approach to tell you how much it means to me just to have people present up. But the individuals in that seminar did a lot more than that. They listened attentively, laughed at my jokes, and requested unbelievable questions. I don’t imply to play favorites, however ECCC’s questions have been higher than the questions I received last 12 months in San Francisco, and that was from a pool of people possibly three times the dimensions. There are sensible, dedicated, curious, and articulate folks out there, and thankfully, a few of them need to write fantasy and SF. I hope I helped them do this slightly higher. Last 12 months my Wondercon post additionally included some recommendation to authors about attending conventions, and I did my best to follow my own advice this time round, too. At Wondercon, Matt Ashland of Matt’s Cavalcade of Comics agreed to take a number of copies of The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction on consignment, and I was delighted to see that Matt could be at ECCC this 12 months, too. I emailed him a pair weeks earlier than the con and set that up again, dropping off some copies of the guide to him just earlier than the exhibit hall opened on Friday. Authors: You will need to have as lots of your books on sale at the conference during which you’r e showing as humanly possible. Do the legwork. Make the connections. Work with the conference workers to ensure you’re following their rules, however get your books up for sale. My son needs to go to BrickCon subsequent! Another shot in the psychological arm for me was operating right into a bunch of individuals I hadn’t seen in too long, and ought to be seeing means, way more usually. I ran into Susan Morris first and we appeared to attract more folks. Erin Evans appeared as if by magic, then one other former WotC co-employee Logan Bonner, then Stan!, who I’ve known since 1995 after we worked collectively at TSR in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. I bumped into Cortney Marabetta, Brain James, Erik Scott deBie, Kuo-Yu Liang of Diamond Distribution, and Randall Crews, also from WotC (he was the guy who was turned away in lineâ€"sorry, Randall, possibly subsequent yr!). It may be powerful being a one-man operation, freelancing, writing, consulting, with few opportunities for human contac t. No one comes to my residence officeâ€"I exist primarily in our on-line worldâ€"and the dog isn't much of a conversationalist. I’ve all the time been ambivalent in regards to the cellphone, and I assume I’m disturbing individuals if I call them, so I end up doing my work, communicating primarily via email, and ending every week feeling lonely, cooped up, and depressed. It’s not good. It’s not healthy. Emerald City Comicon not only cured me of that but made it crystal clear that it’s up to me to change that and I actually have got to change that. I will begin to discuss to precise people extra. I will call individuals. This time, really. I’ve even put myself back out on the job market in a critical method. I discover I miss the group dynamic way, way more than I thought I would. I’m on the lookout for places to go. I’m getting out of the house. As an apart right here, at the end of my seminar I announced that I might be teaching a class in writing fantasy and scienc e fiction at Bellevue College here within the Seattle space starting with the summer season quarter in June. Keep a watch on this weblog and my Twitter feed for more on that (the summer schedule has not been finalized yet)â€"would-be authors within the Seattle space, this means you! After my seminar I ran into Susan and Erin once more and we talked about how properly attended my seminar was and about how awesome I am and the way everyone wants to be just like me because I even have all of this being a human stuff totally perfected. Actually, we talked about how cute Erin’s baby is. He actually does have being a cute baby completely perfected. Despite my swelled sense of significance, Susan still invited me to take a seat in on her panel, which was scheduled for later that night, down in the sport space. I was happy to affix in on a dialog about crafting villains for fiction and games. If you’ve read this blog for any size of time, heard me discuss elsewhere, or have learn The Gu ide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction, you know how I really feel about villains. Villains tend to be the first motive force behind all tales. I wish this hadn’t come out so blurry, however you possibly can kinda make out Susan (left) and Erin, with me in the again after the villains panel. The recreation space was relegated to a very difficult to find section of the convention center I’ve never seen earlier than, even though I’ve been to several other events there. But as soon as we found the room, Susan, Erin, and I took our seats at the desk and were thrilled to see that a bunch more people had found this little corner of the conference middle, too. Another “offered out” efficiency. People have been turned away on the door. And I had an even higher time, having two frighteningly good and clever-past-their-years writer/editors to play off of. Susan kept the thing humming along as though she’d been doing this longer than me, despite the fact that I am a surprisingl y old man, and have been going to conventions since earlier than she was born. It certainly made me miss that team at WotC. We actually had a great factor going there whereas it lasted. But the excellent news is, we’re all on to some terrific new challenges, after which there’s that terribly cute baby, too. That was the tip of the night time for me, and I went house in a joyful haze. The subsequent day, Saturday, was “family day.” I had no extra seminar obligations, and I’d bought tickets for my spouse and two youngsters. My daughter is a full-on manga/anime fanatic, and my son grew up on comic books and video games. They had been in heaven. My wife, perhaps not a lot, however she not solely discovered a way to enjoy herself regardless of the mammoth crowds of people she knew only by affiliation along with her husband and kids, however she found a e-book she had to have: Pugs: God’s Little Weirdos by Dave Kellett. And so did I. I like to return house from every conferenc e with some sort of wonderful find. At Wondercon I found a duplicate of Fantastic Four #200 for less than $2.00 then walked a couple of booths away and located Marv Wolfman, who truly wrote that problem, signing autographs. He signed mine and it was an immediate prized possession. I brought Boilerplate residence from Wordstock . . . this goes all the way in which back to 1981 for me. This yr, I found a brilliant graphic rendition of H.P. Lovecraft’s The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, self-printed by Jason Bradley Thompson. I couldn’t wait to plop down my $25 and have him sign it for me, and I can’t wait to learn it. I additionally made off with a few enjoyable Tarzan comics from the 50s and eight random pulp magazines from the 40s that I paid $10 for. They won't even be value that, however he made me a proposal I couldn’t refuse. I received a couple t-shirts, too, and the kids got here back with some enjoyable stuff. In the tip we didn’t spend that a lot cash, even in the convention heart pricing universe the place $2.50 buys you one 12 ounce can of root beer, but we had a unbelievable time. My daughter described the Futurama panel featuring voice actors Billy West, John DiMaggio, and Maurice LaMarche as the greatest expertise of her life. That and the look on my son’s face while Walking Dead actor Jon Berenthal (there, within the massive room, with co-star Laurie Holden) described his failed pitch for a way he wished Shane to die, was worth ever penny and more. Okay, we’re a nerdy family. We had the best day. So, sure, authors, go to conventions. Get on panels. Arrange on your books to be bought there. And convey your loved ones. Meet your friends. Laugh. Smile. Be with your folks, your group. Have a love/love relationship with your local convention. â€"Philip Athans About Philip Athans I was capable of attend the villains panel, which was fantastic. I didn’t get to attend the Guide to Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction panel (too crowded), which I remorse. Glad you enjoyed the con! Sounds like an awesome con! That’s quite a report, really makes me want I may’ve been there.