GeekGirlCon was set up to promote and celebrate the role of women in geek culture. In a perfect, equal world it would not be necessary– however, the world, especially the world of geeks, is neither perfect nor equal. I hate to say it, but there’s a lot of sexism in geek culture– just check out the latest brouhaha over DC Comics’ reboot of Starfire, in which women’s sexual liberation gets twisted into male wish fulfillment– probably because almost all of DC’s writers and artists are male.

On other fronts, Internet culture is horribly sexist, and often claims “irony” as an excuse to be not just blatantly sexist, but racist and homophobic– this is Not Okay. And things are arguably even worse in online games.

There are serious problems outside of pop culture, too: for example, women are still very underrepresented in STEM careers (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math). And even outside the geek realm, societal norms aren’t helping matters.

Given all this as context, yes, we need a GeekGirlCon.

I heard a fair amount of speculation prior to the con that the attendees would mostly consist of lonely guys trying to pick up geek girls (hey, more sexism!), but in actuality that was not the case. In fact, I’d say the guy-girl ratio was about 30-70, based on a few rough counts I did at panels. Admittedly, it was kind of a nice change from normal cons, where the ratio is sometimes almost reversed. The panelists were almost entirely female (again, a reversal of the norm) and the panels were some of the most interesting that I’ve attended in years: possibly because the topics and perspectives were ones that often don’t get discussed at cons.

I attended a couple of panels: one was on Writing Urban Fantasy, hosted by Yasmine Galenorn. It’s not exactly a new topic, but it was presented in a much more systematic way than I had ever seen before, complete with a handout describing the basic formulas that a lot of Urban Fantasy is characterized by, do’s and don’ts, cliches and tropes, and the interplay of reason and magic. And I walked away with some good ideas to work into my NaNoWriMo novel next month.

I also attended a panel on Geek Girls in Culture, talking about the role of geeky women in TV and movies and books, and the good and bad sides of their portrayal, and which ones have geniunely inspired the panelists over the course of their careers. By and large, the panels I attended were some of the most fun, informative and entertaining that I’ve seen– and I’m not just saying that because I want to suck up to the geek girls. I think we did get to see things presented from an angle that is often lacking or underrepresented in “mainstream” geek culture.

By and large the con was well-organized for a first year con. There were some hiccups– like long lines in the narrow hallways prior to the panels, which occasionally intermixed. There were also some quirks to the venue– the con was held in the Northwest Rooms of the Seattle Center, except for larger events, which were held at the EMP Museum about a five or ten minute walk away. The EMP is a big place, and things were sometimes difficult to find– notably the Masquerade line, which unlike almost everywhere else didn’t seem to have any volunteers around. Someone told me that it was the line for Masquerade participants, not spectators, which meant I ended up doing another lap around the building before I figured out that yes, it was the right line after all.

Speaking of the Masquerade, this is pretty much the only area of the con I had any actual complaints. It was held on a stage at the EMP, however, the lighting was the worst I’ve ever seen at a Masquerade. The spotlight overhead was dim and orange, which made photography a total pain and certainly didn’t flatter the costumes. And despite some quick instructions from the MCs, most of the participants simply walked up, did a quick turn, and back off the stage without so much as a pause. Again, tough for the audience to appreciate your costume (or photographers to take pics) if you don’t actually stop for a few seconds. That said, there were some great costumes, particularly in the kids’ division– it’s good to see such a promising next generation of geeks.

But all in all, it was an excellent con, particularly for its first year. It’s filling a unique and (unfortunately) needed niche, and it was definitely a hit with the community. Saturday-only tickets sold out before I got there, so I had to buy a two-day pass. I had hoped to make it back on Sunday, but didn’t– probably because I stayed up until 3 am writing, then slept in until 2 the next day. Hopefully it’ll be bigger and better next year. And hopefully it’ll give more girl geeks (and young geeks in general) a taste of the community beyond what they see online.

Full set of photos from the con here.

As usual, Dragon*Con had two sides: the daytime, full of panels and readings and costumes and the Dealer’s Room and the Art Show, and the night time, full of parties and dances and even more elaborate and/or skimpier costumes. So that’s how I’ll divide the report:

Daytime

I spent most of my mornings and afternoons being fairly straight-laced and normal, attending writing panels and readings. I got to see Howard Tayler read again, and I was also particularly happy to meet Laura Anne Gilman, who I’ve conversed with on Twitter a couple of times. I heard Mur Lafferty read, and I heard a number of different editors and publishers hold forth on their favorite books that will soon hit the shelves.

I enjoyed readings, and those sort of “what’s coming soon” panels, far more than I enjoyed the panels on the actual writing process. I feel like I’ve reached a point where I know most of what’s going to be said on the process panels. Intellectually, I know how to write, thanks to writing groups, podcasts, scattered classes and panels, and my own accumulating pool of experience. So as I listened to these panels, I began answering each question in my own head, and comparing them with what the panelists said, and came away reasonably sure that I could hold forth just as expertly on pretty much every panel I attended.

That’s not to say I know as much as published authors. But sitting in on one of these panels is like sitting in on a “Basics of Writing” class: it keeps things at a pretty trite and uncomplicated level (there’s only an hour, after all), and once you’ve moved beyond that level, the panels are kind of useless.

I felt the same way about the “How to Get Published” panels. I know how to get published, I just have to do it, and the biggest step to getting published is to write more publishable stuff. It’s a fact that most of these panels tend to gloss over, even though it’s probably what most of the audience needs to hear. It’s so easy to get caught up in how to get published, or the commercial vs. self-publishing debate, that it’s easy to lose track of the actual writing.

One panelist even commented that he’s met people like that: people who go to writing panels, attend classes and workshops, but when it comes to actual writing output, they write very little. They’re utterly fascinated by the business and process of writing but don’t actually practice it. And more practice is the main thing I need right now, far more than panels or advice.

Nighttime

Ah, the interesting part of Dragon*Con, and let’s be honest, the biggest reason to go. You can get panels and readings at any con, but only one con has earned the title “Nerdy Gras.”

This year, I was determined to cosplay. Not as any character in particular; I prefer making up my own characters, which I suppose comes from being a writer. I don’t cosplay to show off my outfit-making skills (of which I have none), but I like the aspecting of transforming into a different character for a few hours. And makeup & special effects are closet hobbies of mine, so I packed some interesting clothes, a variety of prosthetic ears/horns/teeth and bodypaint, and headed out.

I hit a stumbling block when the TSA confiscated my airbrush. Airbrushed bodypaint is longer-lasting, easier to wear, and faster to apply than regular bodypaint, and as a result it’s usually what I use when I’m costuming. It wasn’t the airbrush itself that the TSA had a problem with– it was a small electric air compressor, about the size of a volleyball, which the TSA classified as “dangerous goods.” Why, I have no idea. It plugs into a wall outlet, so it’s not like it going to turn on or explode, or, um, compress anything, in the middle of a flight.

When I got to Atlanta, I recovered my ransacked luggage and a generic form note from the TSA telling me I’m not allowed to take lighters on a plane. Makes me proud to be an American, I tell you.

After a bit of fruitless raging at no one in particular, I got over it and cosplayed anyway, using cotton pads bought from a mall pharmacy in lieu of airbrush (I’m the one on the left– my cosplay isn’t that good):

On Sunday night, I skipped the bodypaint and went with vampire instead of elf-demon. Technically, I was a time-traveling vampire from an alternate reality– or at least, that was what I told everyone at the Steampunk & Time Travelers Ball.

In a sense, I feel like Dragon*Con is a big social experiment for me. The people who attend represent, in a variety of ways, a community I want to be a part of: from the professional writers on the panels, to the cosplayers who head out every night and party– but most of all, all of us geeks who spend four awesome days reveling in our geekdom. As I’ve said before, there’s a special combination of passion and independent thought that, for me, is at the heart of being a geek, and every year at Dragon*Con, I’m thoroughly immersed in it.

But because I started going to conventions only recently (Dragon*Con 2009 was my first), I don’t have the network of friends in the community that most congoers seem to have. My first year at Dragon*Con, I didn’t talk to anybody except the two people from Raleigh who I already knew. The second year at Dragon*Con, I did better– I had dinner with some professional authors, and attended some parties, but still spent a large chunk of time feeling introverted and out of place. This third year, I still felt introverted and out of place– but I cosplayed, I attended the Steampunk Ball with a few of my roommates and their friends, and interacted a little more with the larger community. Each year has been a little step forward, a little bit of progress in this weird social experiment.

But it’s a lot like my goal of being a professional writer– it’s about being patient, and playing the long game. In multiple senses of the word I’m remaking myself, redefining my identity, going through a stage that I feel like most people get past in their early 20′s. I didn’t like my first try at being an adult, so now I’m having a second try, this time as the person I want to be.

And yes, I realize that to some people, there’s an irony in dressing up in costumes and writing fantasy novels while talking about adulthood. If you’re one of those people, then conventions aren’t for you. And I kind of feel sorry for you, because you’ve let society define “adulthood” instead of doing it yourself.

Next year, Dragon*Con conflicts with the World Science Fiction Convention. It’s gonna be a tough call as to which one I go to, but Dragon*Con reminded me of one thing: among cons, it is unique. Every WorldCon is unique, too, but the business networking I can get at other cons. If WorldCon is a glass of fresh-squeezed, healthy vegetable juice, then Dragon*Con is an entire bar stocked with beer and mead and wine.

And rum, of course. Can’t forget the rum. (No worries, Captain Morgan is on it.)

My Dragon*Con Photos on Flickr

To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew that WorldCon has a higher-than-usual percentage of professionals, and there’s more of a focus on business and networking than at other cons. There’s a lot of fannish stuff going on as well, but WorldCon is one of the best cons for rubbing shoulders with professional writers and editors and talking one-on-one (or at least few-on-one) with the pros.

My own career is still in such early stages that I’m not sure how useful networking really is. I have a finished first draft of a novel that needs a lot of polishing before it has a prayer of getting anywhere, so I’m not really looking for an editor or an agent yet. And I don’t have professional short story sales under my belt, so it’s not like I can expect an anthology invite or anything. Instead, I’m playing the long game, hoping that contacts I make now might pay off in the months and years down the road. I’m also familiarizing myself with the names in the business, and the way the business works. And, above all, I’m hopefully making some friends along the way.

I’d say WorldCon was a rousing success in all those categories. I got to see some friends from previous cons, like Matt Rotundo and Mary Robinette Kowal (who won a Hugo Award for Best Short Story!), and I met plenty of new ones. I was particularly pleased to meet the Inkpunks, a collective of writers who I’ve followed on Twitter for a long time, and various friends of theirs, as well as Cassie Alexander, who deserves special mention for inviting me into the SFWA party. *ninja eyes* I also met several Seattle authors who I’d seen and heard at events back home, including Keffy Kehrli and Liz Argall.

So much happened, it’s tough to form a cohesive narrative, so I’ll hit a few high points:

Kaffeeklatsches. I hadn’t done kaffeeklatsches at previous cons, but these are small group discussions (usually limited to 9 people) with an author or editor, which last for an hour. It’s a way to have a more intimate conversation with industry professionals, or even your own personal heroes. At WorldCon, I had kaffeeklatsches with John Scalzi, Howard Tayler, Lev Grossman, and Jennifer Brozek– these were some of my favorite hours spent at the con.

World Jay Day. Jay Lake is an author who’s been fighting a multi-year battle with cancer, and right now is undergoing chemotherapy. Despite that, he came to WorldCon to host the Hugo Awards, and is all-around an awesome guy. Diana Sherman organized a bunch of people to gather in the Dealer’s Room on Friday wearing Hawaiian shirts, and give Jay a surprise show of support. It was pretty cool.

Meeting my heroes. I got to meet several of my personal literary heroes, most notably Howard Tayler, who writes and draws the webcomic Schlock Mercenary. I suppose it’s odd that a webcomic artist would be so influential on an aspiring author, but he is, for many reasons, not the least of which is that it was through Howard that I found Writing Excuses. When I finally had the chance to talk to him one-on-one for a few seconds, I told him, I’ve been reading Schlock Mercenary for nine years, listening to Writing Excuses for three, and I have a 175,000 word fantasy novel that probably would not exist if it weren’t for you guys. My life has led all sorts of interesting places because of you, and I just wanted to say ‘thanks.’

In general, I tried to stay professional throughout the con. I didn’t geek out when I passed George R.R. Martin or Patrick Rothfuss in the hall; I didn’t squee with joy when I held Mary Robinette Kowal’s Hugo Award or frantically try to get someone take a picture of me with it. Meeting Howard was the closest I came to having a “fanboy moment”, and as I walked away, I definitely teared up.

Parties. Each night I spent a few hours surfing through the various room parties, clustered on the 15th and 16th floors of the Atlantis Hotel. Some parties were put on by fans, others by groups bidding for future WorldCons, and some by publishers. There was also a semi-exclusive lounge hosted by SFWA, which, as mentioned earlier, I got into thanks to awesome friends. My next career goal is to be able to get in to the SFWA suite at cons without help.

I won’t deny it: parties stress me out, especially when (as was frequently the case) I walk into a party without knowing anyone. My inner introvert goes into total brain-lockdown mode, and a very strong part of me just wants to find a corner and hide. But the evening parties provided some of my favorite moments of the con, including meeting and hanging out with the Inkpunks (okay, technically, that was at the bar, but it still counts); hanging out with Lev Grossman on Saturday night after he won the Campbell Award for Best New Writer; meeting Amy Sundberg, Patrick Swenson, and holy cow I could list names forever and still forget someone. Suffice it to say that everyone was totally, absolutely awesome.

The Masquerade. Costumes were not as prevalent at WorldCon as they are at many cons, but what costumes were there were extremely well done. Someday, at some con, I’ll get tired of Masquerades and stop attending them, but it was not this con.

I was seated well back, but the people immediately in front of me were short, and I was able to get some relatively good pictures without having to worry too much about people’s heads being in the way. The best-in-show winner was Torrey Stenmark, for her Avatar costume, which also won at Norwescon earlier this year.

The Hugo Awards. On Saturday night came the biggest event of WorldCon: The Hugo Awards. Given each year for the best works in the field, they’re sort of like the Oscars of Science Fiction. In every category in which I actually predicted a winner, I was right, however, my votes usually did not correspond with my predictions, and in the categories where I strongly supported one of the choices, pretty much none of them won. I don’t begrudge any of the winners their awards; they all deserved them, and nothing happened that I would decry as a travesty of literature or good taste. Too often, science fiction itself is decried as a travesty of literature and good taste– so forget that noise. Fandom is far more diverse than my particular corner of it, and I’m okay with that.

I suppose if I have one regret about WorldCon, it’s that everyone was so dang busy. There were so many people who I’d have to loved to chill with at the bar and shoot the breeze, but the con as a whole was far too crowded and busy for that. Plus, the two hotels of the con were far enough apart that travelling between them was not easy, and even each hotel on its own was so big that it was hard to find people. What the con really needed was a con bar, but alas, despite the presence of numerous bars amongst the two host hotel/casinos, a favorite never materialized.

Speaking of casinos, I managed to go through the whole con without so much as sticking a quarter in a slot machine. All the temptation for me was in the Dealer’s Room: I came home with far more books than I have room for, and I’m now having to improvise bookshelves out of every available surface in my tiny apartment. I haven’t actually had to stack books in the sink yet, but if I live here much longer, who knows what measures might need to be taken.

Now I have less than a week until Dragon*Con, and all the craziness starts all over again. Except even crazier, because well, it’s Dragon*Con.

It’s gonna be fun.

It’s gonna be great.

In related news, my main goal prior to WorldCon was to finish the first draft of my novel In a Land of Wind and Sky, and today I did so. The draft is 176,902 words long, and it stretches across 642 pages in Microsoft Word. Since the time I wrote the first word of it (November 1, 2009), it’s been 653 days.

But to be honest, it feels a bit anticlimatic. There’s still a lot of work to do, and the line between where the first draft ends and the second draft starts is kind of arbitrary. For my own purposes, “first draft” means that I’ve built all the plot lines and character arcs from beginning to end. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re consistent. Sometimes the character’s voice changes from scene to scene as I experiment with different styles, or setting details are added midway through the story. Major plot elements are introduced and disappear as I try to decide what should be important and what isn’t, or change my mind about exactly what’s needed in order for different aspects of the story to be resolved.

In the second draft, my task is going to be to go through and make things consistent– support what needs to be supported, emphasize what needs to be emphasized, and take out what needs to be taken out. After the second draft, I think it’ll be ready for alpha readers.

But for now, I can head off to WorldCon, secure in the knowledge that if anyone asks if I’ve written a novel, I can say, “Yes.”

My flight leaves in less than 12 hours. Hmm… I should probably start packing.

Major anti-props, however, for having to pick between Norwescon and Sakura-Con. Seattle’s largest sci-fi convention and its largest anime convention on the exact same weekend? Does nobody actually communicate about these things? I know holiday weekends are rare, but really. This one isn’t exactly Norwescon’s fault (Sakura-Con is newer), and for me, there was no hesitation about which to go to. Sakura-Con is only half a mile from my apartment, and I would have loved to visit for a day and check it out, but I wasn’t about to miss out on a day of panels, friends, hobnobbing with local authors and room parties in order to pay my respects to the anime geeks. As long as I have to pick, Norwescon will win every time.

Because I was introduced to conventions through Dragon*Con, I inevitably end up comparing it to every other con I attend. This is somewhat unfair, since Dragon*Con spans four gigantic hotels and plays host to 50,000 people. But nevertheless the chaos of the crowds, creative costumes wherever you look, and the large and diverse selection of panels are inseparably linked up with cons in my mind, and I can’t help but feel somewhat disappointed if a con fails to deliver. Norwescon, I am pleased to say, did not disappoint in any of these areas: there were a wide assortment of great panels, excellent panelists, and an endless stream of cheerful chaos making its way through the halls.

Norwescon is a dense con: 3,600 people in one hotel. Admittedly, the SeaTac Doubletree is as large and sprawly a hotel as they come– 900 rooms in seven wings that branch out and snake their way around the huge property. But the beating heart of the con, in the ballrooms and the conference rooms, was fairly small. There was no place to stop and take pictures without blocking traffic, and just finding somewhere to sit down and take a breather was not always easy, especially at mealtimes when the hotel bar was packed. But all in all, I enjoyed the chaos of it.

Cons have two sides for me: the “social” side, and the “writing” side. The social side is, essentially, entirely about having fun: hanging out with friends, admiring costumes, seeing the occasional celebrity, and just generally wallowing in the crazy, awesome atmosphere of a con. But the “writing” side is my biggest justification for going: to see professional authors and editors talk, ask them questions, and hopefully even network a bit. It’s still fun, and ideally it still involves hanging out with friends, but there’s also a more serious motivation behind it.

From a social perspective, Norwescon was awesome. This was my first con where I knew more than just a couple of people– for starters, a good portion of my writing group was there. And indeed, right after I got there on Thursday afternoon, I met up with a few people at a writing panel and eventually we headed out to dinner across the street. Thursday night involved some good conversation and a long game of Agricola with new friends that kept me awake until about 4 am. Friday and Saturday evenings were mostly spent surfing room parties, and relying on Andrew Rosenberg’s connections to get the bartender at the Speakeasy to break out the good Scotch. I hung out with “old” friends (not that I really have any old friends in Seattle, having lived here for less than six months), but made plenty of new friends as well.

If my impossible-to-reach gold standard of social cons is Dragon*Con, then my impossible-to-reach gold standard of writing cons will always be last year’s NASFIC. That was where I met and made friends with Mary Robinette Kowal, Matt Rotundo, James Maxey, and even ate with Edmund Schubert (of Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show) and several other professional editors and authors. It’s unfair of me (not to mention hard on myself) to feel disappointed if a con doesn’t reach that level of awesomeness, but nevertheless I do.

In that respect, Norwescon was pretty much a big fat letdown. This isn’t the con’s fault at all– it’s mine, if it’s anyone’s. While Mary Robinette Kowal was there (and I even got a chance to chat with her briefly a couple of times), by and large I felt like a socially awkward galoot through most of the con. For example, on Saturday night Pyr Books hosted a big party, where I briefly got to meet Jay Lake, Lou Anders, and a few other big-name authors and editors. But by and large, all I managed was a brief hello, and all the while a major part of my own brain was yelling at me, “You’re just some random fan and wannabe author who hasn’t even finished his first novel. Why would the professionals possibly want to talk to you?”

Yes, I’m just venting my own insecurities now. But by and large, what had come naturally to me at NASFIC did not come naturally at all while I was at Norwescon. I would hang out on the periphery of a group of people, debating whether to interrupt and introduce myself, or interject some comment into a conversation I wasn’t a part of, or just wait until someone drew me into the conversation themselves– which never did happen. At one point, I started chatting with an editor, asking him about his current projects, but got cut off when another panelist stepped smoothly between the two of us, his back to me, and started his own conversation with said editor. (That was when Mr. Cellophane started running through my head.)

It was such a different experience from NASFIC, or even last year’s Dragon*Con, where I really felt like my people skills and my networking abilities were progressing nicely. At Norwescon, my resolve as far as being anything but a socially inept introvert absolutely, totally failed. Oh, well. Chalk it up to a learning experience, I guess. Maybe the reason I did so much better at NASFIC is that I was far more clueless about what I was doing. It’s easier to not be intimidated when you’re clueless.

But outside of those situations, it was a different story. I made friends, partied into wee hours, and learned that it’s actually pretty hard to down a Jell-O shot when the cup is tightly wedged in a woman’s corset-enhanced bosom. As long as I focus on the good times, and not my own raging insecurities, Norwescon was a most excellent con.

A few other random notes:

-The writing panels at Norwescon were some of the best I’ve been to, and all the panelists deserve major props.

-On the flip side, I’ve reached a point where I’ve heard enough writing advice that, intellectually, I know most of it already. At this point, I really just need to do one major thing: WRITE MORE.

-From now on, I’m attending more author readings at cons. Cat Rambo’s and Jay Lake’s in particular were excellent.

-I took another step into cosplay beyond the simple horns and face-painting I did at Dragon*Con, and bought the first couple parts of what will hopefully be a pretty decent outfit by the time I’m done. My plan is to create an original character; maybe I’ll even write a story about him at some point (role-playing! gasp!). Unfortunately, my next con isn’t until WorldCon, which means I won’t be able to debut the whole thing for a few months.

-The photography at Norwescon was all right but not great, because as mentioned earlier, there was really no good place to stop people and take pictures. That said, I did get a few, and was lucky in that I snuck out of the Masquerade midway through and accidentally found the designated photography area. Why does the photography area get set up and used during the Masquerade, rather than before or after? I guess it’s because they’re afraid of crowds, but it still kind of sucks.

-The full set of photos, such as they are, is posted on Flickr here.

But I still wanted to check out Emerald City Comicon. In part, it was only a ten-minute walk from my apartment. In another part, I hadn’t been to a comic convention before (except insofar as Dragon*Con has everything there), and I wanted to see how it compared. In a third part, it was an opportunity for cosplay photography.

Unfortunately, counterbalanced against all of those was the fact that for the past week I’ve been fighting the worst cold I’ve had in years. By Saturday I was feeling better, but I was still congested. So I set myself some ground rules (don’t shake hands with anyone… try not to breathe too close to anyone… be very careful about where you cough) and headed down to the Washington State Convention Center.

Despite my earlier comments, one type of comics that I do spend a lot of time reading is webcomics. So when I got there, my first stop was the Webcomics Weekly panel, starring Dave Kellett, Scott Kurtz, Kris Straub, and Brad Guigar. They’re an awesome group of guys, and their comics rock.

After that I walked around a bit. There were several artists in the exhibition area who I would have liked to have met, but I didn’t want to risk giving any of them my cold. So I mainly stuck with walking around, checking out some of the art on display, and taking pictures of costumes. The Washington State Convention Center is actually sort of a challenging place for photography– lots of different lighting conditions, running the gamut from darkened hallways to a variety of atrium-like settings, mean that you need to be fast with adjusting camera settings or you’re going to get a lot of photos that don’t come out. But there were plenty of good costumes that needed takin’ pictures of, so I gave it my best shot (no pun intended). The photos aren’t my greatest ever, but you can see the set here: Link

I had planned to stick around for the actual Masquerade, but after only a couple of hours, I was already starting to feel tired, so I headed out. All in all, it was a fun con, and would have been much more fun had I not been fighting a cold. Interestingly, there was much more of a family atmosphere here than a lot of cons I’ve been to– which can be both good and bad, but all in all it turned out all right.

Next up on the con list: Norwescon, in late April. Hopefully that should be enough time for me to finally get over this damn cold.

There seemed to be a general steampunk theme to the con (most of the costumes certainly fit the category), an impression which was reinforced by the massive inflatable steampunk-style airship in the main corridor:

Personally, I’m not sold on steampunk. I mean, some people are huge fans, and more power to ‘em, but as for me… it’s an interesting style, but it’s just one style. Fandom represents a huge variety of interests and passions, yet steampunk seems to be increasingly dominating the con scene. Maybe it’s just that steampunk costumes are good looking and relatively easy to put together; I’m tempted to do one myself, just so I have something more interesting than street clothes to wear to cons. But I still like to see more variety in the costumes and the styles at a con… although it could just be that I’m spoiled by Dragon*Con.

Despite my complaining about steampunk, the highlight of the afternoon was a reading by Phil and Kaja Foglio, who write and draw the steampunk webcomic Girl Genius. They recently came out with a novelization of the first three comic books, called Agatha H and the Airship City, which is sitting on top of my to-read list. Still, I’m afraid that reading it may be a letdown. I’ll never be able, even in my head, to duplicate the voices that Phil uses while he’s reading out loud. He’s the best oral storyteller I’ve ever heard, and Kaja is pretty darn good too.

Afterward I went to a panel on “Promoting Yourself via Social Media,” in which a bunch of authors, none of them younger than their mid-40s, talked about how odd this social media phenomenon was and lamented how much time you have to spend nowadays on the Twitters. About halfway through, the panel got hijacked by a marketing consultant in the audience, who went into her own philosophy on social media, which I would sum up as “Ask them what kind of soup they like!”

I didn’t feel like I got much out of that panel. Admittedly, I haven’t spent a great deal of time promoting myself on the Internet, because I feel like I need more of a product: in other words, more stories, preferably on websites that aren’t my own. I do have a “social media infrastructure” in place: a Twitter feed on which I try to be entertaining and responsive, and a blog where I try to post stuff that is hopefully interesting to read, even for someone who doesn’t know me very well. But until I hit some success with my writing, I’m basically just another random dude on the Internet, and no one’s going to care what I have to say on Twitter or Facebook or even the blog, really.

Of course, the writers on the panel did have “product” to push, in which case my main advice to them would have been: make it easier for people to connect. Include your website and Twitter account on everything you do. At cons, have postcards to hand out with your book cover on the front and your website on the back, or even just business cards, so people who might not want to spend fifteen or twenty bucks on a book right then can nevertheless engage with you, particularly now that they’ve seen you on a couple panels, maybe asked you a couple of questions, and know who you are.

Once they’re following you on Twitter or Facebook, don’t just post crap. Be funny and witty (this should be easy… you’re a writer), link to blog posts, mention cons or events you’ll be attending, and by then they’ll be fans and will have no problem buying your next book (or even your backlist). At least, that’s how it’s worked on me. At the con, I picked up Brave New Worlds, an anthology edited by John Joseph Adams, mainly because I’ve been following his Twitter feed, which in turn got me to buy his book. Of course, it didn’t hurt that the anthology had stories by Cory Doctorow, and Philip K. Dick, and Neil Gaiman, and various other illustrious authors in it… and hey, look, now I’m promoting it myself. Social media at work!

Of course, this is just my own take on the subject; it’s not backed up by studies, or marketing experts, or even my own success. I haven’t succeeded. But based on what I like to see as a fan, I can extrapolate what I think would be a successful strategy as an author or editor.

Next up was a panel on E-books vs Paper, which basically reached the same conclusion as everywhere else I’ve heard:
-E-books are here to stay
-The Kindle/Nook/etc is convenient and awesome but DRM and occasionally incompatible formats are still a stumbling block
-Paper books probably aren’t going away anytime soon
-E-book piracy sucks

Whenever I think about the format wars and the ramifications this debate has on the publishing industry, I could easily give myself an ulcer worrying about what to do as a new author. So I’ve decided to pretty much ignore this debate for the time being and work on improving my writing… once I have something to market, then I’ll worry about it. Yeah, yeah, I know… create the product and market it afterwards… what an old-fashioned way of thinking.

Later, I went to what turned out to be the main highlight of the evening: a geek-themed burlesque performance by The Tempting Tarts. Didn’t know tribbles could be incorporated into an erotic routine? Ha ha, goes to show what you know!

After an overpriced meal of fish and chips at the hotel bar, I stuck my head into a few of the room parties, but nothing was particularly engaging, so I left. I still need to work on my conversation skills at cons… my experience at most of them has been that unless you already know people, it’s hard to meet new folks, particularly if: you’re not a panelist, you’re as shy as a typical geek, and you’re not in costume. Most people are already hanging out with friends, and, well, most aren’t that interested in striking up conversations with random strangers. Of course, now I’ve just descended into the Introvert’s Lament, which means I should probably wrap up the blog entry.

The one-sentence version: RustyCon was all right, but personally, I prefer larger cons with more variety.

Orycon was also my first introduction to the fandom and convention scene in the Pacific Northwest. I did notice a few differences with East Coast cons– although some of this may just be my own experience. But I felt like the crowd at Orycon was, on average, several years older than the crowd at the East Coast conventions I’ve been to. It is because Orycon’s focus is more on literature and less on media? I’m not sure. But it’s quite clear that fandom spans all age groups, and that was an impression I got more strongly at Orycon than I have at any other convention. It’s kind of reassuring, actually, to know I won’t have to turn in my geek card in my later years.

I also felt like there was more of a celebration of “the other”, of “the weird”, than there was at the East Coast cons. I wrote about this aspect of conventions in my Dragon*Con write-up, and I felt it even more strongly at Orycon. The atmosphere at conventions is incredibly, marvelously, accepting. On panels, someone might casually mention that they were gay, or bisexual, or polyamorous, or pagan, or various adjectives that might get you a raised eyebrow if you were overheard on the street. But at Orycon, no one so much as batted an eye. It was all taken in stride, and even though I’m a straight white male, it felt good to be around such an accepting crowd. We all have our differences, after all, our ways which make us “weird”– and being nerds and geeks, we pretty much fall into the “weird” category by default.

But first and foremost, Orycon is a convention to celebrate sci-fi and fantasy, and as I mentioned earlier, its biggest focus is on the literature side of things. There were a lot of great writing panels, lots of readings (the zombie erotica reading was particularly interesting– I honestly wasn’t sure how that would work, but it did… some stories were even romantic), and lots of panels that were just generally fun. In fact, I’d say that Orycon had the best selection of panels of any con I’ve been to– Dragon*Con had a wider selection, of course, but Dragon*Con panels are usually gigantic. The Orycon panels were nicely sized, and usually small enough that it was easy to ask questions. I got to meet some of the panelists, and chat with a few who I already knew (notably Mary Robinette Kowal, who I have now talked to at conventions on both sides of the country), and even chip in a few puns at the “Pun-ishment” panel… which went exactly as the title implies. 4 panelists and a good chunk of the audience doing nothing but coming up with horrible puns for an entire hour. As I mentioned on Twitter, I left with a headache.

Now it’s back to Seattle, and back to the NaNoWriMo novel I’ve been putting off and falling behind on. See you next year, Orycon.

Over a week later, as I type this up, I’m still surfing the Dragon*Con high, although it’s mostly faded into a bit of post-con depression. Real life is just so boring when you aren’t constantly walking past Star Trek characters, remote-controlled R2D2s, and beautiful women in chainmail and/or bodypaint. Here, the most pressing issues of the day have nothing to do with whether the eleventh Doctor is adequately stepping into David Tennant’s shoes, or what’s coming down the pipeline at Tor Books, or having to pick between the Adam Savage Panel and the Jim Butcher signing. Instead, if you follow the “real world” news, the biggest stories are either depressing (Afghanistan: Still a Moneysink Run By Corrupt Warlords!), pointless (See Pics of Kim Kardashian Going Shopping!), or just plain idiotic (More Inanity Spewed From Sarah Palin’s Pie-hole!).

Go on… tell me Dragon*Con isn’t an improvement.

Back in reality, the thousand pressing details of day to day life take a dreary precedence over the images and stories that conjure brilliant, fiery passion in the minds and imaginations of countless people. And in my opinion, the world is a duller place for it.

For me, Dragon*Con was an affirmation and a release. It was a release because when confronted with situations that make my inner introvert quiver– like a party, or a group of professional writers going to dinner– I didn’t retreat into the corner. I stepped up and joined in. I made friends. And I had a hell of a lot of fun.

It was an affirmation because for four days, I was surrounded by fantasy and science fiction fans, by writers, by geeks of all shapes and stripes. Here, if you say “I want to write fantasy novels!” people will cheer you on and encourage you. In reality, people will often look at you as if to say, “Don’t most people get past that stage by the time they’re out of high school?” For someone like me, not always comfortable with the oddities of his own personality, it was affirming to be around thousands of people with similar oddities, indeed, celebrating them.

And in a broader sense, it’s not just being geeks that unites us. I think it’s something even bigger. The people who attend Dragon*Con are people who, by and large, live their lives, set their values, and define their happiness according to their own rules, not the rules that society tries to impose. Whether that means spending hundreds of hours on elaborate costumes, or writing novels and stories for years simply because you love to, or even skeptically thinking about the religion you grew up with– it all comes down to thinking your own way, finding happiness in unusual places, and living life the way you want. I think in one sense it’s a side effect of being a geek, but it’s also deeper than that. It’s an all-too-rare combination of independent thought and passion, but at Dragon*Con for four days I was completely surrounded by it. It was incredibly energizing, and affirming, and I miss it already.

So there you have it. This whole Dragon*Con series of posts has been a little more personal in nature than might ordinarily belong on what is supposed to be a writing blog, but to the extend that my journey as a writer mirrors my journey as a person, then they belong just fine. And the trend’s probably going to keep up, because a lot of plans that have been in the works for a long time are finally coming to fruition. (Stay tuned for a blog entry about why I quit my job.)

But regardless of where I end up in a year, if I can make it back to con, I’ll be happy.

Fin

By then it was about midnight, and the Dragon*Con party was in full swing. I was still feeling a bit like an outsider, though. The only people I knew well were off doing their own thing, and weren’t really into the party scene anyway. So I walked around for a bit, taking pictures of the cool costumes and mainly just people watching. I thought about joining in on the drinking, but the crowd around the Marriott bar was rather large and intimidating at that point, so feeling a bit discouraged and more than a bit tired, I called it an early night.

When Saturday evening rolled around, I kicked it off by going to a late-night panel on writing sexy science fiction. Dragon*Con panels tend to get more interesting around 10 pm, but this one continued a trend of somewhat-disappointing writing panels at the con. The trend had been started on Friday when a somewhat-interesting panel on Let’s Build a Story in an Hour! turned into Let’s Build a Story out of Tired Crime Drama Cliches! Now, in the author’s defense, he was trying to construct a serious story by taking audience suggestions… but the audience was really only useful for silly suggestions, as is wont to happen during that sort of thing. Trying to build a serious murder mystery when the starting concept is a bagel is not easy.

Anyway, for some reason– call me crazy, but I suspect it was because the panelists were mostly female– the Writing Sexy Science Fiction panel turned into a discussion on why men don’t share their feelings these days. (To which I reply: duh, that’s what blogs are for!) So, somewhat disappointed at not having learned how to better write steamy sci-fi sex scenes– I suppose I’ll have to rely on reading Heinlein novels for that– I skipped out early. And with my trusty camera at the ready, I headed out into the general chaos of Saturday night Dragon*Con.

A quick lesson in Dragon*Con geography, for those who have not personally experienced it: the convention spans five large host hotels in downtown Atlanta. The Sheraton and the Westin are a little bit out of the way, but the other three, the Hilton, Marriott, and the Hyatt, are all in a line and connected by sky bridges. This is where the big party happens: it’s essentially a mix-and-mingle party that spans three city blocks and numerous bars scattered across the hotels. From what I’ve seen, the Hyatt is where the heaviest drinking happens (not that it doesn’t happen elsewhere, it’s just heavier at the Hyatt), while the Marriott, with its wide open lobby spanning three spacious floors, is the best place to show off and admire costumes. The Hilton’s main attraction is a karaoke bar, for those who are into that sort of thing… and it’s a little less crowded, for those looking to escape the claustrophobia-inducing conditions at the Hyatt and Marriott. There are also a myriad of concerts and themed parties in the hotel ballrooms that stretch until the wee hours of the morning, and plenty of lesser-known, more exclusive parties for those with the right connections (i.e. connections better than mine).

I made my way through the crowds, stopping frequently to take pictures, and having a few drinks of my own. By 2 am I was feeling pretty good, so I moseyed back on over to the Hilton and listened to karaoke for a bit. The crowd was really friendly to the singers, even to the ones that couldn’t carry a tune with both hands and a bucket, so with alcohol-fueled courage I weaved my way up to the front to sign up for a song. But, alas, foiled! Karaoke was so popular they had cut off sign-ups. I stayed to listened for a bit over one last rum and coke, and called it a night about 3 am.

Sunday evening: the last night at Dragon*Con. I still felt like I hadn’t really experienced the party. Sure, I had had some drinks and taken some pictures, but not really talked to anyone or done anything. And this was the last night of the con! Clearly, something needed to change.

I decided what I needed was something to help me feel more at home with the crowd: I needed a costume. But I didn’t want something flashy or flamboyant; I just wanted something subtle, a little reminder that I wasn’t just out to take pictures.

But what to do? I’ve avoided costuming at cons so far, not because it doesn’t appeal to me, but mainly because I haven’t had anyone to do with. Well, I thought, to heck with that… I’m going to do it anyway. But when it comes to cosplay, simply dressing up in unusual clothing doesn’t interest me so much as the idea of transforming, of becoming someone or something else. (Insert psychology thesis here about how this relates to my various neuroses.)

I passed a little booth that was selling latex prosthetics, and an idea hit me: devil horns! Not the fabric ones that clip onto your hair; actual latex horns glued on with spirit gum. It would be subtle, but not too subtle. And as those were being painted to match my skin, I mulled the collection of pointed ears and, well, what’s a demon-fae-creature-thing without pointed ears? So sporting horns and pointed ears, and feeling just “different” enough to blend in with the crowd, I made my last stop: a facepainting booth, where I let Natalie of Doozers Workshop have her way with my face. End result:

I actually think the horns blended better with my face than it looks, but they also reflected the flash better. Here’s another pic of me and Brandon Sanderson, when I ran across him in the Dealer’s Room signing books:

I wasn’t feeling the need for a wardrobe change; pretty much the only concession I made to my “devil-ized” face was to put on a red t-shirt. And to be honest, I sort of liked the mix of strange face and street clothing. It wasn’t exactly going all out, but I had done what I wanted: join, in both mind and appearance, the ranks of the weird.

I still didn’t know anybody out party-surfing, but dammit, I was going to party anyway. That night I made my way up to the bar, hung out and downed drinks with the best of them. I tried for karaoke, but once again did not get there early enough to sign up… geeks and karaoke are apparently a potent combo. Oh, I still took pictures (who couldn’t!), but for the first time, I felt like I was part of the crowd, not just observing it from the other side of a camera lens. I even talked with a few people, although I never really found anyone to hang out with for long. This was probably why I made my way to the Hyatt around 2 am to attend a Cruxshadows concert. (Cruxshadows is a gothic rock band with a big presence at Dragon*Con and some rather sexy dancers.) The interesting thing about this is that I don’t actually remember attending the concert, but I must have, because I found pictures of it on my camera:

It was a good party.

Afterward I do remember throwing up outside the Hyatt and falling asleep in a corner of the hotel patio, then getting woken up a short while later by a trio of concerned-looking EMTs. Man, I remember thinking as they helped me to my feet… that’s gotta be a sucky job. Wandering around Dragon*Con at 3:30 am, checking passed-out drunks for signs of life?

Puking up most of the alcohol had apparently saved me, as I was able to walk with only a minor wobble, and eventually they let me go and I made my way back to the Hilton. Karaoke had long since ended, so I hung out for a while and chatted with some equally-out-of-it members of the Dragon*Con skeptics track. Like everybody else at con, they were awesome. It wasn’t until the clock was getting on toward 5 am that I gave into reality and made my way up to the room.

Yup. Definitely a good party.

Part 4 here.