Sunday, August 17, 2014

GENCON 2014

Blogging once a year is equivalent to not blogging. Sigh.

Yet failure has rarely daunted me. During the early years of my optics company Light Works I came so close to crashing and burning so many times that I stopped counting. It didn't matter. Punch me in the mouth and knock me down? Just clear a little space and I'll be back on my feet in a minute. Now things are going swell, and Cool Hand Luke is still one of my favorite movies. (Go watch it!)

So learn from past failures and keep moving forward. Excelsior! Or sumfin' like that. On to the talking about the subject:

This was my second GenCon, and this time I brought my son Alex. We both had a wonderful time, despite our having very different purposes. His was for what I suspect the majority of attendees came for -- games and the spectacle and having fun. Mine was primarily for the Writing Symposium.

For this entry, I'm only going to offer snippets. My thinking is that this will force me to come back soon and expand. Also, my middle grade space opera WIP The Other Side of Space is thrusting along well and I don't want to let the engines cool too long.

Jim Butcher, Scott Westerfeld, and Larry Correia? Holy Toledo is that a power line-up of writer guests! Of course there were many others, but those were the big three names at quarterback, wide receiver, and running back.

Bill Willingham was perhaps my favorite writer panelist. I got the impression that his sensibilities most closely paralleled my own. I also loved the "Bible hair" story he told about when he was a kid and he met Johnny Weissmuller. He's funny, and direct, and clear, and wise, but in no way does he seem self-important. Now I'ma have to go read his Fables mags.

William Alexander made a good comment about scaring kids in literature ("being scared can be a vaccination"), which led to a great discussion, and quoting of Sherman Alexie that I'd never heard before. "I don’t write to protect them [kids]. It’s far too late for that. I write to give them weapons–in the form of words and ideas-that will help them fight their monsters."

Of course fiction in general is really good for preparing people for life. Read, damn yer eyes!

My friend and fellow writing group member Marc Tassin did a truly spectacular job of putting the whole symposium together. I've glimpsed the shadow of the mountain of work he put in to pull this off, and I remain astounded. Even more amazing is how well everything turned out. Lots of people can simply work hard. It's another thing to get things done. I know he had boo coo help, but he's the one who gathered, trained, and led his forces. My box of 'atta boys' just ain't big enough.

Finally (for now), Alex and I had the best time just goofing off and gawking, and talking about stuff. I do have to mention one game we played in particular: Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. OMFG was that fun! I hope these folks are successful, because we need more of this in the world. Check it out, and support them!