Today, I’m taking a break from sharing all my writing panel notes, to talk about the fact I’m about to hit ANOTHER convention. At this rate, I’ll never finish sharing my notes with you.
By the time you see this, I’ll be about to land in Dublin with my mom! I’ve never been to Dublin and she’s never been overseas. It’s going to be an adventure!
We’re off to WorldCon. Specifically, the 77th WorldCon, in Dublin. WorldCon is where the Hugos — the biggest awards in science-fiction and fantasy writing are awarded. George RR Martin famously hosts his ‘losers’ party, for those who have been nominated, but lose. (Although, at this point, I don’t think he’s allowed to attend his own party.)
If you’ve been following me for a while, you might remember my FIRST overseas trip, two years ago, was also to WorldCon — in Helsinki! (I’ve got a lot of notes up from that one, too!)
After reading the initial panel list, I marked down about 111 panels that looked interesting. A few days later, the Grenadine App for the event came out, so I uploaded all the panels I’d marked, and everything else that looked interesting, and culled my list of panels down to… 177.
Clearly, I don’t understand the concept of limits. Besides, there are only 52 time slots, I couldn’t see them all if I wanted to.
But. This might be supposed to actually be a vacation. Not just a working convention. I’ve been reminded that I might want to… oh, I don’t know… SEE DUBLIN.
So, I’ve been culling and looking and thinking. And I’m trying to see more and do less.
Some of the panels I have on my list are because of the content, some are on because of the panelists! It’s a work in progress, but I’m down to looking at only 80 program items.
My blog’s now on Bloglovin – As always, I’m trying to be accessible everywhere. Since I keep getting referral links from here, I decided to check it out and they insisted I post this link in order to claim my blog.
I’m wrapping up revisions on Part 1 of Flesh and Ink. Should be starting Part 2 tomorrow! Yes, it’s taking much longer than hoped. But, I think it’s worth it. The updated plan is to done before NaNoWriMo. BAH!!
This past Friday, I made it to “Spilled Ink” again, a local Open Mic night for writers. I make it about every other month. Since I write long, and they like pieces to be under 8 minutes, this month, I went with my classic post: Thin Mint Conspiracy.
I’m going to be traveling a lot in July, so I’m not sure how much Camp Nano I’ll get to, but my goal is at least one pass on 100 pages. 6 down, 94 to go!
I was raised thinking I was in a post-feminism world. We had the vote, we were out there earning our own money, with our own credit cards, standing equal to any man. But, the older I get, the more I realize that the biases are still out there. They’re just softer, well-intentioned, and far more insidious.
At Balticon 53, I attended “But I’m Not A YA Writer”, with panelists Sherri Cook Woosley, Gwendolyn Clare, and Julayne Hughes, moderated by Laura Nicole “Spence” and we discussed the modern trend of calling speculative fiction books written by women “young adult” (YA).
What’s the Difference?
I have a full set of panel notes on the difference, that I’ll be sharing later, but let me sum up.
Young adult novels typically center on teenage characters, often coming-of-age, and learning how to be independent. Thinking for themselves. YA is often told in first person, and sometimes in present tense. And YA has hope.
Adult novels can have teenage characters and can be coming-of-age stories, but the characters are typically a little older, or a decent portion of the book covers their adulthood as well. The solutions are usually more nuanced and complicated, the world building is often more fleshed out, the politics and economics are more complex, and the violence can be darker. Third person point-of-view is more common and it’s typically told in past-tense.
Now, these are all trends. YA is by no means a lesser skill and certainly can deal with dark themes and violence. When trying to categorize a book, think about a 9th grader, would you recommend it to them? Or not. The line often comes down to the voice.
Who Is Misclassifying Authors’ Books
When you hear about this misclassification, many of us think we know exactly where the problem is. But. It’s not what you might think.
Is it the lack of women in the upper echelon of publishing companies?
Nope. The publishers and editors are properly categorizing them.
Is it the marketing departments?
Not really. Their marketing teams are starting off targeting the right markets…
So where is the problem?
It’s when the book blurbs hit the internet that the real disconnect comes out. The book bloggers and good citizens of GoodReads are where a large percentage of the misclassifications are made.
How is this happening?
Clearly, there are tons of factors that go into this, and no amount of speculation can encapsulate each individual’s decisions.
And? Sometimes the line can be nebulous. But not that often.
Even if one starts off looking at the book blurb, with the proper classification, and comparing it to other books in the appropriate genre during a review, these books are often getting ‘shelved’ with YA.
And the only thing that might even suggest the novel is YA? Is the author’s name, reading as feminine. Or, the author becoming widely known as female.
The 2018 critically acclaimed novel, The Poppy War, by R.F. Kuang was marketed as a drug filled, grimdark fantasy take on the war between China and Japan during World War II. The themes were dark, the voice was adult, and the book was marked down as being too violent or graphic for YA. It got tons of 1-star reviews, because the book wasn’t what the readers were expecting.
Which leads us into:
The Consequences of Being Misclassified
You get marked down for not meeting expectations
1 and 2 star reviews on Amazon and GoodReads greatly affect your sales
Your audience can’t find you.
If the real audience thinks the book is for their kids, they’re not as inclined to read it
When a story about a mother gets handed off to teen girls, the voice won’t resonate as strongly as it would with a mom
The LGBTQA community has gotten good at finding allies. At standing up for each other. There’s still push back, but they’re fighting hard to make sure their books are properly classified, not just shoved off into ‘special interest group’ or ‘adult’ sections simply because it contains characters that aren’t cis-gendered and/or heterosexual.
We can learn a lot from them.
So, how do we get around this?
The Call Of The Pseudonym
Publisher and audience biases have had women writing under pseudonyms or initials for centuries – from the Brontë Sisters, to George Eliot, to J.K. Rowling herself — women have used pen names to be more marketable. And? It seems to work.
Studies indicate, even Harry Potter might have had a harder time reaching the right audience if it came from Joanne Rowling.
Women these days, and others that don’t fit into the gender binary still succumb to these pressures. Because that’s how they make the sales to the right audience.
How Do We Fix This?
The sad news is, this isn’t something we can fix overnight. It’s not like we can print a correction in the paper and people will instantly stop. Instead, we have to help make the cultural shift. Here are some ways you can help.
Pay more attention to how the books you read are classified by the publisher
When you see a book improperly listed, think about reaching out to set the record straight
Stop assuming boys won’t read female main characters. Or female authors. Teachers, parents, librarians: If you make it a non-issue? Often, they will too.
Maybe you’re the target audience for books you’re not reading. Look at who you’re reading.
If you haven’t read a book recently by a female author, ask the internet (or me, in the comments below) for recommendations, based on your favorite male authors.
NOTE: This works for other markets – writers of color, writers of disability, LGBTQA writers, non-american writers. Branch out and see what you’re missing. Great writers can come from anywhere, but they only get the chance to shine if they can prove they have a market.
Any stories about gender bias happening to you? In any direction! Clearly, men writing in certain genres face similar issues. As, obviously, do people of other genders!
Any other suggestions on ways to help people move past their assumptions, and allow books to be enjoyed on their own merits. With marketed expectation management NOT getting overridden by cultural assumptions?
As always, thanks for tuning in, and join me again next week as I share more writing tips and writerly musings from the over 24 hours of programming I attended at Balticon53.
After 4 days and over 24 hours of panels, events, and parties, I’m home from Balticon.
I may have overdone it a touch, even though thisclearlywasn’t my first time. But! I definitely followed my own rules and didn’t miss more than 1 shower, 1 meal, or one-half of a night’s sleep.
Unfortunately, when you’re going all out like this, it can make you more vulnerable to a thing called “con crud”. Usually, an unpleasant cold, but can be quite dangerous for people with compromised immune systems. I know it stinks, especially after having waited all year and paid your fees but if you’re sick, stay home. Or wear a mask and haul around hand sanitizer.
In the coming months, I’ll be sharing my notes from the panels that I can. Some panels make for poor posts, and I don’t blog workshops or lectures as those belong to a certain person or are focused more for participants. But, here’s the high-level overview of the ridiculousity that I got up to over Memorial Day Weekend.
Friday:
I was off to a late start getting to Balticon, including a car fire blocking 2 lanes during errands, before I even managed to head out. I’ve been listening to Guy Gavriel Kay’s A Brightness Long Ago, narrated by Simon Vance — both of whom I was on a voice acting panel with last November. I hadn’t listened to an audiobook in nearly 10 years, but thanks to an extra two hours of traffic, I made significant progress. It definitely kept the traffic from aggravating me.
Once at the hotel, I determined that my roommate’s assessment of “I think I put your name on the room” was mistaken. So, I left my bags with the concierge and went to registration. 10 minutes later, we were well into the 4 o’clock hour, so that helped lower the 65-panels-in-35-time-slots that I’d been eyeing, down to 63 panels in 34 time slots.
I checked out the dealers room, then hit my first panel of 5 for the night. In the midst of those panels, I got my room situation sorted out (“missing” another panel slot).
After a couple panels, I ran into my roommate/dad and he invited me to join him and few friends of his for dinner. By the time we all gathered and seated, there were only 15 minutes before a friend of mine was having a reading. So? I hit the buffet and asked for my check by the time everyone had gotten drinks and were placing their orders.
All-in-all on Friday, I attended “Logistics and Tactics: Writing Campaigns”, “CSI: Fantasy Edition”, an author reading with Doc Coleman, Jamaila Brinkley, and Mike Ventrella, “Writing Motivation for Doomsday Cults”, and a filk tribute to Mars and the Opportunity Rover.
Saturday
My morning started off with “But I’m Not A YA Author: Women in Speculative Fiction”, “How To Be A Good Moderator” (for that eventual day when I’m a longed-for panelist), and “Principles of Roman Hairstyling” Having loved Janet Stephen’s Youtube channel, I was excited to watch her presentation live.
I kept a bit busier on Saturday. My lunch break was carrots, humas, and pita in my room during a reluctant, but necessary break.
Next up were “Practicing Your Pitch”, “Dynamic Voice Acting”, “Improving Your Pitch”, and “Investigating Mysteries: Out-of-the-box thinking that solved strange cases” (by a hoax investigator).
I’d suggested to my dinner compatriots that we ORDER chinese, rather than go out, since so many wanted to be back in time for the Masquerade (or panels, in my case). We ended up letting the organizer know what our orders were at the meet up time, and then they insisted on walking over and ordering the food in person. Um, calling, then walking over could have saved 10 minutes! Ahhh, not everyone is a wiz with logistics, like I am. After a somewhat scattered dinner, I helped carry the cake and snacks up to the room for the DC 2021 party I’d help host later.
I did make it to a reading, featuring Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Keith DeCandido, and Ben Rovik, with a choose-your-own-adventure story, that was directed by audience acclaim. I, and the rest of the audience greatly enjoyed all the readings.
Outside of the convention that evening, there was a bit of concern, where two groups of Baltimore teens apparently crashed? I heard several things, from flash mob that was heavily monitored, to Prom kids hitting other teen clusters and clashing? I do know people were being arrested, and that the hotel closed off the doors on that side of the building, trying to keep us away from the disturbance.
Safely inside, I headed off to my rooms to help host the DC WorldCon 2021 “bid party”.
I showed up to the room party just as it started and slipped into my dragon costume. The party was snacks and drinks and letting people sign up for early memberships, if they were interested. And cake!
As no one is running against DC and it would be local for most attendees of Balticon, we had no detractors that I’m aware of.
Sunday
I woke early, with some thoughts on my roommate’s pitch I’d heard the day before in one of the pitch workshops. (You might have noticed that I’m addicted to rewriting queries…) Scribbling frantically on my notepad, I waved a roommate on into the shower, then realized my 1st intended panel was at 10, not 11! And my shoes were in the bathroom! I pulled my hair back, tossed on a dress, and got there just after the intro for the “Architecture and World building Workshop”. After that let out, I headed back to the room to get more properly bathed and dressed. As a button-eyed-doll.
Podcasting 101 was near my room, and I got drawn in, even though the panel was half-done by then…
My afternoon was, surprise, surprise, full of panels. I hit “Advancing the Story Without Traumatizing Your Characters”, “YouTube Survival Guide”, the artist Guest of Honor’s slide show, discussing his collaboration with the late, great Ursula LeGuin. Then, to make sure I learn to do better “Consent Violation and Bystander Interventions”. After that, with the hope of figuring out the real difference, I attended “Coming-of-Age vs YA”. “Improving Your Readings” was a solid panel (but I thought it was going to be a workshop), and I enjoyed a story hour at the “Myths and Folktales of the Igbo people”.
I may have overdone it. There wasn’t really a lunch break, or even a bio break in there. I darted outside to find quick food. There was a cop car parked on the corner sidewalk with two young officers. I asked where the Subway was. They pointed around the corner, where it lay in plain sight. And one of the officers asked if my costume was from Coraline and smiled when I said “yes”.
The Subway had no line! I did spot another pair of cops patrolling on the backside of the hotel when I returned. Clearly, trying to avoid another evening like Saturday’s.
I scurried back into the hotel and managed to stay for most of the first half of the eBook’s massive launch party event in the Con Suite. (Although, they had food, so maybe I should have scrounged. But, my sub was mostly healthy, so we’ll dub it a decent call.) I got to hear a reading, and joined a few people at their table so I could sit. Excellent conversations! But, of course, I ducked out before the raffle, because there were MORE panels!
Next up was “Sex, Sexuality, and Worldbuilding”. Excellent moderation kept it useful for writing instead of falling down the very easily found rabbit holes. And then, “This Kaiju Life LIVE!” a hilarious podcast about government bureaucracy, with a Dilbert-esque main character and tons of crazy shenanigans.
Then? It was time for the DC 2021 party REDUX, because we had food and drink leftovers to spare. I was in and out a bit. But, got complimented on my vlog by one of the guests, which made my night. Clean-up was smooth.
Monday
Holy bleep, Morgan! There’s MORE?
Not that much.
I woke up in time for “The Future of Podcasting” (when my sniffles started to show up), packed and wandered. Then hit “Mythology, Philosophy, and Video Games” — which was a discussion, not a panel. Because I hadn’t been on the room reservation, I hadn’t gotten my parking validated, so I took care of that and dropped off my bags. I’d intended to hit some more panels, but by then, I was starting to fade. So, I reluctantly skipped “The Good Place as Dystopian Fiction” and headed out.
I was blessed with a smooth drive home — 2 hours shorter than the drive up — I finished my audio book 5 minutes after getting home. After messaging my thanks on the Baltimore Science Fiction Society‘s facebook page, my sinus pressure turned into a headache and the cold hit in full force. I’d gotten home just in time. And it was time to nap.
All-in-all? Another excellent convention. Far too many great panels — especially at the same times and/or at meal-times!
Looking forward to overdoing it again, next year.
Have you ever attended a convention? How did YOU fill your time?
Thanks for tuning in, and I’ll be starting on sharing these panel notes next week.
Being a writer, especially one with internet access, can be a complete roller-coaster of emotions.
Of course, we knew before we begin dreaming of writing that book reviews could be the height of joy or the depths of crushing blows. But, it used to be that you’d only see the professional reviews and could ignore them if you wanted.
Nowadays, it would be better (and less distracting) if writers only knew what people thought of their writing when they had the energy and focus to go look, and prepare to improve their craft.
NOT distracting them from what they’re in the middle of.
NOT when they’ve had a rough day of writing and feel like maybe they should throw the towel in.
NOT when life is dragging them down, and the internet’s nasty review is ready to kick them when they’re already down.
But, when you’re a writer, there’s so many other things that can bring you up and crash you down.
In the past week? I’ve been all over the place. Often on the same day.
My most recent roller-coaster of emotions
UPS:
Last week? I entered an overnight flash fiction contest — and WON! Well, I won a free book and bragging rights, but it’s still something.
DOWNS:
Then I got home to find heavy feedback from my mentor.
When I reread the passage? I couldn’t believe I’d sent that to her. I’d remembered the passage having been edited and being dark — yes. But, a rather different flavor of dark.
I dragged my feet getting back to those edits.
BOTH:
The next day, a dear writer friend, with a story pitch that harkens to one of my favorite moves, announced that she’d been offered representation by an agent.
She’s worked hard, reworked her novel, and dealt with some setbacks. I was so proud and excited for her.
But?
I was also jealous and frustrated to be stuck in revisions. Again.
Writing Requires Resilience, Persistence, and Perseverance
Resilience
the capacity to recover from set-backs. Like facing that scene and editing it into something I can be proud of and eager to show my mentor.
Like recognizing my jealousy and longing to be at the same stage as my friend whose most recent query netted her an agent. And accepting the fact that I want to make my novel better before I enter the query trenches again.
Persistence
firm continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty. I keep writing and putting my work out there.
For that flash-fiction contest? It’s usually posted on Fridays, and open for submissions on Saturdays, for 24 hours. So many times, I’ve created an entry, and then forgotten to post it. But, I still keep my eye on it, and still draft up entries on Fridays.
For my writing? After reading my writing and recoiling in horror, I let that settle in me for a bit. After a day or so, I cracked open that manuscript to see what I could do. And revised it, until I was something I was happy to share with my mentor.
But you know what? I think I can do better. I’m going to edit that chapter again.
And for querying friend? I’m so proud of her and I can’t wait to be in her shoes again. I know I’ll be ready to put myself back out there, when my time comes.
Perseverance
persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.
My win? It took a bit to get there.
I tried to post from my phone, but it wouldn’t let me. I tried again hours later, and still nothing. I borrowed a friend’s ipad, logged into an incognito window, and finally managed to get my 100 word entry entered.
Several finalists were announced, and the judge asked for input. No one voted for mine. A couple people wanted me to explain in.
Despite the lack of votes and assurance, I found comfort in making it to the finals, and despite all odds? I WON!
As for my writing. I’m going to keep at it. Querying when I can, polishing the rest until it’s something no one can resist — and they start begging for more.
And for my writing friends? I’m going to be there to celebrate their wins, share their writing with the world, and lend an ear whenever stress or setbacks send them reeling.
What sort of emotional roller-coasters have you been on lately?
Do you ever worry you won’t be able to handle it, when your writing gets popular? 😉
