SF/F/H Conventions: Why?

[mmerriam]

I am currently examining why I attended Conventions. Considering this year there were (are) eight cons I can name off the top of my head right here in the Twin Cities, I need to figure out what it is I want out of them, how I plan to get the things I want, and what my plan to do so should be.

So my question to you, Oh Mighty Flist, is: If you attended SF/F/H conventions, why do you go and what do you get out of them?

And yes, I am still working on a novel, thank you for asking.

Dark Water Blues

Comments

[copperwise.livejournal.com]

Interesting question, I look forward to seeing the answers. Because I don't, and have been encouraged to start doing so for professional networking reasons. Faerieworlds is the only thing I currently go to, and it's as much festival as con, though there are writers at booths to commune with and definitely opportunities to network.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

Here's hoping we both get some answers!

[will-couvillier.livejournal.com]

Autographs?

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

Not a bad reason!

[ajjones.livejournal.com]

Bitchin word count Mikie.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

Now that I'm past the big mess that is the middle (and I finally figured out how to fix the mess) I'm smokin' along at 1000+ words a day again. Plus, you know, I'm getting to the part where Holly disembowels someone and I get to destroy a major local landmark, which is always fun.

[maggiedr.livejournal.com]

I'm interested in seeing other people's answers too. I've gone to just a handful of Cons, but each one seems to have less value and more repetition than the last. I know I'm supposed to network at them, but have never been able to manage networking for its own sake. Either I enjoy talking to someone I see...or I don't.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

The repetition is something I'm noticing more and more as well.

[ckd]

I go To See My People. Oh sure, I also go to panels, or spend time gaming, or whatever...but I go to cons mostly because I like seeing the people I see there.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

An excellent reason, indeed!

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

me too. that's where i keep my people. my wacky wacky people.

[timprov.livejournal.com]

Ditto. Mostly to get a chance to see people who I've met online and wouldn't likely get a chance to otherwise. Like ckd for instance.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

The chance to talk to the like minded, and to hear new ideas.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

:nods:

[stillnotbored.livejournal.com]

Michael,

If I don't remember to come back to this later tonight, email me and remind me. I have a long answer, but I don't have time to write it out right now.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

Will do!

[beth-bernobich.livejournal.com]

I go to conventions to hang out with readers and writers, to meet up with long-distance friends, to immerse myself in SF and learn more about the field. Mostly I go for the human contact, in a temporary bubble of time and place, where I get to be just my writer/reader self.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

Thanks! That's a great answer, and one I suspect to see echoed by others.

[pameladean]

I was going to conventions long before I became a writer, and the main difference since I became one is that, with some relief, I can look at my participation on panels as my contribution to the convention. I do very badly at all aspects of running conventions and I'm not really that great of a badge-checker, either; long ago, I challenged somebody who was aggressively ghosting a very small con, and he pulled me off my chair. Lots of large imposing fans immediately showed up, but I can't help feeling that I handled the challenge badly. ANYWAY, I go to conventions see people I don't see otherwise and to participate in the amazing community of fandom, or my piece of it. While I'm there, I do panels and readings and autographings if I'm asked, and those are fun, but I don't think I'd go just to do that if I didn't want to see people.

P.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

:nods: Good, good. This is the type of answer I'm looking for as I consider why I'm going to conventions.

Pulled you off your chair? What a buffoon. And frankly, he's lucky he didn't get beat down by the large imposing fans who showed up.

[karenthology.livejournal.com]

I'm starting to go to conventions to step out of "the bubble." I belong to a writers' group down here, but it sometimes feels that I'm doing this all by myself. I understand that it's a common feeling among folks who don't have a large community of fans/writers/what have you, and although the Internet is fabulous, nothing beats face-to-face.

Fourth Street, my first convention, really put my feet back on solid ground, and it taught me a lot of things that I didn't already know. Ongoing education is well worth it.

Also, meeting people. I love meeting new people and hearing what they have to say.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

All quite sound reasons!

[tiny-wings.livejournal.com]

Because conventions = big ass party! And you see stuff at them that you'll never see anywhere else. A hundred people dressed up as Star Wars characters to form an army? AWESOME.

Also. People are starting to recognize me from year to year. Some are even collecting my stuff! A girl last year bought dragons but no bookmarks because over the past two previous years she'd already bought all of them - she complained that I had no new drawings last year. So that's insanely flattering. And the chance to meet celebrities. I rarely show professionals any of my stuff though. The contact with the public is enough for me.

Plus I usually plan these things so it's really satisfying to plan a big-scale thing like a trip to Toronto with a bunch of people, and have everything work out.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

:nods:

I can totally understand the, "you see things at conventions you don't see anywhere else" draw. I mean really, Anime Kat-Girls fighting Klingons with boffer weapons, how can that go wrong.

And people are starting to recognize me as well, though I think the shiny has worn-off the whole meeting celebrities thing.

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

I go to conventions mostly to see people I don't usually see. Out of towners, mostly -- but some are locals who don't move in the same circles.

And to meet new people.

Also to learn -- sometimes from program items, sometimes from conversation.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

All very good reasons. Thanks for the input, Dan!

[ken-schneyer.livejournal.com]

I am positive that I already asked you this exact question. No backsies.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

LOL!

[songwind.livejournal.com]

I go for a few reasons.

1) I am still getting good "writing stuff" out of them
2) They are fun
3) Cleavage.
4) Meeting authors and other folks whose work I admire

I don't think I would possibly try to go to 8 cons in one year. I know some people are really into that sort of thing, but not me.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

All excellent reasons! Thanks for chiming in.

[muneraven.livejournal.com]

At first I went because other people told me that it was a shame that someone like me who reads so much SFF and writes it sometimes had never been to a con. Then I went because it was the ONE place where my son's odd mix of geekiness, intelligence, SFF related special interests, and ability to constantly consume junk food all came together in one place. He loves cons. And then I went because there are a few local folks I have enjoyed at other cons and I am so shy that it take me ten cons to, yanno, actually say "HI" to someone. LOL.

And now I am not going. Not right now. And when I start again I will be cutting WAYYY back on the number of cons I attend. One or two a year max. Going does not help my writing, con panels have gotten repetative, and I am not built for three days of constant socializing and crowds.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

I'm wondering if I'm suffering from Con burn out. I've been attending 3-6 cons a year for the last five years.

[stillnotbored.livejournal.com]

I left myself a note so I'd remember to come back to this.

Friends are always a reason to go, a gathering of the clan so to speak. Friends were the reason I started going to cons, but not the reason I kept going. I found as time went on and I got more serious and committed to writing my reasons changed. Going to cons also became part of the job.

And because I do view the contacts made and the networking as part of the job of being a writer, the kinds of cons I go to changed. I exchanged WorldCons for WorldFantasy, because WFC is industry focused, smaller and full of the authors, editors and agents I want to get to know. WisCon and now ReaderCon, went on the list of focused and relaxed industry cons to attend every year. I have plans to make it to 4thStreet next year come hell or high water.

I cut out all cons that were gamer, costume or media fan oriented. If I'm going to spend the money on travel, hotels, etc. it needs to go toward furthering the career I want. That doesn't mean I don't have fun, because I always, always do.

I've learned more about writing, publishing and the ins and outs of the industry in bar conversations, quiet talks with published authors late at night and even going to tightly focused panels than I'd ever have learned going to local cons. It's an education I couldn't have had any other way.

Until I have a book on the shelves to push, all local cons are off my list, with the exception of one small writer's con here in Columbus. If that wasn't $35 for the weekend and no hotel involved that might vanish too.

Don't ever let anyone tell you that networking doesn't count, but it needs to be networking with people at the level you wish to be at, not just people where you are now. Local cons will have one or two professional guests of honor, but the whole industry doesn't show up the way it does at WFC, WisCon and ReaderCon.

Those are my reasons. Hope this helps.

[ruralwriter.livejournal.com]

I've been to only one convenion and it was earlier this year, so I can offer some fresh, but perhaps limited input about why I had fun and why I'd like to go back.

1) Hearing writers talk made me feel "not so alone" as a writer. They face problems; I face problems.

2) The reader in me enjoyed hearing about books I should be reading and thinking differently about books I've read...and just being around other readers (how many Americans haven't read a novel this year, for example? some huge and slightly depressing percentage).

3) It was Different, meaning it was a change of pace from my usual routine. This may not apply to you if you go to cons frequently. I dunno. What do you think? Do different cons offer a change of pace for you?

I wouldn't mind going to another con, but it's hard for me to travel.

[hkneale.livejournal.com]

1. Social interaction with my peers.
2. Networking with my peers.
3. Career immersion session.
3a. Career development.
4. Intense fun.

We get two, maybe three in Perth, and alas, I'm often too busy to attend them. If I do, it's only for a day or so. This is due to the possession of small children.

I did go to the World Horror Con this year. I'll probably go to WorldCon in 2010 and WFC in 2012, assuming the two cities bidding for these cons win their bids.

Other than that, well...