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.

[will-couvillier.livejournal.com]

Autographs?

[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.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

Not a bad reason!

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

Here's hoping we both get some answers!

[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.

[ajjones.livejournal.com]

I love that part! Here's to blowin shit up.

[will-couvillier.livejournal.com]

The fan side has to toss that in, you see...

; )

[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]

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

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

An excellent reason, indeed!

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

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

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

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

[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]

:nods:

[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.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

They are wacky! Which is why we love them.

[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]

What about the writer side?

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

Three cheers for wanton destruction!

[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.

[will-couvillier.livejournal.com]

...always has th' ole purple pen to sign with!

Other than that fanboy me slathering for autographs, I think I'd go to a convention to meet people I've met here. I'd also go for the tables -- biggest little collection of bookstores out there, all gathered in one place!