Sunday, August 31, 2008
Laurell K. Hamilton just announced
Laurell K. Hamilton just announced that a movie and possible tv show for Anita Blake are in the works. Sweet!
Who You Callin' A Kid?
This is a dump from the session Sarah and I attended on Friday that was intended to be the opening of the YA Track. It's rough notes... be warned. I didn't even check the names of the presenters to see if I had them right. This will probably only be of interest to my readers who are librarians or readers of SciFi/Fantasy. Maybe not even all of them.
Trudy Leonard – Atlanta Fulton Public Library
Brandon Sanderson – Author Epic Fantasy, Finishing Wheel of Time!!! Write Alcatraz vs. the evil librarians!
Areta Taylor – Atlanta Public Schools – Elementary and Atlanta Radio Theater
Jody Lanai – Robert Aspirin cowriter and continuing those
Tamora Pierce (Tammy) – Classified as YA, but writes for whoever gets it (1/3 adults and 1/3 guys) Melting Stones coming out next month (published FIRST in audio), Second Becca Cooper book is coming out.
How does a book become a YA book?
Marketing, What the publisher decides. Back in the day, it started out being the age of the protagonist
Anne McCaffrey was in the children’s section
YA is more about omissions than inclusions. Less interested in intricate romance, but can always understand adventure, fellowship, friendship
Until 1999 or 2000 – Writing SF for teens was mainly stealing plots from books that were out of copyright. No sex, no drugs or drinking, no violence, and you can’t make any money. Tamora says you can have all those things now, except making money. But all things have to be there for a reason… not gratuitous. Must forward the plot and contribute to the conflict. Many adults are tired of the excesses of adult literature. These are “Bridge books”
Phillip Pullman, reissued with adult-friendly covered because of the complex material. Garth Nix is another complex author. Chabon’s Summerland can also be in teen.
Don’t talk down. You are allowed to genre bust. And you can be less serious. Epic fantasy has to be very consistent and true. A younger audience will tolerate inconsistencies. Kids will read it just as a book.
Fantasy fans don’t tolerate the gossip girls and a-list books.
Type A Readers – Read stories about people like them.
Type B Readers – Read anything else. Which means 7x more than anyone else.
Scott Westerfeld ("The Ugles") is single-handedly keeping YA Sci Fi alive.
In the late 90’s, we were hitting a slump in adult fantasy. People were trying to tell the same story. Spectacular flops. Goodkind worked, nothing else did. Children’s was hitting a renaissance. Harry Potter, Philip Pullman, Scott Westerfield. Spanked the Adult Fantasy market. Wake up call for those writing for adults.
There are better editors in YA! Jane Yolen says when she does an adult book, she insists on more editing than normal for those editors. Kids editors do much more. Tammy is on third rewrite for Bloodhound AT EDs REQUEST.
Kids won’t tolerate messages or preaching.
If you can hang on for ten years in this market, you will last forever. If librarians like what they see in you, they will keep you alive. :-)
Constrictions of length make books tighter. Can’t go over 60K for middle grades. Will give you more if you have a case. Harry Potter opened that up.
Publishers are getting more risky. (Diane Duane’s blog tells a story of one publishers trying to include a morality clause in a writer's contract, however.)
Libba Bray – fascinating fantasy but truly accurate on the Victorian treatment of young women.
Power of Scholastic… good for getting it out there. Can start telling you what you can write. That can really compromise a smaller writer. Huge force in middle grade… older you get, the less important.
Kids are a very good marketing tool.
Discussion ensued on the irony of the prejudice between Science Fiction to YA, since Sci Fi suffers the same fate from Adult Fiction.
The decision to be YA is usually made before the writing starts. Although it can go both ways. Lowering the age of the protagonist can make a book shift from adult to YA.
Teens are a writer’s ideal protagonist because we expect teens to get into trouble.
A “GREAT BOOK.” How many books read by adults change their lives? People often say "I am who I am today because of the books I read as a teen." If you are trying to change the world, write books for kids.
High.low books (high interest, low vocab) focused on problem people THOUGHT teens had.
Trudy Leonard – Atlanta Fulton Public Library
Brandon Sanderson – Author Epic Fantasy, Finishing Wheel of Time!!! Write Alcatraz vs. the evil librarians!
Areta Taylor – Atlanta Public Schools – Elementary and Atlanta Radio Theater
Jody Lanai – Robert Aspirin cowriter and continuing those
Tamora Pierce (Tammy) – Classified as YA, but writes for whoever gets it (1/3 adults and 1/3 guys) Melting Stones coming out next month (published FIRST in audio), Second Becca Cooper book is coming out.
How does a book become a YA book?
Marketing, What the publisher decides. Back in the day, it started out being the age of the protagonist
Anne McCaffrey was in the children’s section
YA is more about omissions than inclusions. Less interested in intricate romance, but can always understand adventure, fellowship, friendship
Until 1999 or 2000 – Writing SF for teens was mainly stealing plots from books that were out of copyright. No sex, no drugs or drinking, no violence, and you can’t make any money. Tamora says you can have all those things now, except making money. But all things have to be there for a reason… not gratuitous. Must forward the plot and contribute to the conflict. Many adults are tired of the excesses of adult literature. These are “Bridge books”
Phillip Pullman, reissued with adult-friendly covered because of the complex material. Garth Nix is another complex author. Chabon’s Summerland can also be in teen.
Don’t talk down. You are allowed to genre bust. And you can be less serious. Epic fantasy has to be very consistent and true. A younger audience will tolerate inconsistencies. Kids will read it just as a book.
Fantasy fans don’t tolerate the gossip girls and a-list books.
Type A Readers – Read stories about people like them.
Type B Readers – Read anything else. Which means 7x more than anyone else.
Scott Westerfeld ("The Ugles") is single-handedly keeping YA Sci Fi alive.
In the late 90’s, we were hitting a slump in adult fantasy. People were trying to tell the same story. Spectacular flops. Goodkind worked, nothing else did. Children’s was hitting a renaissance. Harry Potter, Philip Pullman, Scott Westerfield. Spanked the Adult Fantasy market. Wake up call for those writing for adults.
There are better editors in YA! Jane Yolen says when she does an adult book, she insists on more editing than normal for those editors. Kids editors do much more. Tammy is on third rewrite for Bloodhound AT EDs REQUEST.
Kids won’t tolerate messages or preaching.
If you can hang on for ten years in this market, you will last forever. If librarians like what they see in you, they will keep you alive. :-)
Constrictions of length make books tighter. Can’t go over 60K for middle grades. Will give you more if you have a case. Harry Potter opened that up.
Publishers are getting more risky. (Diane Duane’s blog tells a story of one publishers trying to include a morality clause in a writer's contract, however.)
Libba Bray – fascinating fantasy but truly accurate on the Victorian treatment of young women.
Power of Scholastic… good for getting it out there. Can start telling you what you can write. That can really compromise a smaller writer. Huge force in middle grade… older you get, the less important.
Kids are a very good marketing tool.
Discussion ensued on the irony of the prejudice between Science Fiction to YA, since Sci Fi suffers the same fate from Adult Fiction.
The decision to be YA is usually made before the writing starts. Although it can go both ways. Lowering the age of the protagonist can make a book shift from adult to YA.
Teens are a writer’s ideal protagonist because we expect teens to get into trouble.
A “GREAT BOOK.” How many books read by adults change their lives? People often say "I am who I am today because of the books I read as a teen." If you are trying to change the world, write books for kids.
High.low books (high interest, low vocab) focused on problem people THOUGHT teens had.
You Can Get It All at Dragon*Con
some photos from the first day
a few costumes and whatnot...
aliens
"If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball"
Strawberry Shortcake
Steampunk guy
Tamora Pierce
aliens
"If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball"
Strawberry Shortcake
Steampunk guy
Tamora Pierce
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Mickey Dolenz accepting the Julie Award
This award is the top honor given at this banquet and it is for cross-genre work. Sort of a lifetime achievement award.
Friday, August 29, 2008
An Hour In the Buffy Verse
James Marsters was really fantastic. I was skeptical, worried it would turn into a goofy, teen angst ridden session, but it didn't. It was fabulous. Here are some excerpts from my notes:
There was no ad-libbing on Buffy. The writers would not tolerate the alteration of a single word. And he felt this was as it should be. He explained that when the writing is good, any change or adlib could cause the tension to leave the line... making it slack.
He was asked a bit about Spike on Angel vs. Spike on Buffy:
The character he has played that he feels is most like him is his character in P.S. I Love You. This makes him sad, because it's also his most boring character. The ones that was the most fun was his character in Dragon-Ball, because he did all his own stunts and was terrified the whole time. But he admits that playing Spike was a blast.
The fact that he is shorter than 6 feet tall never bothered him until he got to Hollywood. But he said it isn't much of a big deal. Especially playing with Sarah Geller, who is very tiny... he seemed like a giant next to her.
Stage is more fun than film because the art happens "in the air" between the stage and the audience. Film is far more flat, but for that reason, it's also easier.
He's seen every episode of Dragon-Ball because his son is "of that age" and loves the show's message. Being peaceful is not being weak. And the hyper-violence of the show is necessary to make that point clear.
The musical episode of Buffy ("Once More With Feeling") was his favorite by far. He and Tony Head were not intimidated by it because both of them were already singing professionally, but there was a small, unsuccessful mutiny by the rest of the cast. However, once the Xander Dance was filmed and the cast saw it, they realized the brilliance of it and were completely on board.
One brave audience member asked if John or Sarah was a better kisser (reference to Torchwood and Buffy costars respectively. He said kissing Sarah was like kissing his sister, but he did have a nice theater-geek story of how he fell in love with Buffy. Then he moved on to kissing John:
Someone requested he say "Bloody Hell." He obliged.
He was asked if fatherhood was treating him well. It is. He loves being a Daddy. The ladies swooned a bit.
Does he prefer playing Spike or his character on Torchwood. He said Spike was more complex, but he does like his Torchwood character because he's like Spike in the first year. Evil. Pure and simple. And likely to remain that way.
He does plan to continue to narrate the Jim Butcher Harry Dresden novels for audio as they are written. He has high praise for Mr. Butcher, saying those books are written just a little bit better than they need to be in order to sell. He feels Butcher handles abuse issues especially well.
One very cute young man asked him if he had a specific genetic trait. I was impressed that Mr. Marsters knew EXACTLY what he was talking about, ran right over to him, and rolled his tongue up like a hot dog bun. He then demonstrated another twisty-tongue ability he has. And the ladies swooned a bit more.
He was asked if there was a book he had a particular interest in taking to film, and he cited a book about how we are moving from a democracy to fascism. There was much applause.
He was asked if he has any formal fighting training. He has a green belt in Judo, plus some Karate and Kung Fu, and lots of stage fighting.
Someone then asked if he could recite a little Shakespeare:
He was asked if he would attend cons like this if he were not a famous celebrity. Would he come as a regular person. He answered affirmatively geeked out about how much he is looking forward to the next Star Trek movie and shared the story of him attending the second ever Star Trek convention as a young man in the 70s.
He quoted the great Jimi Hendrix: "Let your freak flag fly!"
There was no ad-libbing on Buffy. The writers would not tolerate the alteration of a single word. And he felt this was as it should be. He explained that when the writing is good, any change or adlib could cause the tension to leave the line... making it slack.
He was asked a bit about Spike on Angel vs. Spike on Buffy:
The character he has played that he feels is most like him is his character in P.S. I Love You. This makes him sad, because it's also his most boring character. The ones that was the most fun was his character in Dragon-Ball, because he did all his own stunts and was terrified the whole time. But he admits that playing Spike was a blast.
The fact that he is shorter than 6 feet tall never bothered him until he got to Hollywood. But he said it isn't much of a big deal. Especially playing with Sarah Geller, who is very tiny... he seemed like a giant next to her.
Stage is more fun than film because the art happens "in the air" between the stage and the audience. Film is far more flat, but for that reason, it's also easier.
He's seen every episode of Dragon-Ball because his son is "of that age" and loves the show's message. Being peaceful is not being weak. And the hyper-violence of the show is necessary to make that point clear.
The musical episode of Buffy ("Once More With Feeling") was his favorite by far. He and Tony Head were not intimidated by it because both of them were already singing professionally, but there was a small, unsuccessful mutiny by the rest of the cast. However, once the Xander Dance was filmed and the cast saw it, they realized the brilliance of it and were completely on board.
One brave audience member asked if John or Sarah was a better kisser (reference to Torchwood and Buffy costars respectively. He said kissing Sarah was like kissing his sister, but he did have a nice theater-geek story of how he fell in love with Buffy. Then he moved on to kissing John:
Someone requested he say "Bloody Hell." He obliged.
He was asked if fatherhood was treating him well. It is. He loves being a Daddy. The ladies swooned a bit.
Does he prefer playing Spike or his character on Torchwood. He said Spike was more complex, but he does like his Torchwood character because he's like Spike in the first year. Evil. Pure and simple. And likely to remain that way.
He does plan to continue to narrate the Jim Butcher Harry Dresden novels for audio as they are written. He has high praise for Mr. Butcher, saying those books are written just a little bit better than they need to be in order to sell. He feels Butcher handles abuse issues especially well.
One very cute young man asked him if he had a specific genetic trait. I was impressed that Mr. Marsters knew EXACTLY what he was talking about, ran right over to him, and rolled his tongue up like a hot dog bun. He then demonstrated another twisty-tongue ability he has. And the ladies swooned a bit more.
He was asked if there was a book he had a particular interest in taking to film, and he cited a book about how we are moving from a democracy to fascism. There was much applause.
He was asked if he has any formal fighting training. He has a green belt in Judo, plus some Karate and Kung Fu, and lots of stage fighting.
Someone then asked if he could recite a little Shakespeare:
He was asked if he would attend cons like this if he were not a famous celebrity. Would he come as a regular person. He answered affirmatively geeked out about how much he is looking forward to the next Star Trek movie and shared the story of him attending the second ever Star Trek convention as a young man in the 70s.
He quoted the great Jimi Hendrix: "Let your freak flag fly!"
Tamora Pierce
A Very Blurry James Marsters
Elizabeth's Plan for the Day
This may be really crazy... posting what I intend to do ahead of time, because you rarely completely stick to a plan at a conference, but let's give it a shot. I'm giving you the description from the program, and then my comments in parentheses.
1pm - An Hour in the Buffy Verse - We spend an hour with a Buffy Fan Favorite as he answers our questions about his roles in Buffy, Angel, Smallville, Torchwood and more -- James Marsters (Okay, I know this isn't very literary... but... I am responsible for the Young Adult programming... and DUDE! It's JAMES MARSTERS! For the record, I am going to miss Nathan Fillion for the next session...)
2:30pm - Who Ya Callin' A Kid? - In conjunction with the YA track, we will attempt to identify what elements make a book YA and whay pushes it over the edge into the adult sf genre. Help us find the answer. (Sarah and I are both going to this).
4pm - To Be SF ...or Not To Be SF? - There are some books that lack only a small detail to be science fiction. There are some that are science fiction but only periferally. Where do we draw the line?
7pm - Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog! LIVE! (Well, okay, not live. It's basically Rocky Horror, but with Dr. Horrible. 'Nuff Said)
8:30pm - Sheroes: Strong Female Characters - Some of the strongest female role models are today's YA heroines; we have Hermione's book-smarts, Lyra's cunning, and Alanna's perserverance. (Tamora Pierce is the big name on this panel, and also Diana Tixier Herald will be known to my librarian readers as the author of Genreflecting for Teens. She is also on the panel. Unfortunately, I may be exhausted at this point, so I hope I make it there.)
Midnight - Sarah is dragging me out to see Abney Park and Voltaire.
okay... that's the plan! Let's see what happens!
1pm - An Hour in the Buffy Verse - We spend an hour with a Buffy Fan Favorite as he answers our questions about his roles in Buffy, Angel, Smallville, Torchwood and more -- James Marsters (Okay, I know this isn't very literary... but... I am responsible for the Young Adult programming... and DUDE! It's JAMES MARSTERS! For the record, I am going to miss Nathan Fillion for the next session...)
2:30pm - Who Ya Callin' A Kid? - In conjunction with the YA track, we will attempt to identify what elements make a book YA and whay pushes it over the edge into the adult sf genre. Help us find the answer. (Sarah and I are both going to this).
4pm - To Be SF ...or Not To Be SF? - There are some books that lack only a small detail to be science fiction. There are some that are science fiction but only periferally. Where do we draw the line?
7pm - Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog! LIVE! (Well, okay, not live. It's basically Rocky Horror, but with Dr. Horrible. 'Nuff Said)
8:30pm - Sheroes: Strong Female Characters - Some of the strongest female role models are today's YA heroines; we have Hermione's book-smarts, Lyra's cunning, and Alanna's perserverance. (Tamora Pierce is the big name on this panel, and also Diana Tixier Herald will be known to my librarian readers as the author of Genreflecting for Teens. She is also on the panel. Unfortunately, I may be exhausted at this point, so I hope I make it there.)
Midnight - Sarah is dragging me out to see Abney Park and Voltaire.
okay... that's the plan! Let's see what happens!
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Ready or not, here we come!
I am sitting in our hotel exhausted from our first day of our Dragon-experience.
I was up till 3am last night trying on my most goth outfits and packing. (I must look the part!) I was up at 6 and we were on the road before 10.
The drive was long, but we found ways to entertain ourselves... like looking at the giant butt in the sky:
We arrived in Atlanta as evening traffic was getting thick, and thus began our evening of waiting in lines.
We checked into the hotel, unpacked and sped off to register for the conference. We were so excited to get our schedules and start planning our next few days and our jaws dropped when we saw the registration line which wrapped around the entire hotel.
Luckily our excitement kept us in good spirits and it didn't seem to take too long with all of the interesting people watching. While waiting in lineI ran into my steampunk friends from Raleigh, The Clockwerk Cabaret. I have to admit, my friends are cool. They wear bitchin costumes. They have weird hairstyles. (I will get some photos of them later.)
We had dinner at Hooters (yes, seriously) and planned our next day...
Even though we stood around, rode around and walked around a bit, I am exhausted!
I'm going to stock up on sleep tonight because I won't get much for the next few days!
I was up till 3am last night trying on my most goth outfits and packing. (I must look the part!) I was up at 6 and we were on the road before 10.
The drive was long, but we found ways to entertain ourselves... like looking at the giant butt in the sky:
We arrived in Atlanta as evening traffic was getting thick, and thus began our evening of waiting in lines.
We checked into the hotel, unpacked and sped off to register for the conference. We were so excited to get our schedules and start planning our next few days and our jaws dropped when we saw the registration line which wrapped around the entire hotel.
Luckily our excitement kept us in good spirits and it didn't seem to take too long with all of the interesting people watching. While waiting in lineI ran into my steampunk friends from Raleigh, The Clockwerk Cabaret. I have to admit, my friends are cool. They wear bitchin costumes. They have weird hairstyles. (I will get some photos of them later.)
We had dinner at Hooters (yes, seriously) and planned our next day...
Even though we stood around, rode around and walked around a bit, I am exhausted!
I'm going to stock up on sleep tonight because I won't get much for the next few days!
What We Learned Today
Preregistration saves you up to $50 from registering at the door. But registering at the door saves you about 45 minutes to an hour.
Witness...
Witness...
Now below, two photos of the END of the registration line for those who are preregistered. This was after standing in line for an hour outside in a line that went almost completely around the block. No kidding.
Not pictured are two young ladies in front of us in line who were "booth girls." Paid to "dress up" to draw people to their booth in the dealer room. The dealer in question was "Kilts and Corsets." But their wares, I believe, were quite different, judging from the length of the skirt one girl was wearing and what we were able to see without even trying.
This ain't your typical library conference... no sirree!
We're Here!
We've checked in to our hotel and we're heading out in a mo' to get our registration packets. Then we are sitting down to eat and PLAN! We anticipate this being very overwhelming. I'll blog live as much as possible, at least thru pics!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
We're Going to Dragon*Con
We are fortunate enough to be attending this year's conference as part of our jobs with Wake County Public Libraries. We are going to learn as much as we can about current trends in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and young adult literature as we can. And we will probably sing along with Dr. Horrible, meet a celebrity or two, and generally geek out along the way. Here we will post our notes, thoughts, and some pictures of the general excitement and weirdness that makes up one of the world's biggest speculative fiction conventions.
And it's our first time... so we know we will be overwhelmed. Come with us on this ride, won't you?
And it's our first time... so we know we will be overwhelmed. Come with us on this ride, won't you?
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