A Con Primer for Authors and Artists

[alfreda89]

http://cfyork.blogspot.com/2007/02/dont-be-pinhead.html

Chris York posts some tips to writers attending first conventions, or first time at a type of convention -- thought it would interest folks.

YMMV, but these rules have done well by me since I started using them. I dodged a huge accident lawsuit because I KNEW I was not under the influence of alcohol that night -- I had a chance to meet Roger Zelazny, and I was NOT going to mess it up with alcohol. I also said something too loud once at a con, and spent a lot of time repairing the mistake.

Please, no posts on "being yourself". You must be yourself by remembering what the traffic will bear at a specific convention. What goes at say, Conestoga, may hurt you at World Fantasy, and walking into any SFWA suite with either a costume on, or wearing clothes that are sexually blatant, may earn you a mental "amateur" thought, or the "Looking for sex, not contacts" thought. (Even accepting a dinner offer with a new acquaintance can cause an awkward moment.)

You've already screwed up? Fine -- pretend it's the Regency, and you have been "rusticating" in the country until there's another scandal to take over the gossip circuit. And start following "The Writer Rules"!

Good luck!

Comments

[apricot-tree.livejournal.com]

Actually good advice for con virgins who aren't authors too. Fannish reputations can be just as fragile.

I'm up in the NW and I've heard some of the stories that circulate around here. There's one author whom I consider to be extremely gifted. But if I was told he would be around I'd lock up any kids (or livestock) I might have, based on the stories I've heard. That kind of thing can't help sales, no matter how good you are. On the other hand (I'll name names because it's a positive story) I went to a teeny tiny con and sat at a "panel" of about 6 people and listened to John Varley be friendly and kind to everyone, even though not many people showed up. And I'll always remember and talk about what a great guy he was.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I agree -- people sometimes forget how important it is to keep the good opinion of, well, people of whom we'd like good opinions, to be clunky and late at night. Fans are just as vulnerable, if not more so.