So,
Like you undoubtedly do (not) remember, I was in Brighton last weekend for the World Fantasy Convention of 2013.
I don't even know what to say, because all my thoughts are a huge mess in my head.
I'll just go through it day by day.
Day 0 - Fever
So, it all started great. I woke up at home the day I had to leave for England feeling pretty crappy. So I called dad, saying: "Hi, what does fever feel like? I'm so rarely sick I don't remember, but I think I might be sick now... My throat also hurts a lot. And my head a little. And I'm super tired. And I need to go to England in four hours."
I just ended up taking a painkiller and then I felt all better. Well, it didn't help with the throat, but it did help with the headache and the feeling feverish.
Either way, I was ok until I got to the plain that afternoon. That's when all the tired and sick feeling came back, far worse this time. But I did somehow manage, took another painkiller, and made it first to the correct train from Gatwick to Brighton and then to the hostel, even though it was dark and rainy and I was in a city I had never seen, except on GoogleMaps. But yeah, a good start.
Day 1 - Panic
So, as you may know, I'm a horrible people person. And there I was (with the power of another pain killer I took in the morning), going to a huge convention where there are all the best fantasy and scifi authors of our time (except George RR Martin...) and I'm alone and don't know anyone or anything of what's going on. All the people that I had to talk to were really nice, though, and they gave me free books. I mean, seriously, when you went to the registration desk, the gave you your name badge, the programme schedule, a huge convention book that I'm still not quite sure what it has in it (my sentence structure is awesome...) and handed me a bag and told me to fill it with books that I could take from a table full of books. So, yeah.
They had in the convention a newbie-corner, where all the ones who know nothing and no one can go to find someone. So I went there and ended up with a couple of British girls who I went to see a couple of panels the first day. About writing historical fantasy and about it when people just see a place and think "this is a place I need to write a story about" kind of landscape building. You will come to see almost all the programs I went to were panels.
Day 2 - Terry Pratchett, Patrick Rothfuss and creating characters.
So, the most important things of the day, were first of all a panel about creating memorable characters. It turns out that when you start to create a character, one of the most important things is to ask yourself: what does this character want? How does he think? What does he sound like? Or she. What drives him forwards? I think I had a point to this, but I don't remember what it was. I guess I just found that interesting.
Also, that day Terry Pratchett came by the convention. He wasn't actually taking part to it, just came there for an interview. Which is cool, cause I'm pretty sure it was for many people the last (and only) opportunity to see him.
Half way through the interview I had to go, because Patrick Rothfuss was doing a reading in another room. As his first words to us all, he asked that we did know, right, that Terry Pratchett was in the other room, and said that we really should all go listen to him instead, he would definitely not be offended. Because, you know, it is Terry Pratchett after all.
No one left.
So, just in case you don't know yet, Patrick Rothfuss is the guy who has written The Name of the Wind that I have tried to make you read, it's the first book of The Kingkiller Chronicles. The second book is out too, but we're still waiting for the third, that I think should be hopefully coming out if not in the end of next year then some time during 2015. His books are amazing. Go read them.
I also got him to sign my copy of The Name of the Wind (which wasn't difficult, since there was a mass signing that evening...). One of the highlights (The highlight) of my weekend was when he was writing my name in the book and said I have a really great name. (Yes, mom, you have given me a name Pat Rothfuss thinks is a great one.) That's how much I like his books.
Day 3 - Worlds and the fae
First thing in the morning I went to see this panel about creating worlds. It was even better than the character thing, and afterwards I just wanted to come back home and start really making my world better, with maps of the whole thing, what the place is like outside Sicinda and how, well, everything. I want to create a world.
Oh, this day was also a little more about Rothfuss. If you get to geek out about Supernatural, I get to have this. He was on the world panel, for an obvious reason if you've read the books, and he hung out for a little while after it, so a bunch of people stayed behind and chatted with him about his books, and I actually asked him if he knew Auri (there is a character called Auri in the books) is actually a Finnish name. He did. (Fun fact: There are only about 300 Auris in Finland. Or well, born since 1900. I guess not all of them are still alive.)
Ok, this whole crazy fangirl thing is super weird for me. But his books are amazing.
Moving on to something else.
On that day I also went to see a couple of panels about the fae. If you don't know what the fae is, it's too bad. It's more or less exactly what it sounds like but I can't really explain it. If I say "faeries and stuff", you get a too vague of an idea of what it actually means.
Either way, the end result is, that now I want to put faeries into my world. I actually have a function for them too. They fit there perfectly. The fae are actually a really interesting group. I want fore fae in my story. But I can't not in that one.
By the end of the day I was just pissed, because I really want to create this amazing and complex world, but I have no use for it right now. I can use it for Nocturne, but it seems a waste to create a whole world for a one-off book that's located in one tiny village.
Oh, and I also spotted Neil Gaiman. He's older than I thought, based on a photo on the inside cover of American Gods. How old is that book again...?
Day 4 - Pen names
It was the last day of the convention, so there were only a couple of panels left. One of the panels was about using a pen name(s) when writing. It just got me thinking about the fact that I would love to one day be a good enough an author, that I could write those kinds of books, that people really love. I want to be a good enough author, that people make this kind of stuff because of my books. (Not on the topic, but this is what happens if you play that when Martin is there...) The point is I want to write that good books. A dream very far away and very, very likely I will never achieve it, but still.
The problem with that is, that if my books are that good, my books will be popular (which is ok), which means I will be famous. And I very much do not want to be famous. Even if I wrote with a pen name, which I definitely would do, the author of the books would have a face. Which means I couldn't completely hide.
I want people to love my books, but not know anything about me. And that's kind of a problem. Well, it's not yet a problem, and it won't be for at least a very long time. But I'm already thinking about it. That's how much I want to write that good books.
Day +1
This is a day when I just woke up really early and travelled back home. But there was this funny thing at the airport I want to tell about. This woman went around doing a survey about how people liked the Gatwick airport and came to me asking questions like: "How clean do you think the airport is? Are the toilets easy to find? Are there enough signs at the airport? Was it easy to find a seat? Was it easy to find your way around? Was it easy to find a departures-screen when you needed it?", and I was like: "..... It's an airport. I mean, what am I supposed to say? Airports are the number one place in the world for finding signs and screens and toilets and seats. They are build for sitting, and following signs where screens tell you to, and then sitting again. All airports are more or less the same. It's an airport."
Even though all airports are more or less the same, I still can't agree with Douglas Adams: "It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on earth has ever produced the expression, 'As pretty as an airport.' Airports are ugly."
But I don't think they are. They're just airports. And I like them. I guess I haven't yet travelled enough to learn to not to.
For quite a long time it's been looking like I need more bookshelves, because my books won't fit in one. Now it finally happened. The books I brought back from Brighton were too much for my bookshelf, and I had to divide my books into two shelves. One for fantasy and scifi, and one for the rest.
The one for fantasy and scifi has four times more space than the one for the rest.
~matu
No comments:
Post a Comment