San Diego Comic Con Part 3

Oh, it was well worth the wait. Some people had been waiting in line since the day before. I left the hotel room at 8am and I thought I was hardcore.

Oh hellz no.

I definitely was in the back of the line. Not the very end, mind you. No, no. From my seat, there was at least another 1000 yards of people. But the line in front of me…F.O.R.E.V.E.R.

This was not my line. My line was full of vampire porn lovin’ chicks.

As they started letting people in, there were moments of “I’m not getting in” and moments of “Oh hellz yeah I’m getting in.” The room never seemed to fill up.

You know when it did fill up? Two people before I was allowed in.

“NO!” you think. Nope. That was just for the first panel…for some show I’ve never even heard of. And as that panel ended, people exited and I was then let in, just in time for the Once Upon a Time panel.

I had never seen the show before then and the actors and writers on stage were so friendly and so genuine, that I quickly added the show to my list.

I did end up watching it and really enjoy it! Except the finale, but that’s another post.

I also sat through the Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad and Futurama panels. Yeah, except for the stereotypical guy that asked about time travel in Futurama, they were pretty tame.

Then the Vampire Diaries. Oh man. Yeah. I was not a fan before Comic Con and I am not a fan afterwards. The fans were intense and the main chick was boring. Not gonna lie, one of the brothers was dreamy. Way dreamy. But not dreamy enough that I didn’t spend that hour writing a death scene for my own book.

Then….

wait for it

TRUE BLOOD.

I had waited in that room since 10am. I hadn’t left to pee. I ate goldfish crackers to survive.

They were super nice. And appreciative. And attractive.

This was the only picture I got before my camera died. Worst. Ever.

Anna Paquin was super pregnant. Christopher Meloni was thrilled. Ryan Kwanten didn’t say much. I want to be Deborah Ann Woll when I grow up. And Rutina Wesley.

I was upset when Alan Ball said he wasn’t returning for the next season. He his a huge inspiration for me (But that’s another post).

The only thing I regret from the entire experience is not having balls to push forward and get pictures and autographs. But the best part of sitting in the middle? I sat next to an usher, who ended up giving me his swag ticket. So I got to go to another building and claim my prizes. TWO prizes. Which I got to share with the best friend and the girl friend.

You’re welcome.

What did I learn from this panel? That I love vampires and that I want to be on one of those panels one day.

 

San Diego Comic Con Part 2

On day two, I continued my novel-writing research by attending a panel entitled “Paranormal Love Potion.”

There was a panel of women who all wrote in the genre of Paranormal Romance. There was only I recognized. I followed her randomly on Twitter, unbeknownst to me that she was actually kind of a big deal. Which also proves that I need to get my head out of my ass and read more.

“I am the only author who has written more books than he’s read.”

I was a little disillusioned.

An audience member (a man from a newspaper, not necessarily a fan) asked a question of the panel regarding Vampires being the “It” monster. Immediately the audience boo’d him and the commentator chastised him for not knowing that no one on the panel wrote about vampires.

Another audience member asked if the authors ever wrote love scenes first then the rest of the story. They all said no.  They all started at the beginning and ended at the end.

Well that’s no fun, and I definitely felt self-conscious that I write out-of-order and that one of the first scenes I wrote was my characters first kiss.

What I got from this panel?

Not much.

The commentator had cute hair.

And what of vampires being the “It” monster. It doesn’t matter how many books are out there in the paranormal romance universe, the media gives attention to a particular subset and that’s what we see “exploding.”

We can also use this chart:

http://www.cracked.com/article_19402_6-mind-blowing-ways-zombies-vampires-explain-america.html

I don’t write about vampires because they are popular. I write about vampires because I like vampires. I like teeth and blood and hypnotism and demons and strength. I like vampires as the good guys and as the bad guys.

I had one friend, one of my first sets of readers, tell me that my writing was good but that I should start over and write about something less cliché. Fair enough, friend. Whether or not you think vampires are too mainstream now, literature has been full of them since way before Twilight and Buffy and Vampire Diaries and Sookie Stackhouse. It’s not going to stop me from sharing my awesome story, another vampire in the sea of monsters; another chick narrated novel.

What makes mine different?

It’s mine.

San Diego Comic Con Part 1

Over 200,000 people swarm the sunny San Diego Convention Center to see panels on their favorite shows/movies/comic/etc, buy exclusive merchandise, meet celebrities, wear awesome costumes and overall revel in their geekery.

And in 2012, I got to be included in that.

Thanks to some great friends, one of whom (so far) has a character named after him, I was able to get tickets (because he stood in line at 6am to buy them at 2011 Comic Con – dedication!).

The list of things to do is long and varied and after I studied the brochure, I structured my visit all about novel writing and getting published.

Due to a series of unfortunate events, I had to miss the first day, but jumped right in the next morning!

 

How to Write More Terrifying Stories

I chose this panel because one of my favorite authors, Mark Z. Danielewski, was there.

He wrote this book. If you haven’t read this book, you need to go to a book seller immediately – local, chain, online, I don’t care – and get this book. Scary. Awesome. Unique.

Okay.

I didn’t recognize any of the other authors and the one thing I took away from the panel was an interesting thought on monsters.

There are old monsters and new monsters. Old monsters from the Old Country – vampires, werewolves, ghosts, etc – versus New Monsters from the New Country – serial killers/psychopaths.

Their take is that America doesn’t have the deep folklore of fairy tales. That what we have, what is unique to our country, is Jason Vorhees, the Ghostface Killer, the guy from the Saw movies. Pyschopaths and Serial Killers.

I don’t know how I feel about this distinction, and I don’t have enough knowledge on the subject to refute it or agree with it, but it is an intersting topic that stuck with me more than a lot of other things.

Although no one directly addressed the panel topic of how to actually make your writing more terrifying, I still found it interesting. They all agreed that it doesn’t take a warped mind or a devistating childhood to write scary stuff, and it doesn’t have to leave the author in perma-depression. That’s like saying Romance novelists are all addicted to sex. That’s not how it works and only writing more will make your work better.

 

 

To Be Continued…

 

Let’s Get Better About Blogging

Lots of things have happened in the world of In Between: The novel.

In my last post, at least 80 years ago, I went from Draft Five to Draft Six. I have since written Draft Seven and sent it to forty different people. I got great feedback from two people in particular and have Draft Eight on hold while I:

Put together Draft Two of Book Two.

I needed to let the info from Book One simmer while I figured out problems in Book Two and Book Three. The Girlfriend and I had several Cracker Barrell writing sessions and hashed out some great ideas.

I finished typing everything I had written on Book Two and am now in the first editting process. I am about 2/3 done with that.

Book Three has several scenes written, but is all on the back burner. Book Three has a bad guy now, and a little to my dismay, it’s not someone who can be played by Tom Hindleston. Sorry Tom.

In other news:

A friend of mine kicked National Novel Writing Month’s ass and finished the novelization of a movie he filmed. Ian was a great source of encouragement and we had many a-writing parties just to keep each other in line. The Boyfriend joined in as well, working on his very creative screenplay. It is thanks to Ian that I got as much written as I did! So all of the people out there waiting for Book Two should thank him 🙂

I’ll stop there so I have something to write about next time 🙂