Outsiders talk of dressing as Klingons, insiders of networking for professional and semi-pro writers and editors, but the realities of attending are simpler; belonging
Last weekend I attended a small sci-fi/fantasy convention in South-West England, which I'll report on tomorrow.
Another delegate was a writer who's been nominated for major awards a dozen times; she's won Arthur C. Clarke and Locus awards twice, and been a professional writer for almost thirty years. One of her comments was "I'm frequently asked why I chose to write SF. My answer is that I didn't -- it chose me."
It was a Damascene revelation. I've been reading SF/fantasy for forty years. I read crime, lit-fic, I've even dipped into my wife's 'chick-lit,' as well as non-fiction of all sorts.
But there's nothing like the feeling of a new way of looking at things that comes with good SF. I've never really understood it, until now. That's why we go to conventions, crime, fantasy, whatever: because amongst people who understand how we think, we belong.
And for anyone who feels sucked into the treadmill of reading and/or writing for a living, she had these words: "Never let yourself forget why you fell in love with SF in the first place."
Good advice, which I'll make sure I remember.
