(An addendum to the last post: Due to the fact that I was in the game room playing Magic all Saturday night, I neglected to mention the ‘con’s actual main even that night. It’s worth mentioning even though I wasn’t at it. Said main event was a dance party in the main area, which lasted almost (but not quite) as long as the Magic games. Apparently it was fun, and a wedding party that was also at the hotel crashed the JordanCon party, which is..interesting. A couple of people who were most likely drunk did wander into the game room, but I didn’t attend my self. I was content to be among the geekiest at what is already a fairly geeky convention.)
Due to the lateness of our Saturday night, we got up late again Sunday morning. We also had to pack a bit in the morning, as checkout time was 1:00pm, so by the time I got down it was already during the second session’s time slot. I went to the What’s Next for Tor panel, where Paul Stevens spoke about Tor’s upcoming releases. There were some I knew about, but plenty I didn’t; it and panels like it are a great place to learn about new, interesting books, as well as get another chance to talk to people in the industry.
Following that, and a bit more packing, was another panel, the topic being writing violence, run by Toni Weisskpf, along with the members of the Reinhardt Legacy Fight Team who were at the convention. They talked about some of the dos and don’ts of writing violence, including common mistakes people make, and just some general tips. They also had several real swords there, and they did a little bit of simple demonstrating. We also got the chance to handle some of the swords (well, we could hold them and pick them up, at least. There wasn’t space to safely do much more.) It was really cool though. If they come again next year, I’ll be sure to make it to their main panel.
After that was the last panel of the day, a panel on pacing and plotting, run by Seanan McGuire, Alex Bledsoe, Eddie Schneider, and Idaliz Seymour. Like the dialogue panel, pacing and plotting is another always-relevant topic that is at the same time fairly simple in concept but much harder to actually do properly. Even better that we had agents on the panel, as they were able to give us ‘insider information’, such as what they like to see in terms of pacing, as well as common mistakes they often see in submissions. It was definitely a great way to cap off the weekend’s panels.
That being done, the convention was essentially over; the only other thing going on being a feedback panel and stuff in the game room (of course). I sat in on the feedback session for a few minutes, then went back to the game room played some more Magic (surprise, surprise).
And then it was all over 😦 . We had already checked out of the room, storing our bags in a small storage room the hotel has for just that purpose. There were still a few hours to our flight (I’ve started making my flights back late after missing my flight back after my first time at JordanCon) All that was left to do was talk to some people before they left, to play some more Magic while we waited, and then to say our own goodbyes before heading back to the airport. It wasn’t as smooth a trip back to the airport as it had been on the way to JordanCon. We had to take a taxi to the train, and then the first train we got on went out of service, and we had to wait for another (which got me a bit nervous regarding the times), but we got there on time, if only just. We got to see the dinosaur skeleton in the airport, which was pretty cool. We also ran into Seanan McGuire in the airport, as she was hurrying to her flight. (Which I believe she made, which is good.)
So that about wraps it up, I think. My (3rd) JordanCon experience. It was a blast, as usual, and I most definitely plan on going again next year (Patrick Rothfuss is the Guest of Honor!!!). I hope this was at least somewhat interesting, particularly for those who have yet to attend JordanCon. Following this, I’m going to write a post on why I think you, (yes, you), should go to JordanCon. (As if my average description of my experiences wasn’t enough.) But in all seriousness, it really is great, and I will elaborate on that next time.
And until then, keep writing, and look into JordanCon at jordancon.org!
Writing, Ascendant 