If you’re into nerdy stuff and feel like there is no place you can go to fit in, you really need to head to Indianapolis when GenCon is in session. I’ve been going off and on since the late 90’s, when the wife and I were hooked on Legend of the Five Rings and the con was still being held in downtown Milwaukee. The past two years I’ve gone with a group of my buddies (the wife, like me, has long since lost her love of L5R and no other game has capture her imagination). However it was just this year that I learned that there is a whole other side of GenCon, the Writer’s Symposium.
The Symposium is a mini-convention for writers. There are readings, panels, and workshops. Most of the programming offered is free with your GenCon admission. A few of the workshops do require a fee to attend. I went to a panel on creating memorable characters, a workshop on how to “Write a Knockout Novel”, and two panels related to the business of writing. The notes on character building and writing a novel are too numerous to cover here, but I can sum up the two workshops on career building: Keep writing and don’t be a douchebag to ANYONE- especially online. I also got to hear Scott Lynch read. I’m a big fan of Mr. Lynch’s work and hearing him read was a real treat.
Overall, I found the Symposium to be a more than worthy alternative to flopping cards or demoing games. I was hoping it would renew my creative drive. I’ve been in a major funk since my last post. The voices that tell me to stop writing have been deafening of late. Did it re-stoke my fires? It did, a bit. But it felt more like an appetizer for Context Con, which is next month.
Outside of the Symposium, more good times were had. I got to visit the Ram Brewery and sample their fine beers. I got to have drinks with Steven Saus, Lucy Snyder, Sarah Hans, K.W. Taylor and her husband Tom, and Bill Bodden. And I got to catch up with some old friends I hadn’t seen in a very long time.
The view from my hotel room. I suffer from a fear of heights, so waking up to this every morning freaked me out.
Even though GenCon ended just a few days ago, I’m already counting down to next year. Here are a few images from the trip.
Privateer Press meets micro-brewing. I’m home.
10 AM, opening day of GenCon. The horde waiting to invade the Dealer Room. Soon, I would be among them.
There was some great cosplay at the con. This is a picture of my favorite. Starcraft space marines and a ghost.
Seated inside this dalek is a friend of mine from high school. Since then, he has supposedly become one of the largest collectors of Doctor Who memorabilia in the States. I had no idea. He never spoke to me of Doctor Who while we were in school.