So I thought I'd report back on the day. I should point out it actually began on Friday evening, and continues today, but I found out about it late, and prior commitments meant I could only make the Saturday.
West Dean College is just about the best place to set a convention in springtime (or any other time for that matter). How can there be that many acres of green in a small country of 70million people? Phenomenal view across fields to rolling hills - you half-expect the Riders of Rohan to thunder over the ridge towards you...
First Fictions is a bi-ennial event, and pretty new to the scene, but it's going from strength to strength, and I imagine the next one will be held here, because I didn't hear a dissenting voice about the facilities once. Okay, so
currently they're not really championing SF&F, but that was unimportant, because you're in close proximity with writers who are accessible, friendly, informative and more than willing to talk in the corridors at the drop of a hat. I think it was the sheer diversity of writers that enhanced that. At SF&F conventions the writers are all, naturally, in the genre. Here there were crime writers, historical fiction, graphic novelists, journalist writers, literary editors, poets, contemporary fiction writers and so on. And the panels embraced 'writing', pure and simple. In its many forms. And everyone knows we must read widely in all genres, right?
The panel discussion on short stories was worth the admission price alone (okay, I'm up to my ears in editing short stories, so I soaked in every word) but I think I'm in love with Philipa Gregory. Not egotistic in the slightest, intelligent, with self-deprecating humour and wonderfully honest... even after she answered my question: "How did you get your first break in writing?" and she replied: "You're going to hate me, but..." Apparently she sent three chapters of her book to an agent, who replied and said "I'd like to see the rest". Philipa was just going through a divorce and moving house at the time, so the reply got a buried in the events, but she found it a year later, and wrote the rest of the book, sent it off. The agent loved it, and had three publishing houses in the UK bidding, and five in the US. The agent phoned her and said: "We've got half a million." "Pounds?" asked an amazed Phillipa. "Well, it sure ain't Pesetas, honey," her agent replied... (Rushes off to check if her agents handle fantasy...)
Considering how many of us have mediaeval worlds with royal courts full of intrigue and mayhem, we could do a lot worse than reading Philipa's books, especially for the depth of characterisation she weaves so well. I'm sorry to have missed todays panels, but next time, I'll be there for the weekend. There's a good bar, too...
Thought I'd leave you with this. Aneurin Wright, who spoke on 'New forms of Writing' has the best 'blog' I've seen, called sprout's bookclub. Now it's on Waterstones website, (which is another reason not to buy books off Amazon!) and it concerns:
A wormhole in Space. Time-travelling writers. A 5 month old baby girl.
Essentially, he brings an array of writers (mostly dead, but JK Rowling's there, as well as GRRM - a great one when Sean Bean arrives at the house to speak to Tolkein and GRRM about the way they treat their characters...) to talk to his five-month old daughter, and it's brilliant. The Ernest Hemingway one he put up at the conference was perfect.
http://www.waterstones.com/blog/2013/11/sprouts-bookclub-161113/
ps; I behaved like a perfect gentleman all day. No fight, polite handshakes and discussions of other things...
It's too close to miss, and the plonker who gave me a crappy mark for my Deconstruction essay on my MA course will be there... cue fights in the bar
