Ah, Origins. Game convention of adventure and excitement. This was my third year as an Origins attendee, and again, it was a productive experience.
For some background:
At Origins of 2004, I met
James Lowder, who presented at a panel on shared world fiction. (The panel also featured Michael A. Stackpole of
Star Wars novels fame.) Mr. Lowder was kind enough to speak with me after the panel and give me some advice on how to get into the industry. Though I no longer remember most of the details of the conversation, I remember that moment being the one where I decided that this was something I could really do.
At Origins of 2005, I passed off my business card to John Prescott at White Silver, who is, in August, publishing my first novel. (I've contributed to both of the other sourcebooks they have coming out at GenCon, where I will be signing my novel. It's been great fun to work with them.)
So Origins of 2006 rolled around, and I came armed with business cards and the pre-print of my novel to show around. Because I consider going to Origins a business trip, I attended several writing workshops. Having arrived an hour early for the workshop on how to present your portfolio to publishers, I decided to attend another seminar happening in the next room. To my delight and surprise, there was James Lowder on the panel! (The panel, which was on the nature of the secret identity in super hero fiction and games, included Sean Patrick Fannon (
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seanpatfannon), the events coordinator for Origins as well as a writer for the
Champions RPG;
Michael Miller, the creator of
With Great Power;
Steve Kenson, designer of
Mutants and Masterminds; and active audience member
Steve Long of Hero Games.) The panel was excellent, both because it was informative and because it was the creators on the panel and the audience talking about our favorite comic book heroes. It doesn't get much better than that.
(Incidentally, the theory was espoused that neither Clark Kent, reporter, or Superman are the real identity of America's favorite super hero. Instead, Clark Kent, farmboy, at home with his parents, is the true identity of Superman. Both of the others are just aspects of his personality. I have been converted to this way of thinking.)
After the panel, I showed James Lowder my pre-print copy of
Into the Reach and told him that he'd literally changed my life, which he took extremely well for coming out of the blue. I hope that it pleased him to know he gave me such confidence!
I quickly hurried over to my scheduled panel on showing your portfolio, which featured
Keith Baker of Eberron fame;
Rich Burlew, creator of
Order of the Stick;
Ken Hite, who was offering an exclusive Origins release first printing of his new book
Dubious Shards (and who may or may not be
princeofcairo, but I rather suspect he is); and an artist whose name I sadly neglected to write down. These presenters were excellent, and what was perhaps most exciting about the panel was learning how much I've been doing
right in marketing myself. It's extremely nice to be assured by people who are successful in the industry.
Keith Baker and Rich Burlew were both around and available for conversations during the rest of the convention, and I had a wonderful time chatting with them. It makes me extremely pleased to know that my money that has gone into buying their books has been well spent, not only because they both do such great work, but because they're really awesome people as well.
Most of the rest of my convention was spent working with the Living Kingdoms of Kalamar staff. The show was extremely good for them, largely due to the successes of the other staff members (despite the credit folks have been kind enough to attribute to me). Our Conventions Director did an amazing job, as did the rest of the crew, who judged when they weren't scheduled, printed out new certs that had been forgotten, and quickly solved all manner of other crises.
Alas, I did not get a chance to play in the new Xen'drik Expeditions campaign, but I hope to be able to catch an evening slot of that at GenCon. Otherwise, the convention was a roaring success, and I got to show off my pre-print to assorted people in the industry who are far better known than me (including
Jamie and Renae Chambers of Margaret Weis Productions, who have promised to set aside a copy of the new
Serenity RPG adventure for me at their booth at Gen Con). Many of these folks even offered to come stop by the White Silver Publishing booth at GenCon. I hope that their fans will say, "Well, if Keith Baker thinks she's worth reading, I ought to buy a copy of her book, too!" I'll post my schedule for when I'll be at the booth at GenCon as soon as I get it, so if you're coming, you can stop by, too.
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