OryCon 32

As sci-fi/fantasy conventions go, OryCon is medium sized, has a good, steady following, and has been around since the late seventies. It’s Oregon’s only convention of this sort. I was told that all the others failed in their first few years.

Even though OryCon is packed with writers and thought provoking writers’ panels and workshops, it is a very different sort of gathering than the Willamette Writer’s Conference. WWC has a serious air about it. Writers go there to pitch their manuscripts, network, and improve their techniques by attending excellent workshops. OryCon is an extravagant outpouring of fans’/writers’ love of science fiction and fantasy, and their joy at being with over a thousand other excited people who are ready and willing to talk for hours about the genre and all the philosophies and ideas connected with it. “It’s my yearly dose of sanity,” quipped one conventioneer.

And the costumes were fabulous.

Wizards conversed with pirates and steampunkers strolled down the halls with barbarians. In fact, steampunkers dominated this convention.

But there was no shortage of other characters. I came upon what looked like an upright coffin lid in middle of the hotel restaurant. When I peeked

around to see what was on the other side, I found Kate, aka Tinseltop, aka

Ghoulia Child. She was having coffee with a Wizard and a Star Fleet officer.

But the main reason I went was for the writer’s workshops, which were really helpful. The critiquers had good things to say about both manuscripts, except for one pro who totally hated Molly Adair, Beware and went to great lengths to tell me how awful it was; and how, perhaps, I should just trash it and start on something new. But when I filtered out the nastiness, her criticisms were identical to those of the pro who liked it. I started the story in the wrong place and didn’t supply enough back-story. I also hadn’t made it clear that it was a sequel. There’s a ton of rewriting to do on this manuscript.

The critiquers didn’t like the first chapter of The Remaking of Molly Adair either. It’s the kiss of death when readers don’t like the way a book begins. In this fast-paced world, we don’t get much time to hold a reader’s attention; and, according to author Sandy Whelchel, editors and agents only give a manuscript five seconds. If they aren’t hooked by then it goes in the slush pile.

The good news was that the critiquers liked the second and third chapters of The Remaking.

I’m glad I waited to get the OryCon critiques before I sent The Remaking of Molly Adair out to agents. After I rewrite the first chapter, it’ll be a much better story.

I’m gonna be busy!