Fantasy and Society (OWS CyCon)

Introduction 

I'd like to offer you a warm welcome to my blog. I write what you want to read, so feel free to drop a topic below! I hope you enjoyed visiting Timothy Bateson's blog. If you haven't stopped by, make sure to check him out! 

My name is Erin Casey, and I'm an urban fantasy/YA fantasy/medieval fantasy writer. My first book The Purple Door District came out December 2018, and the next book in the series, Wolf Pit, will be released in December 2019. To learn more about my series, and all the other projects I'm doing, find me on my website, twitter, instagram, and facebook. 

If you've come here from OWS CyCon, you can find my booth here. If you're new to OWS CyCon, CyCon is a weekend-long book online convention where you can meet authors, vote on book covers, check out interviews and readings... all without putting on pants! I'm also involved in cover wars, character wars, and several panels. Be sure to visit the CyCon website and Facebook events acting as the hub for all of our events. Sign up for our newsletter or RSVP to the event to make sure you don’t miss out on any of the bookish goodness we have to offer. Be sure to visit the Fantasy Sci-Fi Reader's Lounge, especially on Sunday, May 19th from 11am-12pm when I'll host an author takeover event. 

Now, with all the logistics out of the way, let's get into the heart of the blog post! 

Fantasy and Society 

Whether you write epic fantasy or urban fantasy, you have to find a way to integrate the fantastical world into "normal" society. How you do that depends on several factors of world building. We're going to talk about a few of these in hopes that they'll get you started in developing your fantasy world. 

Who Knows? The first question to ask yourself is who knows about magic and your "not human" characters (we'll call them parahuman in this case)? Are your parahumans just starting to come out in society or are they a secret hidden away from the government?

For example, in The Purple Door District, society is starting to learn about parahumans. There's a government section that is specifically devoted to the parahumans, though they generally keep to themselves unless otherwise needed. The way parahumans can find each other is by going to Purple Door Districts, safe havens that are marked by purple-colored doors, or purple-colored items at the front of the building. In this case, some people know about the parahumans, and others don't. They try not to announce themselves because Hunters lurk in the shadows, people who think parahumans are an abomination and want to kill them.

What about your world? Whether society knows about your parahumans or not can play a major factor in the danger your characters may endure. 

Jobs/Economy: What kind of jobs do your parahumans have (whether they're "out" or not in society)? Are werewolves more likely to take on heavy-lifting jobs like construction or maintenance work while suave vampires are more adapt to being lawyers? Do you have places that are run by magic (think of a coffee shop that's powered by magic and produces drinks with potions that help with stress, anxiety, weight loss, etc.)? Or do their abilities not influence where they work or what they do? Note: If you find the idea of a fae-run coffee shop interesting, check out my story Coffee Chaos on wattpad. 

Introducing Your Readers to Your World: Once you have your world established, how do you want to introduce the magic and society to your readers? Some writers will introduce a character who is human or not very aware of the parahuman world and slowly integrate them, and the readers, into the world. In other cases, you can use someone who knows about the world but has a very different view of it to help your readers adjust. Stick with some familiarity so that the readers don't feel completely overwhelmed. 

Government: As mentioned, The Purple Door District has a government faction that knows about the parahumans and keeps them in check. What about your world? How is the government involved? Do the parahumans have to watch their backs? Are they free to roam in society as they are? Does your world resemble X-Men where some government officials call for sanctions against them while others want to protect their rights? It's good to figure this out ahead of time because it can help you know just how much trouble you can get your characters in with or without government involvement. 

How Powerful Are Your Parahumans? Do they have abilities that could threaten all of humanity? Think of Professor Xavier and Cerebro and how his ability almost took out all humans/mutants in the 2nd X-men film. Are there fae who have their own world and government and could easily take over humankind? Or are your parahumans more like groups of vampires and werewolves who can be considered a threat but can't take over the entire world? Knowing this allows you to figure out how society might either accept or fear the parahumans. You can also play around with the characters who have different power levels. How would an overpowered character react to a situation vs someone who is weaker? Figuring out how you can integrate the fantasy element into society will help you further develop your characters. 

These are just a few elements to think about when you're integrating fantasy into society. One thing to keep in mind is that you want it to be believable. Know why parahumans act the way they do, or why society treats parahumans a certain way. Be creative, and most importantly, have fun! 

I hope that you found these tips helpful. If you want to learn more about integrating fantasy into society, take a look at Kayla Matt's blog. 

Happy writing! 

The Do's and Don'ts of Author Interviews

Whether you're a blogger interviewing an author, or an author responding to a blogger's questions, it's very important that you both provide quality and professional work when it comes to interviews. I've been interviewing authors for over a year now, (and been interviewed as well) and I've noticed a few things that both help and harm the interaction. So I'm going to divide this up between Do's and Don'ts for both authors and bloggers.

Authors

• Do

  • Provide all material requested from the blogger the first time around.

  • Edit your responses (spellcheck/use proper grammar and capitalization) so the blogger doesn't have to fix it.

  • Provide high-resolution pictures for yourself and your book covers.

  • Get your material to the blogger on time.

  • Answer all the questions (unless otherwise agreed upon) and provide interesting information. One-word responses won't engage the reader or the interviewer. 

  • Post the interview around to your social media platforms and give the blogger credit. 

• Don't
  

  • Badger the blogger about when your interview is coming out or keep requesting changes (unless you have a book coming out and need to provide a sale link). 

  • Act rudely towards the blogger. They're doing you a favor by creating the interview for you. 

  • Answer questions dishonestly 

  • Cut down other writers or bloggers in your answers. 

  • Ghost the blogger. 

Bloggers/Interviewers

• Do

  • Get questions to the authors when promised. 

  • Provide a designated day that you'll post the interview and stick to it.

  • Provide the author with a link to the posted interview so they can share it around.

  • Review the answers before you post it on your site in case of errors or controversial responses (depending on your site's dynamics). 

  • Answer any questions the author might have about the interview or provide clarification. 

  • Be honest to the author about what they can expect (are you posting the entire interview or just portions of it?) 

• Don't
  

  • Act rudely towards the author. You two are trying to work together to help one another. 

  • Post the interview late or not at all.

  • Ignore the author's concerns if something is posted incorrectly in the interview. 

  • Ghost the author. 

  • Promise a posting date until after the author has provided their material. (I've missed posting interviews because authors didn't give me their information in time). 

These are just a few ideas to keep in mind while interviewing and getting interviewed. Bloggers and authors should remember that they're working as a team. Together, they can provide exposure to each other. I've read far too often how authors have lashed out at book reviewers, bloggers, or interviewers for petty reasons. Bloggers can't post interviews without authors, but authors can't gain exposure without the help of bloggers. Work together harmoniously and you will both succeed. 

If you both find that you're on completely different pages, then it's also okay to politely agree to go your separate ways. What it comes down to is respect. We're all professionals here, and it's important to treat each other like people and not invisible faces. 

Meditation and Writing

Those of you who have followed my blog long enough know that I like to periodically spend time talking about mental health. As someone with depression and anxiety, it's important for me to find ways to relax my mind so I can heal and also focus on my writing. Most people also know that I suck at self care, and it's something I'm trying very hard to learn. 

Recently, I started attending group therapy that focuses on the mind, body, and soul. I always thought I was awful at meditation (I still struggle with it), but the more I work at it, the more I realize how much it calms me. Sometimes I use my own writing as a form of meditation, typing out a stream of consciousness without any concerns about my language or where I'm going with it. I do that when I talk about my dreams, or if I'm having an episode where I just really need to get my emotions out. I generally call that my angry poetry phase. 

But I digress. 

Meditation is a habit that I think we can all benefit from, so I'd like to share a few things I've learned, and other kinds of meditation I do to ease my stress/anxiety. 

Deep Breathing

This is probably one of the best and easiest ones to start out with. Whenever I get worked up (or wake up from nightmares like I did last night), I try to focus on deep breathing. Sit in a relaxed position and breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. You want to focus on making your belly feel soft. My guide suggests that you whisper "soft" when you breathe in, and "belly" when you breathe out. Try to do this for awhile. Even 5 minutes of deep breathing meditation can really help. It certainly helps me get through a bad work day. 

Here's a guided meditation that can help. 

Music and Mindfulness 

Once you have the breathing down, try to be mindful of your body. I like to put on soft music, usually water mixed with song or music that focuses on peaceful sleep. There are also a ton of apps on your phone that you can download that have guided meditation or songs. The app Calm is a great example. 

Lie down (or sit) in a comfortable position and turn on the music. Then focus on feeling each part of your body. Your arms, your legs, your fingers and toes, your head. Loosen each muscle one at a time and focus on your breathing and relaxing your body. Guided meditation can help you focus. Make sure you think about your body and don't let your mind wander (easier said than done for us writers). If it does wander, that's okay. Just pull it back into the moment. 

Only have a few minutes? Try a quick 5 minute meditation for things like anxiety. 

Imagery Meditation 

One of my favorite forms of meditation is something I didn't exactly realize I was doing until I talked with my therapist. Imagery meditation is essentially when you create an image in your head and focus on that. It could be imagining light coming down and wrapping around you. It could be picturing water or waves crashing against rocks. Maybe you see yourself on a beach or in a forest. Or, in my case, I imagine a garden that only I can enter. Focusing on each detail gives your mind something else to think about other than stresses or anything else that's bothering you. 

Here's a guided video for example. 

Animal Meditation

Okay, so this might be something that I made up, but I think animal lovers can understand where I'm coming from. There are moments when I pet my birds or preen them where all my stress just goes away. The same thing happens when Aladdin, my sun conure, sleeps on my chest. I can feel his breath and his little heartbeat and it calms me. I find myself relaxing and focusing on them and their happiness, and it makes me happy in return. Imagine doing that with a dog or a cat. I bet you wouldn't mind spending 10 or 15 minutes doting on them. 

So what does this have to do with writing? Well, often a more peaceful mind helps with my writing. The ideas flow more freely without bundles of anxiety and depression distracting me or clouding my brain. I've been playing meditative musical tracks while writing, and I can feel my anxiety go down while I work. 

Writing can also act as a prelude to meditation. If you're upset or filled with a bunch of emotion, write it out. Say everything you'd want to say without fear that someone is going to read it and judge you. Doing so can help you clear your mind and make you feel freer. It opens you up to meditation and writing your story. 

To be honest, I usually find myself relaxing so much with the guided meditation, that I just fall asleep. As someone who struggles with sleep, I'm not going to complain about that. I'm quite new and rusty with it, but meditation has already started to help with my depression. I hope it helps you as well. 

If you have any meditative practices you'd like to share, post them below! 

Let's Talk About Fanfiction

I'm sure you're probably already squirming in your seat at the title. Fanfiction? Bleh! Who wants to read that? 

You'd be surprised.

Fanfiction, for those who don't know, is literature created by a fan of a TV show, book, movie, comic, etc. Fans like to put their own spin on the stories, create different theories that might not necessarily be canon, or even insert themselves into the show/book through a personal character. These pieces are posted on sites like Fanfiction, Wattpad, Commaful, and more. Check out more places at The Ultimate Guide to Fanfiction and Fanfiction Sites by Joanna Smith. 

So what's the problem with it? 

Well, there are many complaints about fanfiction including: "You're just taking someone else's writing and making it your own. That's not real writing." "Fanfiction writers don't know how to write." "Fanfiction writing is awful." "The stories aren't canon." "Fanfic is just loaded with Mary Sue characters." "The stories are sexist." "The stories are too gay." 

I'm not going to argue with some of these. Yes, people are indeed taking a known world and making it their own. It's true, sometimes the quality of writing isn't very good. No, often the stories aren't canon because people are coming up with their own theories. And yes, a lot of Mary Sue characters pop up randomly. 

As for there being too many gay stories...sorry, folks, but I'm totally fine with that. 

Fanfic writers are almost treated as badly as the people who like Pumpkin Spice flavored things in the fall. How DARE someone enjoy a movie/book (or flavor)! What's the problem? If someone loves or is inspired by a story so much that they want to write about it, then why not let them? Allow them to enjoy the idea that they can see themselves in the world they love, or they can shift the elements around so certain characters are paired together, or forgotten characters get more screen/page time. It's not hurting anyone. If you don't like it, then you certainly don't have to read it. 

Now, I realize there's a lot of really bad fanfiction out there (due to poor grammar, storytelling, character development, and unsavory themes). I'm not going to say every kind of fanfic is okay, especially not when it deals with things we find taboo even in books we read today (ie. graphic rape scenes, child pornography, under-aged sex stories, etc). But if you're complaining about poor plot, writing, and character development, how do you think people learn to improve? By practicing and getting critique. 

When I started out writing, I read a lot of Fanfiction and wrote some myself. Was all of it good? Oh, heck no, but the thing is, the stories other people created helped me fall in love with the world even more. I'm going to use Redwall by Brian Jacques for example. This book series was my bread and butter. When I couldn't get enough of the published stories, I went online and read as many Redwall fanfics that I could find. One time, I stayed awake all night in my parents' room because I had to find out what happened to these new beloved characters. My dad woke to get ready for work and found me staring, wide-eyed, at the screen. Did I get any sleep that night? Nope. Did I fall in love with characters, the Redwall world, and weep for fan-made characters? Oh, you better believe it. 

Fanfiction also taught me how to adjust my writing. I learned, grammatically, what was right, and what was wrong. As I wrote my own stories, people would poke at holes in my plot or offer me advice (sometimes in the form of a trolly comment), which helped me rethink what I was writing and fix my story. I got to delve into a world I already loved, with characters I created (or borrowed), and I also learned more about writing along the way! Fanfiction also helped me meet friends and other writers. 

Roleplaying through a Redwall site actually introduced me to my co-writer.

Now, there is the controversy about people writing fanfic and wanting to publish it. Actually, someone kind of did do that *coughE.L.Jamescough* but at least she changed the names and setting a bit. Personally, I don't think people should publish fanfiction independently or traditionally as it is the creation of another author. However, I see no harm in sites providing ads or "tokens" that provide a little compensation to writers courtesy of their readers. That's not too much different from someone running a patreon campaign and getting readers to pay a certain amount each month to get a sneak peak at a new fanfiction piece. 

But I know this is something that's heavily debated, so feel free to leave your opinion below. 

When it comes to my own books like The Purple Door District,...write fanfic to your heart's content. If my characters and world inspire you to create stories of your own, then you write them and share them with friends! Practice your craft. My goal as an author is to encourage others to write, even if it's in the world I created. I'm not going to lie, I have checked a couple of fanfic sites just to see if anyone has had the inclination to write something based off of my book. 

Let the fanfic writers enjoy the stories and create ones of their own. Long after the original author is gone, her legacy will still live on in her books, and in the stories that her fans created of her series. What an amazing way to be remembered. 

I say, write on, fanfiction authors. Write on! 

Tips for Attending Conventions

One of the exciting (and scary) things about being an author is promoting your book at signings and conventions. Some people thrive on it, while others find it quite daunting, depending on the size of the crowd. Whether you're eagerly awaiting your next convention or dreading it, there are a few things that you can do to make your table (and yourself) desirable to your customers and ways that you can also take care of your mental and physical health. 

Presentation

• Table display: Take time when setting up your table display. You want it to be eye catching and connected with your book in some way. Don't just scatter things about. Have a method and direct customers' attention to your most important pieces, whether that be the book, swag, newsletter, etc.

• Appearance: You want to be yourself, of course, but there are ways you can dress to help promote your work. Perhaps wear a shirt with your book's cover art or characters on it. Choose a saying from your book and proudly display that. Or just wear something that's comfortable but also appealing to the eye, something that welcomes people to your table. Whimsical can also attract attention! 

• Bookmarks/business cards: Make sure you have plenty of these with you whether you're at your table or walking around. This is a great way to make connections and also show off that you have all your ducks in a row. If they can't make it to your table, at least they have something to take with them to look at later. 

• Elevator Pitch: Have an elevator pitch prepared for your book when you present it. This should last maybe two sentences or 15 seconds, something to engage the customers but not bore them. You don't want to tell them your whole story over a five minute interval, otherwise what's the point of buying the book? Now, if they ask more questions about it, be sure to answer them and let your passion shine. 

• Greeting People: You can set up your own routine for greeting people, but make sure to be friendly, open, and honest with them. Even if you're having a down day, try to put on a smile and engage with your customers. You're more likely to attract their attention and get them interested in your book.  Consider standing, too, when you greet people. You seem more engaged that way. 

• Dealing With Time Monopolizers: It happens. Someone stops at your table and starts chatting with you about your book but then goes off onto tangents or starts rattling off conspiracy theories while you're still trying to sell. Obviously you don't want to chase a potential customer away, but there are ways to halt the conversation. If another person walks up, politely say, "Excuse me" to the monopolizer and put your full attention to the other person. It might help them realize that you still have work to do. Try to disengage by saying, "It's been great talking to you. I've enjoyed talking to you, but," and indicate you need to get back to selling. And if they still won't step back, you have to remember that this is a job. Sometimes you have to be a bit blunt and more curtly excuse yourself from the conversation. 

Saving Money

• Bring Food: When you attend conventions, quite often food prices are jacked up so you're paying an arm and a leg for it. If the convention allows it, consider bringing your own food (sandwiches, power bars, chips, pita, etc). You'll save money eating your own stuff and have plenty of it available too. Likewise, bring plenty of water too, because water bottles cost a ridiculous amount of money (and kill the environment). I typically just fill mine up at the water fountain. 

• Set a Budget: Just like the rest of the convention goers, it's hard not to get swept up in all of the amazing books and items around you. If you plan to buy a few things, set a budget for yourself so you don't spend more than what you make. 

• Purchase a Cart: You're likely going to have a lot of items to drag around with you to conventions. Instead of straining yourself, and possibly risking medical bills by breaking your back, get a cart or dolly that you can easily move around with your merchandise. It'll make loading and unloading much easier as well. 

Health

• Stay hydrated: It's easy to forget to drink something while you're busy greeting people and selling books. But it's vital to stay hydrated. You're going to be working the convention for several long hours, possibly in the heat. I've gotten sick from not drinking enough. So fill up that water bottle! 

• Eat: Same with drinking, make sure you eat something. You might want to wait until there's a lull in people walking around, but you can take 10 minutes to eat a power bar or a sandwich. It'll keep you energized and fight off the dreaded "hanger." 

• Take a Break: If at all possible, try to take a break if you feel like you're getting too overwhelmed. Maybe have a friend come with you who can cover the table while you go sit in quiet for a few minutes. Or, befriend your neighbors who can keep an eye on your things while you run to the bathroom or take a walk. It's hard to be "on" for so long. Give yourself chance a turn off. 

• Wet wipes: This was actually a great suggestion from my friend Brian K Morris. It's easy to start feeling sweaty, dirty, and just uncomfortable when you've been working your table. Have some wipes with you to clean your face, neck, and hands to help refresh you. 

• Wear comfortable shoes/clothing: I know this can be hard if you're cosplaying, but try to wear something comfortable, especially when it comes to shoes. You don't want to be hating your feet an hour into the convention. 

• Know the Ins and Outs of the Convention Place: You can save yourself a lot of stress if you know 1. where you're supposed to set up, 2. where the entrances and exits are, 3. where the bathrooms and water are located, etc before you actually attend the convention. I've gotten so busy setting up before that I just blanked out on some of these basic things. 

What about you folks? What kind of tips can you offer when attending conventions or signings?