Yesterday I got back from my fourth Fantasycon, having been to each one since I joined the British Fantasy Society in 2021.

I’ve contributed to panels in the past, but this time I only did a reading (albeit my first ever reading – eek!) and was involved in an indie launch panel (the latter in line with the release of DEMONS I) – both of which were great and went well.

 

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I went to a lot of panels – by my estimation, about 16 across the three-day event. As with every year, there were so many good ones, and so I maximised my schedule and went to as many as I could (fun fact: a few of them were streamed and you can watch them back on YouTube). I made notes on a few of them, but I made a lot of notes on one panel and one workshop in particular, which I wanted to share below…

Workshop: Games Writing with Stark Holborn

I’ve not properly met Stark, but I’ve seen her on many Fcon panels over the years. I signed up to this workshop because I thought it might’ve been about TTRPG games writing (I’ve written some D&D resources on the side), but it was more about interactive video games such as Disco Elysium and Her Story (I’ve played the latter and thought it was amazing) – so I wasn’t disappointed. Fun aside: Stark has written for various CBeebies games, which blows my mind a bit (I’ve probably played a bunch of them with my kids – especially the Numberblocks ones…)

Here’s my notes from it:

• Using the 2nd person as perspective can be an interesting choice (e.g. “you walk into a room” / “you discover the secret button” / etc.) compared to the more typical 1st or 3rd persons.
• Some games give the illusion of choice, such as Firewatch (also a great game), which makes you think that your actions make a difference, but ultimately, no matter what you do, the same outcome happens. This is different to railroading, because you still have some agency during the course of the story (or the illusion of agency, I suppose).
• Stark recommends colour-coding parts of your writing – e.g. red for dialogue, green for description. This helps you to see at a glance if some areas may be heavy or light in certain parts. I can see this working well not just for games writing, but writing as a whole as well.

Panel: Nothing Compares to You – Finding Comp Titles

Panelists: Laura Bennett, Annabel Campbell, Marve Michael Anston, Robin CM Duncan (moderator), Stephen Aryan

I overlooked this on the schedule initally, and then when I discovered it (about 30 mins before it was due to start!), I made sure to get to it. 9am on a Sunday is a difficult time-slot, but it was fairly busy in the room. I struggle with getting comparison titles for my own books, so it was something I knew would be useful for me especially.

My notes:

• When choosing comp titles, try and choose stuff that came out within 2-3 years, up to 5 at a push, and up to 10 if you’re struggling.
• Using TV shows, movies, video games, etc. is ok – it doesn’t have to be just books.
• Venturing across genres is fine (e.g. the Sherlock Holmes of fantasy) – so long as it’s a well-known, obvious example.
• Two of the panelists have resources for query letters: Laura (of The Liverpool Literary Agency) has an article; Stephen has a YouTube video.

Other highlights

• The hotel had a cat.
• Chester is a gorgeous city.
• The hotel had a cat. I just wanted to write this twice so that you understand its importance.
• There was a nice pizza and cider place a 5-minute walk from the hotel venue: The Cellar Bar.
• The cat’s name is Queenie. (Do you see what they did there? The hotel’s called the Queen Hotel. Queenie.)
• In a panel all about vampires, two of the panelists mentioned authors named Tanya Huff and Elaine Bergstrom. I thought to myself “huh, they sound familiar…” and it turns out that they wrote two Ravenloft novels – Scholar of Decay and Tapestry of Dark Souls, respectively – which is pretty cool (I’ve read them both and I talk about a lot of Ravenloft stuff on my D&D YouTube channel).
• Queenie’s a lap cat.
• Teika Marija Smits – who was one of the first people I met at my first Fantasycon and has always been very friendly and helpful to me – won Best Newcomer in the British Fantasy Awards 2024. I clapped so hard when it was announced that my hands stung afterwards. I’m absolutely delighted for her.
• I got to fuss Queenie and it was amazing. Only briefly, but it was worth it.

Next stop: BristolCon! I can only make the Sunday this time, but I’ll be there. See you there!

Featured image – Indie launch panel of (L-R): Raven Dane, Colleen Anderson, Silas A. Bischoff and Kit Power. Taken by me with my amazing(ly mediocre) photography skills.