YANovCon 2024

I went to YANovCon again this year. So I'll share some of the highlights! 

It started out with a writer's workshop by Lily Meade. She brought up some cool prompts that she has used in her writing:

Take a historical event and add a twist

Take one of your family heirlooms and give it a special power. 

Something passed down through your family that has been kept secret. 

Take an event from your past and rework it. 

Lily Meade handed out a worksheet, with space to plot out a story following one of these prompts. I chose a story from my family's past, adding a magical twist. I wrote through the given time, and a little past it. And now I want to turn it into a proper story. it's tricky, because the person died when my dad and his brother were little kids, and they know very little about him. We shared some of our ideas after. Everyone hesitated at first, so I shared my premise first. 

After that, the panels started. This year's theme was "Identity in the age of censorship." 

As usual, the authors had great things to say, and fascinating stories to tell. I liked what Ray Stoeve said: "Writer's block is an issue in another part of our life." I think that's largely true. Stress we're dealing with in some way can stifle creativity, etc. 

One of the African American authors talked her freakish editor. The editor said she should have an African American character accidentally punch a cop. What a nightmare, having an editor that asks you to include racist stereotypes in your book. 

After all the talks was the author signing. This time they handed out little notebooks that we could collect signatures in. As usual, I went around and got all of their signatures. And as usual, I bought one of the books. This time I picked out "Susie King Taylor: nurse, teacher and freedom fighter," by Candace Buford. It's about a real historical woman, but in novel form.  Signed by the author! 

When I got the autograph from Sean McGinty, he gave me one of his books! It's called "The End of Fun." He said it was bad, but I didn't think so. I got it signed too.