Teen Book Con 2013: Making the Best of Murder, Mayhem, and Keynote Speeches

Maureen Johnson and I after she signed my book. You'll
notice she's making the same face as the image of herself on
my shirt. 

 Created with the purpose of letting teens interact with their favorite authors and teaching them that reading is both fun and worthwhile, Teen Book Con was a great event that I am so grateful to have received the chance to attend.

I found out about this lovely event through Maureen Johnson's blog. I saw that she, and many other awesome authors I've read, were going to be in Houston and immediately called up some friends so that we could make a road trip out of it. 

Upon our arrival at Alief Taylor High School, we were quickly swept away with the crowd of teens that had turned out for this event. They were everywhere! Now I love teens, but not necessarily when they gather in droves. Then again, being a socially anxious person, I don't do humans gathering en masse. I should mention that there were plenty of adults there as well, including teachers, librarians, booksellers, and the rest of us who were just there to see our favorite authors and promote something we all believe in.

However, I couldn't help loving everything about this event, even as I warded off panic attacks while navigating the hallways. The panels were engaging and fun to be a part of, so many students were eager to ask questions and pick the brains of the very authors who had inspired them, and those authors were extremely personable and willing to share as much as they could in hopes of connecting with their young audience. 

Whenever I attend book events, I tend to take a copious amount of notes on nearly everything the author says. This is partially because I know I'll be writing a blog post on it later and partly because I want to remember everything they say. During this particular event that lasted from 9am to 5pm, I took ten pages of notes, front and back. I won't type all of those little notes here, but I'll give you some of the more interesting details below. Please note that the panels were done entirely in a Q&A format, thus the reason I present it as such below. 

Keynote Speech-Chris Crutcher

To start off Teen Book Con, the event moderators asked Chris Crutcher to give the opening speech. He  was a very entertaining speaker, who kept us laughing and engaged throughout his time onstage. He spoke about how his time working with mental health services and dealing with Child Protective services gave him the drive and the inspiration for many of his stories. Seeing the desperation of teens and the difficult situations they had to navigate in a cruel and unfair world encouraged him to create something that could make a difference. 

Inspired by his deep love of To Kill a Mockingbird and the way Harper Lee speaks so plainly yet beautifully through the voice of Scout, he set out to become a writer and hasn't looked back since.

Memorable quotes from his speech:

-"Human freedom is about being able to think what you want." 

-"Storytelling is looking around for interesting people and interesting situations."

Murder & Mayhem-Kate Brian, Sharon Draper, Maureen Johnson, Barry Lyga, Robin Wasserman

Q: Do you plot out the murders in advance?

Barry Lyga makes spreadsheets of info about victims because serial killers have signatures and patterns. He needed to capture that and make sure the details were all in order when it came to the specific content of his books.

Q: Where do you draw inspiration?

Here Robin Wasserman and Barry Lyga got into a quick, friendly argument about whether or not TV can be helpful to coming up with good material. He argued that while it can stimulate the desire to create, it also stilts that originality and creativity the author wants to capture. Robin  disagreed, claiming that TV is a great source of narrative art and should be considered as such.

Kate Bryan finds that eavesdropping is a pretty convenient way to tackle writer's block. There are plenty of crazy people and conversations that can inspire your work.

Q: How do you create personalities?

Maureen Johnson: "It's like building Franken-people. You collect little bits of real people and distribute them among your characters."

Sharon Draper emphasized the fact that the writer must make their characters real people. They have to have depth and substance. The author wants the reader to become attached to the character and view them as a friend.

Kate Brian begins by determining what the character wants most in life and then starts throwing obstacles in their way. She also pointed out that a very great way of getting to know your characters is to interview them. It's time consuming, but is amazing at helping to shape and layer them.

Q: Why are mental health issues so prominent in YA and how does it play into writing in that genre?

Maureen Johnson was quite eager to answer this, explaining that she believes mental health disorders are becoming more prominent throughout YA because they are becoming more widely accepted and understood. In fact, there are a great number of people dealing with mental health issues of some sort and it is important to show teens and adults alike that they are not alone. She went on to explain that mental unhealthy is something that fluxes and changes in nearly all people. Most of us deal with it at some point or another. It's natural and it isn't necessarily a fixed diagnosis, but something we have to deal with in order to make it through.

Making the Best of It-Jen Calonita, Chris Crutcher, Amy McNamara, Lauren Morrill, Francisco X. Stork, Kay Honeyman

Q: What keeps you motivated to write?

Kay Honeyman immediately answered with "the story." The desire to make the story that has woven itself within her mind live up to its full potential is what keeps her manically typing away at her keyboard as often as possible. 

Francisco X. Stork added that there is a part of you that hurts when you keep the story inside of you too long. It's simply a relief when the writer is able to get everything out of his system and let the story be told.

Q: Do you ever have trouble writing the story you have in your head?

Amy McNamara pointed out that she often finds that if you have to wrestle the characters into doing something, it's probably not meant to be. You're probably trying to force the character into doing something that doesn't fit with their personality and you need to do something to change that.

Lauren Morrill jumped in to let us know that playacting is very helpful, especially when it comes to figuring out the physical dynamics of a scene.

Q: How do you battle writer's block?

Francisco X. Stork had the most inspiring answer for this question in saying that he asked himself what he was afraid of. Almost any time he truly hit a wall in his writing was when he was afraid of something (ie. not being good enough) and needed to work through that before he could continue on.

Q: Were there people who discouraged you?

Chris Crutcher: "You mean, everyone?"

It appears that my coverage of this event is going to take more than one blog post to present. In order to keep from boring you to tears or giving you way too much to read in one sitting, I'll be posting the second part of this on Monday. Stay tuned and feel free to let me know what you think about this event and everything the authors have had to say!

[Click here to check out Part 2 of my Teen Book Con coverage]

LeakyCon Lit 2012

Maureen Johnson, Lev Grossman, Stephanie Perkins, Robin
Wasserman, Megan Whalen Turner, and John Green
discussing Boy Books & Girl Books and whether there is
 a legitimate distinction.

This past week I had the privilege of being able to attend LeakyCon, a Harry Potter convention that was held in Chicago, Illinois, this year. The convention was fantastic and gave my brother and I the opportunity to meet plenty of others for whom the Harry Potter series has been a treasure and somewhat of an obsession.

One part of the convention that I was very excited about was LeakyCon Lit. LeakyCon Lit is a particular set of panels and events that only those with Rockstar or Lit passes can attend. Headed up by Maureen Johnson, LeakyCon Lit gave those who signed up for it the opportunity to sit in on panels between a select number of Young Adult authors who were scheduled to appear, as well as receive the chance to talk with them or go to signings.

These panels proved to be both informative and highly entertaining. The authors assembled were an eclectic and intelligent bunch that, for the most part, know each other well and deeply enjoy discussing the finer points of books and their own work in the literary field.

Because I enjoyed this particular part of the convention, I thought I would give y'all a little rundown of the panels and what I learned from them. So here we go:

Come to this Panel if You Think You Hate Romance
I don't happen to be a hater of romance, but I thought this would be an interesting panel to attend and it was. The panel was made up of Stephanie Perkins, Laini Taylor, Daniel Ehrenhaft, and Margaret Stohl.  We learned that most romances that people hate are the campy ones with overused phrases and gag-worthy dialogue. When a romance is fresh and new, there is something that draws you to it. Everyone enjoys a good love story, it just has to be done right.

Notable quotes from this panel: 
"Romantic love is the closest thing to magic that we have in real life." -Stephanie Perkins
"Literature is escape, but it's also emotional truth." -Daniel Ehrenhaft

Bad Books and Why We Love Them
In this panel, we discussed what makes a book bad and whether or not we really have the authority to label a book "bad" or not. John Green, Holly Black, Margaret Stohl, Robin Wasserman, Megan Whalen Turner, and Maureen Johnson went back and forth on the difference between books with bad writing, books with bad morals, and books that were so off-the-wall terrible that they turned around and became favorites because of how hilarious it made them.
One very interesting point that was brought up was the fact that we should do our best not to be sticklers about what others are reading because they're doing just that: reading. We should be doing our best to encourage that, even if we aren't very fond of their book choices. Instead of bashing the ones they're already into, we can suggest our own favorites and let them make the choices from there. We don't want to discourage others from reading, and chances are they'll find the really good books on their own if you let them wade around in the water a bit.

Boy Books and Girl Books
This panel may have been the most interesting I attended all week. Hearing from Megan Whalen Turner, Robin Wasserman, Stephanie Perkins, Lev Grossman, John Green, and Maureen Johnson on whether or not there really is much of a distinction between girl books and boys books was simply intriguing.

John Green & Maureen Johnson at a signing. He looked up
just as I took the picture. He wasn't actually glaring at me.
Haha. :P

As an aspiring YA author, I was fascinated and horrified to learn more about the sexism involved in the  book industry: both buying and selling. For years we have been operating under a system where "boy books" are normal books and "girl books" are chick lit. Why is that? What really separates the two? Why are girls encouraged to read whatever we can get our hands on, while boys are told that only these books over here are acceptable?
It isn't fair. Not to authors, not to boys, not to girls. This stigmatizing of certain literature causes boys to think there's something wrong with them if they want to branch out from "boy books" and causes female authors to be set aside in favor of male authors because it's unthinkable that a woman could write something that would interest a man.
Stephanie Perkins referred to an incident when she worked at a bookstore in which a father actually put Harry Potter back on the shelf though his son wanted to read after she casually mentioned that J.K. Rowling was a woman. He actually said "She?" and placed it back on the shelf as if it were suddenly detestable because of the gender of its author.

Notable quotes from this panel:
"I'm not kidding. I would've punched you and then I would've called you a liar, and I would've set fire to your house." -Maureen Johnson [describing her reaction if someone would have told her that she would be writing "girl books" when she was in high school]

Ten Things You Didn't Know About Every Single Harry Potter Novel
This panel was open to everyone, not just those attending LeakyCon Lit. John Granger, known for his in-depth analysis of the Harry Potter book series gave a series of lectures on Christian symbolism, postmodern morality, ring composition, and many other literary devices implemented in J.K. Rowling's books. I only attended one, but it was simply mind-blowing.
Honestly, I walked out of the room both dying to write and never wanting to pick up a pen again, because how could I even come close to the masterful work Rowling did in her series?
Theres no way I can rehash what I learned in only an hour of his class, but I can suggest getting any of his books. If those lectures are any indication, the man is brilliant and should certainly be heard by as wide of an audience as can comprehend what he has to say.
I will definitely be keeping an eye out for his books and now have even greater respect for one of my favorite authors, J.K. Rowling, for her masterful work.

I Was a Teenage Writer
Maureen Johnson is always telling those who want to be authors that one of the key factors is to "learn to let yourself suck". By that, she means that no one is great from the beginning and sometimes you have to put out a lot of bad writing in order to improve enough to make something great. In this panel, John Green, Margaret Stohl, Holly Black, and Kate Schafer Testerman supported her statement by producing some work they created in their teenage years. The result was hilarious. Needless to say, many were comforted by the end of the meeting. They saw how far these authors had come in only a decade or so and knew that if they worked at it, they would likely be able to do the same.

Ask Me Anything: Book Editors
My brother and I chose to attend this panel last minute, but it was definitely worth it. In fact, the panel convinced him to consider becoming a book agent because of how excellent the job sounded and how much the agents present were passionate about what they did.
Rebecca Sherman, Jennifer Laughran, Kate Schafer Testerman, and Daniel Ehrenhaft answered questions that ranged from "What does your job entail?" to "Should I follow book trends and try to produce something along those lines?" Hint (on the second question): a book is generally bought three or four years in advance of it being put on the shelf, so unless you can predict the future, you won't have much luck trying to ride on the coattails of current trends.

My LeakyCon swag. It includes 3 new books I can't wait to
read: Hacking Harvard by Robin Wasserman; Geektastic by
Holly Black and Cecil Castelliucci; and Wizards, Wardrobes
and Wookies by Connie Neal.

Overall, it was a fantastic experience and I'm so glad I got to be a part of it. I look forward to attending more book events in the future and learning even more about the books and craft I adore so much.

I would go again in a heartbeat.