As promised yesterday, I have come to deliver you the results of the flash fiction competition that I entered. I will also discuss my experience attending Fan Expo 2019, at least for the Friday I was present.
The results are in. The news is both humbling and helpful. I did not win nor place in the competition. That honour belongs to Dallas Nichols who won with the story “It’s Not Love”. In second came “A Silent Thought” by Matt Parker. Finally, in third came “Forsythia Chang’s Exorcise Plan in 5 Easy Steps” by Thomas Yeung.
I am proud to say that bitterness has not overtaken me like it may have, my younger self 10 years ago. On the contrary I felt a joy in reading the winning entry, a story laced with humour and magic. By reading and giving room to enjoy the succeeding tales, it allowed me to learn not to take myself too seriously in my writing. Any tale that involves, magic, demons, or monsters need not be serious in tone to attract serious consideration. Furthermore, I was reminded that the use of objects in stories can be both used as a subject/character or as a plot devise to propel the story forward. The resulting success of a story relying on a specific item or subject(as was the case with this competition requiring either a silver sword, ruby book, or ghost to be included) is wholly dependent on how well placed and executed it is by the author.
My Fan Expo experience was pleasant this year. I had the opportunity to speak with comic artists and writers such as Peter Tomasi and Dave Finch respectively, about “breaking into comics” while getting comics from my own collection signed. While I will not claim to quote or paraphrase what those two discussed with me, I did come away with a better understanding of just how the comic book publishing industry has changed and evolved over the years. If you or someone you know has the desire to enter into the comic book side of the publishing industry it is more difficult than ever and probably impossible if you have no portfolio of work, visual or written, to showcase your talents.
In addition to having a portfolio of work, one truth I can share from my studies and my collective interactions with people in the industry is that who you know is almost equally as important a contributing factor to success in the industry as the actual quality of the work you create.
Did any of you attend Fan Expo or enter a similar competition? Let me know your thoughts, pieces of advise, or lessons learned in the comments!
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