Last Saturday, I attended (and worked at!) at Litworks, a teen literature convention. Prominent, but sometimes lesser known, teen authors, give speeches and talk about their lives and books. Usually, there is a broad range of genres and formats, ranging from fantasy and romance, to the graphic novel. Everything dorky teens love, wrapped up in one convention. I myself was one of them, the opportunity of meeting my favorite living author was too rare and special to pass up. Because I have connections, I was able to personally chat with many of the authors..
Litworks is broken up into smaller sections, which occur after the entire panel of authors introduce themselves and give a bit of a motivational speech. Then, you can go off into smaller sections and have a meet and greet and Q and A. In my personal experience, writers are the best conversationalists and some of the most perceptive people. It's interesting to hear about their journey to being published. Usually, it is quite treacherous. The authors I went to see speak were Paul Griffin, Susane Colasanti, and my favorite, Chris Crutcher.
From learning about one author's troubled past, to another's stories about living in Manhattan, and advice on making your writing readable, I definitely took a lot out of this year's event. Voice in writing is something I'd taken for granted, but I learned it is the most essential part of telling your story. A few of the author's had some really cool/nice things to say about me. I was close to crying when Chris Crutcher came over and talked to me.
Litworks is broken up into smaller sections, which occur after the entire panel of authors introduce themselves and give a bit of a motivational speech. Then, you can go off into smaller sections and have a meet and greet and Q and A. In my personal experience, writers are the best conversationalists and some of the most perceptive people. It's interesting to hear about their journey to being published. Usually, it is quite treacherous. The authors I went to see speak were Paul Griffin, Susane Colasanti, and my favorite, Chris Crutcher.
From learning about one author's troubled past, to another's stories about living in Manhattan, and advice on making your writing readable, I definitely took a lot out of this year's event. Voice in writing is something I'd taken for granted, but I learned it is the most essential part of telling your story. A few of the author's had some really cool/nice things to say about me. I was close to crying when Chris Crutcher came over and talked to me.
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| I took some more pics of the autographed ones, but they turned out kind of hipster-y |
This is really cool. I know you would like to go into writing in the future so hearing young authors' stories must be really motivating for you! I'm glad that you got to talk to one of your faves! :-)
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