DragonCon Report, Day 2, Part 1

DragonCon: the world's largest science fiction and fantasy convention. Ever. Period.

This is the second in a series of reports made about my visit to DragonCon, mostly broken down
panel by panel. Each panel is put together in transcript fashion. There will be some
inaccuracies, since I lacked recording equipment... even if I had recorded it, there is a chance that
any and all videos of DragonCon posted online may be taken down without warning. This way
is safer.

However, there will be some lines that are unattributed, and there may be inaccuracies scattered
throughout. Most of what is written down is what was said, accurately quoted and attributed.

Guests who will be referenced in these reports will have, at minimum, the DragonCon
descriptions of who everyone is.

I was going to do a day by day breakdown, but my schedule has become slightly more hectic.

Day 2, Part 1

Page 2 Turning Stellar Rejections into Success. [A writing panel with Peter David, Christopher
Golden, Lynn Abbey.]

Page 5: Star Trek: The Next Generation [Marina Sirtis, Jonathan Frakes, Levar Burton, Brent
Spiner, Armin Shimmerman, Denise Crosby.]
 Panel 1: How to turn Rejection into Success.
Panel: Lynn Abbey, Peter David, Christopher Golden
Host: Lee Martindale.

Lee Martindale: Have you ever been rejected?

Peter David: Oh of course. My first novel had been into Del Rey, through my agent. And the
editor who read is, Judy Lynn, had sent it back with comments. “I wretched my way through the
first hundred pages, and I can't see myself vomiting through the next hundred. Let me know if
you get it published, I want to know who buys it.” That was the novel that would turn into
“Knight Life,” which has gone on to two sequels.
LM: I've even had manuscripts returned to me in confetti sized pieces.
Peter David: That's sending the message home.
LM: But you must realize that it's not you being rejected.
Peter David: Sometimes it's been me.

Lynn Abbey: There was a point where it was a prevalent belief that male authors sold better than
female authors. I was only allowed to keep my name as Lynn because there are some men named
Lynn.

Christopher Golden: I had one tv show that had been scrapped because it had one person as the
survivor of a plane crash. Why? Because the movie Unbreakable started with Bruce Willis
being the only one to walk away from a train crash. The plots were completely different from
there, but they canceled the plans anyway. A few years later, it was about to be picked up, but
then 9-11 happened, and TV wanted nothing to do with a plan crash. I said to heck with it and
started to develop it into a comic book. Suddenly, with the first issue, someone bought the rights
to it. And it's been bought for several years, and nothing's happened with it.
Peter David: Caught in development Hell?
Christopher Golden: More like Development Heck, because they keep paying to hold onto the
rights.

Lynn Abbey: I once wrote a novel about a tantric sorceress—

Peter David: Write what you know
Lynn Abbey: I was rejected because I was told that telepathy doesn't work like that.... And at the
time, I was leading research in remote viewing.

Peter David: Well, then there's the other side of the spectrum, isn't there? My first job was
reading through the slush pile and sending out rejections or acceptances. There was one where
the cover page was in limerick. Now, Limericks had nothing to do with the book, and not even
about the Irish. And she was from Wilmington Delaware. So I couldn't resist

Dear Lady from Wilmington, Del,

The job has been given to me to tell
Your book was have read
The market is dead
And we're afraid that your book we can't sell.
Sincerely, Peter David.

Peter David: There was one book that I wanted to be published. A few years ago, you might
remember, there was a contest for a Peter Pan sequel. My agent told me that it was unlikely to
go anywhere, but I wanted to anyway. And another, vastly inferior book won
Lee Martindale: It's good to keep your ego up.
Peter David: Absolutely. And I later rewrote it as Tigerheart, and it's one of my favorite books
I've written.
Lynn Abbey: Though that's another lesson you have to learn. Our books are our babies. And
sometimes you have to cut your baby's arm off. One time, I had two cut around 45,000 words
from one of my books.

Christopher Golden: But one of the morals of that is: never throw anything away. I had one
serious called Gatekeeper that I was going to make for a comic for Marvel. And the man I was
working with died. I came back after to talk with his assistant— who had now replaced the man
I worked with— and said “I don't think it's right for me,” and then went back to his paperwork.
Later on, when I was working on the Buffy books, they wanted a trilogy. So I brought out my
old Gatekeeper stuff, and it was one of the better received Buffy novels.
Peter David: Good for you.
Christopher Golden: That's better than my other story reception, where I wanted to do a possible
future, where everything had not turned out very well. When I told them my idea, they rejected
it, because it was too dark.
Peter David: Aren't these the people who wrote the episode THE WISH?
Christopher Golden: I told them to tell Joss one sentence, that this was The Dark Night Returns
for Buffy. And I know they never told Joss about it, because they came back to me saying that
the fans would think this was cannon and be too taken aback by it, so I would have to tell a frame
tale around it to bring it back to the modern day Buffyverse.
Peter David: Yeah, you have to go to Joss, because the people at Mutant Enemy are there to
insulate him from every idea. I wanted to put his character Ilyeria into my comic book Fallen
Angel. I walked up to him at Comic Con and asked him, and he said “Cool.” But I was told by
mutant enemy that none of Joss Whedon's characters would ever show up in a a non-Joss
Whedon universe. After a year of dealing with them, I walked up to Joss at the next Comic Con
and said “You want to talk to your people?” The next week they were cooperating.

Jim Baen once told me that. “Nothing has ever been rejected for being too short.”

Peter David: A man named Joseph Straczynski wanted to break into scifi, but he was
continuously rejected. And he called a writer named Harlan Ellison. And Harlan answered the
phone in his typical fashion “Yeah?” And Joe explained it to him, Harlan said, “I'll tell you
what's wrong with your writing. It stinks. It's crap. Stop writing crap. Got it!” “Um, yeah.”
“Good!” And hung up the phone.

Which is true, when you think about it. Sturgeon's law: 90% of everything is crap. But on the
other hand, Madeline L'engel had been rejected by every publisher until a publisher took pity on
her and published her book. It was called A Wrinkle in Time.
You also had John Kennedy O'Toole, who had written a book called A Confederacy of Dunces.
And he was rejected so often, he committed suicide. His mother continued to try and get it
published, and she sent it to a writer... don't ask me his name this early.... and he picked it up out
of pity, and started reading it. He looked for where it fell apart, and he couldn't find it. And it
got published and the rest is history.

So, three rules: don't suck, stay with it, and don't commit suicide.

Rewrite, don't resubmit to the same person over and over. Submit to other people. And don't try
to resubmit to someone else at the same company, because we all talk to each other

Peter David: Yeah, there are a lot of people who are like the first few episodes of American Idol.
You know, the ones who say “All my life my friends and family have told me I can sing,” when
it's obvious that they were lied to. You need critics, people who will read your stuff and give you
good and honest advice

Comment from audience: Frank Herbert wrote car repair manuals, and he had to self publish
Dune, and now it's one of the classics of science fiction.
Peter David: Heck, it's a franchise!

Q: Do you put more content in your rejections when you sent them to agents instead of author.
Editor: When I was younger I used to send personal rejections to authors. Then I was told that
“You just don't understand my genius.” Then I stuck with generic form letters. To an agent, I'll
tel them some more, Though nowadays, the biggest science fiction being told is either military
science fiction, or science fiction with a romantic element.

Publish on demand is a problem. It's hard to resell once you've done it, and it only works if it's
an E-book and sells 50K copies, then you can sell it to a publisher.

Q: I have an agent, and he's given it to a publisher. I'm waiting for the publisher to get back to
me, do you have any suggestions on what I can do for the book in the meantime?

Peter David: Six months for a reply to an agented manuscript is inept. Get an agent that is more
ept. Mainly because the Agent is a filtering mechanism. If it's taken this long, there's a problem.

Final advice: READ THE SUBMISSION GUIDELINES.

Peter David: There is no magic bullet. You should do this only if professional writing is not an
option for you, what you can't not do it. We've all been where you are. We've all been on the
outside looking in. You've got company.... but I have to tell you that slipping $20 in with your
manuscript will not serve as a bribe. I'm not that cheap.

Lynn Abbey: “That's not what I heard.”

 Star Trek, The Next Generation
Host: Garret Wang, [Star Trek Voyager]
Panel: Marina Sirtis, Jonathan Frakes, Levar Burton, Brent Spiner, Armin Shimerman, Denise
Crosby.

Garret Wang [looks out at audience]: Where were all of you while I was on the Voyager panel?
Sigh... A gunny thing happened. There was one guy who came up and said “I was one of the few
people who thought Voyager was a good show.” Talk about a slap and stroke. Anyway, the
panel is going to be a little late, the shuttle from the Walk of fame took them in the wrong
entrance, so I'm here to tap dance for you? Or is that riverdance? That was actually something
we did at Kate Mulgrew; since she was Irish, me, Robert Beltran and Robert McNeil would turn
to her and start dancing. Oh, do you like my shirt? It's made by a friend of mine. It says rock,
paper, phaser.

When everyone finally arrives, it's interesting. Marina Sirtis is starting to resemble the mother
from My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Levar Burton comes out, filming the crowd on his Iphone
clone.
Finally, they're seated.
Levar Burton: Sorry we're later, we're old.
Garret Wang: You look good.
Brent Spiner: You too
Garret Wang: Any questions
Armin Shimmerman [runs down to the microphone from off stage]: Yes, I have a question, I'm a
big can of the show.
Jonathan Frakes: Obviously, not that big. We need a shorter mic.
Q [for real]: I feel that in the recent poll of favorite scifi of all time, Star Wars should have
won-- I mean Star Trek—
LV, Jonathan Frakes, stands, like pro wrestlers telling him “Come on, get up here.”
Brent Spiner: Set phasers to kill.

Q: What do you think of the other versions, like Voyager and DS9, Classic Trek
Brent Spiner [Looks to Armin Shimmerman]: What is DS9, anyway?
Armin Shimmerman: The better show.
Marina Sirtis: I always call the first series The Original Series, because if they're Classic, what
are we, diet? But I always thought that they were rude, because they never watched our show.
But I haven't watched Star Trek since The Next Generation, even when I appeared on them, like
on Voyager.
Brent Spiner: Voyager, what's that?

Q: How do you feel about Star Trek Enterprise?

Brent Spiner: Don't you mean Nemesis, the movie I helped write?

Q: What did they do with your makeup?

Brent Spiner: Today? A little rouge
Marina Sirtis: During the series, it was a beige foundation with a little gold dust, an hour, hour
fifteen minutes in makeup.
Q: A barely distinct mutter.
Armin Shimmerman: You have to project!
Q: I don't project, I'm a librarian.... Mr. Burton, I enjoyed Reading Rainbow--
Levar Burton: [Leads a singalong for the opening of the Reading Rainbow theme.]
Marina Sirtis: Oh yes, I loved that episode where you brought them onto the Next Generation
set...
Q [After further comments from the peanut gallery of the panel]: You're worse than my eighteen
year old school girls.
Jonathan Frakes [Singing]: My castle--
Q: Shh!
Levar Burton: Wow, you just got shushed by the librarian.
Jonathan Frakes: Thank you, may I have another?
Q: Will you be bringing Reading Rainbow back in another format?
Levar Burton: Online.

Q: I've been watching since I was 3 years old--

Jonathan Frakes: And you are how old now?
Q: 24.
Marina Sirtis [mimes wrists slashing.]
Q: Are any of you going to come back as a whole to any of the new projects?
Armin Shimmerman: Haven't they made enough movies?
Brent Spiner: As a whole? Yes, we'll be the wormhole. Maybe the black hole.

Q: What technology would you like to see from Star Trek in the 21st century?
Armin Shimerman: Medical Technology
Brent Spiner: The Celebration of All People.
Marina Sirtis: Except the TEA parties, I hate those people.
Levar Burton: In the case of my follicly challenged brother Michael Dorn, I would like to bring
something back from the original series, because no one has a hair piece as good as William
Shanter's.

Q: What were you best moments on the show?

Marina Sirtis: Dealing with the fans, really. I have had several people come up to me at this
convention telling me that they become psychologists and counselors because of me.
Jonathan Frakes: How about how many go to psychologists because of you?
Marina Sirtis: That's only the people at this table.
Levar Burton: My best moment was in 1984, when I got married. My best friend was Brent
Spiner, my groomsmen were Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, and Michael Dorn.
Jonathan Frakes: Actually one of my best moments on the show... [Turns to Denise Crosby] Do
you remember when you made that brilliant career move, and you went to Gene and said either
write more stuff for you or write you off the show, and he didn't have the time—
Denise Crosby: You weren't there.
Jonathan Frakes: No, but I'm setting this up. And after, we had this plain like it was on the Alps,
and the holodeck doors opened and Patrick Stewart came in, and started singing the “Hills are
alive with the sound of music”?
Denise Crosby: Wait, was I there for this?
Brent Spiner: Yes, you were in the ground.
Jonathan Frakes: And we were crying and we were upset—
Denise Crosby: I wasn't there for any of this!
Jonathan Frakes: Of course not, that's why we were upset! [Sigh]
Garret Wang: Uh huh.. ok... Well, I enjoyed the last episode of Voyager, but I thought it ended
too quickly. They should have had the first hour, and then ended it with “To be continued soon at
a theater near you.”

Q: If they did a Star Trek The Next Generation reboot, who would you want to play you? Maybe
Megan Fox for Miss Sirtis?
Marina Sirtis: Megan Fox? How about an actress?

Q: Do you think you've been stereotyped by your time on Star Trek?

Levar Burton: Why, yes, I've always been stereotyped as a blind black guy.

[Meanwhile, Jonathan Frakes and Denise Crosby have been muttering at each other the whole
time.]
Jonathan Frakes: This is what I get for expressing my emotions in front of thousands of people.
Audience member: Turn off your emotion chip!
Denise Crosby: Did I have a chip on that show?
Jonathan Frakes: Only the one on your shoulder.
Denise Crosby walked off stage in a huff, and Frakes blinkes, confused, and follows her.

Q: What was the most surreal part of Star Trek.

Brent Spiner: You just witnessed it.
Marina Sirtis: The fans. When we started, you people weren't out there. Half of you weren't
even born.
Jonathan Frakes [from off stage]. Marina, we need a counselor here!
Garret Wang: Thank you, we're out of time.