Retaining Science Fiction/Fantasy Fans as They Grow Up

Sometime this spring, my seven-year-old son became an ardent Star Wars fan. He's watched all six movies and moved on to the cartoons The Yoda Chronicles and The Clone Wars. He collects Lego Star Wars sets and has a Chewbacca lunch box and a R2-D2 backpack. We spent a lot of time this summer reading Star Wars books (which is great because they have a good collection of books at his reading level.) Think now like Yoda I do. Move like him, I do not.

As a parent, I feel it's part of my job to let him explore his interests as fully as possible. That said, I know his interests can change. In the past, he's been into trains, Ancient Egypt, dinosaurs, the Wild West, and even gun history. He still likes most of those subjects, but not as passionately as he used to. It's natural for his interests to change as he gets older. However, science fiction and fantasy require a certain sense of wonder and an open mind, a sense of playfulness and creativity, that functions better in children and young people than in older ones. (Obviously one can be older and still enjoy science fiction and fantasy, but it takes more work the older and more world-weary one becomes.) Will his interest in Star Wars last until the release of Episode VII next year? How about when he's seventeen, twenty-seven, or forty-seven? Science fiction and fantasy are important genres in movies, TV, games, and comics. Will this love for the genre spill over into books as well?

Childhood is the time to make SF/fantasy fans; how do we assure they stay that way as they grow up? Acceptance by their peers will probably play an important role. I think being able to find people online who share your interests may help you hold on them even when local friends may not get Star Wars or Doctor Who. Alex comes with me every year to WisCon, and if I start attending more local cons, I'm sure I'll bring him too, if only because I can't leave him at home. He will get to experience more of fandom than I did at his age. Hopefully he won't rebel against it later because his mom is crazy enough to belong.

Does anyone else have experiences with children growing up in fandom and keeping them in fandom? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

IndieReCon Contests

Note: I'm reblogging this from my own blog to spread the word.

Have you ever wished there was a convention specifically for indie writers? Apparently, there is one. It's called IndieReCon LIVE!, and it's taking place October 10--October 11 in Sandy, Utah. Even if you can't make it there in person, you can still participate in their contests. Click here for the rules and how to enter for the chance to earn a Howey. (After Hugh Howey, of course. They chose a great person to name their awards after, didn't they?) Most of the contests are free to enter, but some do require a small fee ($15 max) to enter.

I'm personally not sure yet if this is something I want to enter. The rules do allow books published in 2013 to be nominated, so I could enter Twinned Universes. Perhaps if the categories were broken down by genre instead of reader age group, I'd feel that this was a better fit for me. (To me, this con seemed skewed toward YA.) Still, some publicity might come out of it, and you can nominate other authors' works for some of the categories. The deadline for the Total Package contest is June 30th; for all the rest, it's July 31st. I still have time to mull this over.

Does this sound like something that would interest you? Why or why not? Please feel free to comment; it should be much easier to do so now.

P.S. There's still time to download the June issue of Indie Writers Monthly for free! 

Featuring not 1,
                        not 2,

                                 but THREE amazing stories
from our writers, as well as tips on coming up with titles, AND how hard it is to write a bad story AND the IWM interview of Andrew Leon, "June Bugs" is a deal and even MORE so given that it's FREE from Monday, June 2 through to Friday, June 6.

CLICK HERE TO GET IT TODAY!

Conventions 2014

When Briane suggested we share what SF/fantasy-related thing we're most looking forward to this year, WisCon immediately popped into my mind. WisCon is held every Memorial Day weekend in my favorite city, Madison, Wisconsin. I enjoy the chance to revisit my college town and see friends, including some that live in the city and some that are there for the convention. I'm a member of Broad Universe, so I usually participate in the Rapid-Fire Reading and sell my books at the table. I may also be a panelist, especially since I proposed two panels for indie writers. WisCon is less geared toward TV and movies than some other cons, so you don't see as many people in costume. However, it's a good networking event for authors, and I've learned a lot there.  I've been to other conventions, including some of the big ones like WorldCon, but WisCon is the con I attend every year (except for 2007, when I was nine months pregnant).

Do you attend SF/fantasy cons? If so, which ones?