RWAus Conference Run-Down - Part II

Saturday morning dawned bright and way too early for those of us who celebrated the start of another conference at the Cocktail party on Friday night. Luckily, however, it started with a breakfast buffet and some fantastic news for a local author.

Tracey O'Hara is a familiar face at Australian conferences, and she finalled in the Golden Heart contest at the RWAmerica this year. Though she didn't win, her agent called on Saturday morning to let her know that she'd sold to Avon in a three-book deal for her dark fantasy novels. Watch for the first in September 2009.

The morning officially started with an opening address from exiting-president Anne Gracie and the keynote address of guest author Barbara Samuels. Her address, titled 'What do you believe?' offered advice, memories, humor and inspiration, and was a very personal and moving speech. One thing stood out for me, however, from the many points that Barbara made - and I think it stood out for others as well. At one point, Barbara stated (I'm paraphrasing here): "At conferences like these, you may be disheartened as people bombard you with the realities of publishing, how hard it is, the long road, and the low chance of success". Every author around me immediately started shaking their heads.

I don't have any experience with the RWAmerica conference, apart from the reports like AAR's that I read on the Internet, but I think the Aus conference has a much different vibe. For one thing, published authors aren't separated from unpublished, nor are unpublished authors dissuaded from running tutorials or seminars. If someone has a talent, the RWAus wants to hear about it. I've attended three conferences and I have never heard anything less than completely positive and uplifting support for unpublished authors - for anyone. It's part of the reason why I love attending these conferences so much - the aura of almost diabetes-inducing positivity and pride in each other's accomplishments and in Australia's successes. I'm going to lay it down to the size of the conference, and the constant battle for recognition - there is no publisher in Australia that publishes romance fiction. When fighting a battle like that, why fight internal ones as well? The entire conference, from the opening welcome - when Anne Gracie announces the names of those who made their first sale this year - to the awards dinner on Saturday night, is about celebration. Barbara Samuels and other authors may have had to deal with negativity in the past from fellow authors or conference attendees, but I would very much doubt that anyone attending the Oz conferences could say the same.

Morning tea - not necessarily noteworthy, but I really have to throw a compliment in the direction of the Langham Hotel here in Melbourne. The food for the whole conference was fantastic. Mmm...raspberry muffins....

There are four sets of tutorials over the course of the weekend. Normally, I pop in and out of them quickly, then wander into the lobby to see who else is playing hookie and if they want to talk books (it's a conference - everyone wants to talk books). I started in Anna Campbell's Deep Point of View talk, then was completely sucked into a panel discussion titled 'Make Mine Hot'. Featuring Stephanie Laurens, Keri Arthur, HM&B author Carol Marinelli, Black Lace author Cathleen Ross, and moderated by Lilian Darcy the panel focused on love scenes from four very different perspectives. Sex, especially when dealing in romance novels, tends to get attention, and these women were completely frank, brave, and open about their writing, their opinions, and how writing hot books has affected their lives. Stephanie was adamant about writing to your comfort level, while Cathleen preferred to push her own boundaries, see what she could do with situations she was unfamiliar with.

The panel was also universally united that, if the scene makes you feel uncomfortable and odd, then it will read uncomfortable and odd. This doesn't have to apply to kinks or, indeed, any sexual acts. Carol Marinelli talked about a scene in her current Work in Progress where her main couple had an intimate scene on the beach. She as the author fretted and fussed about the sand - and where it might end up. In the end, it didn't work, because, if Carol couldn't stop thinking about the sand, she just knew her readers were going to have the same problem. The fantasy wasn't enough to overcome the (decidedly painful) reality.

The porn versus romance debate was brought up as well, with Stephanie sharing her (rather scientific, as befitting her background) method for proving to herself that romance is not porn. Years ago, she went out and bought 20 pornographic books, (I can't remember how many now but around the same number of) Erotic books, and ... well, she didn't need to buy romance. She found that, in terms of emotional contact, porn brought up negative emotions, erotica was emotion-neutral, while romance required the presence of positive emotions.

They also talked about the way their sex scenes have affected their lives. Carol shared some personal stories, including the fact that her mom won't read her books, and how she felt about that.  Keri has had reverends send her pages from the Bible letting her know that her soul can still be saved. Cathleen would never have published under anything but a pseudonym. Only Stephanie seemed to have entirely positive experiences from those around her.

There were definitely light moments too - Marion Lennox's daughter shared a story about how, on seeing her two growing daughters, Marion decided to start inserting (pardon the pun) the use of condoms into her sex scenes. Stephanie Laurens talked about how she used to be one of the hottest writers in romance, but recently got a 'mild' rating from Romantic Times magazine. And the above-mentioned sand discussion got a lot of laughs. I think there's something about being Australian - it's just something that everyone has thought about at one time or another. Sure Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr can make it look sexy, but would you want sand...well....there?

Next up, afternoon tutorials, more sex-scenes talk, and the awards dinner!

Part I of Kate's RWAus 2008 Conference Reporting | Photos from the conference's cocktail party

tags: books  kate  travel  australia  romance novels  

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