Friday saw me again traveling into New York City for my second day of Comic-Con this year. It was noticeably busier today even as people queued to wait for the doors to open. Once inside, I went directly to the Penguin Random House table to pick up a ticket for the book giveaways and signings I wanted. I made it there in plenty of time and received tickets for two of the books that looked the most interesting to me. Then I scanned a QR code at Simon & Schuster to enter their drawing.
From there I went to wait in line for my first panel – cozy fantasy!
Let’s Get Cozy Panel
This panel focused on cozy fantasy and the first question asked of the panelists was on how they defined this subgenre and what it meant to them. They all mentioned similar themes: hope and joy, what it means to be happy, healing from past trauma, and finding your people and community. They want to be able to go to sleep without being stressed out about tension from reading a book.
Each author was asked to reflect on some books they have read that were cozy fantasy before this was thought of as a genre. They mentioned The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden, My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannet, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia A. McKillip (my review is here), and Anne McCaffrey’s Harper Hall trilogy (paid links). Sarah Beth Durst stated that her idea of cozy fantasy is when you start with The Lord of the Rings but don’t leave the Shire and just have second breakfast.
The authors were then asked about how they create their worlds. Autumn stated that they are a strict outliner and plan a lot overall… except for the worldbuilding. They make that part up as they write and then smooth it out in rewrites. Rachel starts by thinking about her main character and how she relates to the world around her. The two more contemporary authors (Morgan and Meg) joked that they didn’t want to do worldbuilding and they just threw magic into our world. Morgan tends to set her stories in New Jersey and loves things that are relatable for people.
In contrast to these authors, Sarah Beth Durst wanted to be a fantasy author for her whole life and plunges deeply into her worlds. She loves the process of worldbuilding and has a rule of awesome in which she keeps adding awesome things to her worlds.
I wished they had had a deeper discussion of how to create conflict and tension within a story when you’re writing cozy fantasy, but what I did take away was to intersperse tense scenes with more cozy ones.
I took a break for lunch after this and visited the food trucks outside. Then I made a random circuit through the show floor once more before moving on to another panel.
Terry Brooks In Conversation
This next panel was focused on Terry Brooks, the author best known for the Shannara series. Several other authors accompanied him in this panel and it turns out they were all writers who grew up reading and were mentored by Brooks.
As an aside, I’ve apparently been pronouncing Shannara wrong for decades. Sha-naaar-a is how it has always been in my head. But the author himself pronounces it with the accent on the first syllable and then the rest of the word is said pretty fast. During the panel they surveyed the room to find out that my version was prevalent, and Terry Brooks has resigned himself to how the majority of the fans pronounce it.
Each author related stories of how Terry Brooks influenced their own journey into writing fantasy. Peter Brett read The Wishsong of Shannara in his parents’ attempt to have him enjoy something beyond comic books. When he sold his first book he was able to choose between a few publishers and chose Del Rey because that was who published Terry Brooks.
Sarah Beth Durst met Brooks at a poorly attended book signing and was able to spend 45 minutes quizzing him on how to write fantasy. Katherine Arden picked up Brooks’ novelization of The Phantom Menace without knowing anything about Star Wars, prompting her father (a huge fan of Terry Brooks) to show her all of his other books.
When asked how he came up with the world of Shannara, Brooks’ initial response was to deadpan, “I don’t know.” He then elaborated on how his entire family read a lot, but a stint in debate club drew him into becoming a lawyer, professionally. He didn’t enjoy this practice and started to write fantasy on the side. After an initial acceptance at Del Rey and multiple rewrites, The Sword of Shannara was a best-seller. His editor, Lester Del Rey, wouldn’t let him quit his legal practice until he had two more books on the best-seller list, so he kept writing.
His early writing was heavily inspired by Tolkien, but as he worked on later books, he created more unique aspects to his world that strengthened his books. Brooks shared that one of the greatest criticisms he received about The Sword of Shannara was that it contained few women. He took this to heart and worked to ensure women featured equally as central characters.
Finally, Terry Brooks’ final advice during the panel was to read a lot – both in the genre and outside of it – for anyone who wants to be a writer. He also stressed how important it was to support new writers (as evidenced by those on the panel). He always tried to engage younger writers by asking about their books, then later reading them and letting them know that he enjoyed them, even providing blurbs for their first books.
Last Few Acquisitions
The afternoon was open for me to wander and peoplewatch. This cosplay of Monoco (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33) was amazing! I saw a ton of other great individuals and groups, but couldn’t get photos of most of them. I wandered for a while and had a passionfruit boba tea. Then I shopped a little more before finally sitting down to rest and type up some of this post.
I went back to the show floor one more time to pick up a second book from a giveaway/signing. Somehow I ended up with four more books instead of one, but these things happen.
TORN and LotR Fan Club Party
After the events of the day, I went to a party and raffle sponsored by TheOneRing.net and the Lord of the Rings Fan Club. This was held at a nearby bar and had plenty of room for the group. I met a couple of other fans, bought raffle tickets, and examined the neat items in my gift bag.
I didn’t win anything in the raffle, but it was entertaining. I might have stayed to socialize longer but I was so tired that I needed to head home.
After two long days I was exhausted so I’m almost glad I’m not going back for Saturday or Sunday. I’ll have to look forward to next year instead!
Were you at Comic-Con this year? Have you been in the past? Let me know in the comments.