This past April, senior students Laura Yeadon and Alex Aiken attended the JordanCon Convention in Atlanta, Georgia! JordanCon is a yearly convention focusing on Science Fiction and Fantasy.
The Voices Team recently had the opportunity to interview the two students about their trip.
Laura Yeadon (She/Her/Hers) is a History & Creative Writing Major with A Minor in Mythology & Folklore (photo left).
Alex Aiken (He/Him/His) is an English Literary Studies Major with a Minor in History (photo right).
Read the Q&A interview below!
Q: Tell us a little bit about the Convention. What was it like? What was it all about? What kinds of activities did you participate in?
Laura: JordanCon is somewhat of a conference and a convention combined, with panels, writers workshops, a vendors hall, craft spaces, and other activities all happening at the same time across a couple of days! It’s named after Robert Jordan, the author of The Wheel of Time fantasy series, and hence, most of the activities and panels are centered around fantasy and science fiction literature. However, there are events that can appeal to anyone. There are panels on the Writers’ Track that can be useful to any writer, regardless of genre—for example, I went to a panel about building an author brand over one’s long-term career, which provided for me insight into the industry’s inner workings and how to create an author identity that can positively affect my career. Another example is the Authors’ Hall, where published authors can advertise and sell their books. I grabbed so many business cards from authors whose books sounded incredibly interesting and derivative!
Alex: Jordancon is a nonprofit science fiction/fantasy organization in honor of the late Robert Jordan, author of the Wheel of Time series. It takes place in Atlanta, Georgia, where fans of the series or speculative fiction in general can come together to share their love of the genre. The convention is a lot of fun, with both activities and panels to participate in. These panels can range from discussions surrounding a video game to more literary-based ones dissecting themes or learning more about writing a story. I went to a few panels, one of which was where authors discussed the importance of culpability in their writing and how one balances creative freedom with social responsibility.
Q: Did you participate in any panels? If so, which ones? And what was discussed?
Laura: I participated in one panel, titled “Heroic Epics vs Creation Stories: Which, When, and Why?”, with my fellow RWU students who attended the conference. We talked extensively about real world examples of heroic epics and creation stories, how they function in their respective genres, and how to write our own specifically for the fantasy genre.
Alex: We participated in one panel this year. This panel focused on the evolution of creation myths and heroic epics, and how they have been incorporated into storytelling as well as historical contexts. We discussed ancient stories like the Epic of Gilgamesh and more modern ones like Tolkien’s Silmarillion or even superhero stories, showing how authors have woven and changed these myths into their own versions.
Q: How do you think attending a convention such as this one impacts you as students in the arts and humanities?
Laura: My favorite benefit to come from having the opportunity to attend JordanCon has been being surrounded by other lovers of fantasy and literature and having a chance to network with people in the industry. Because of this convention, I now know several industry professionals that I can get to know further and ask for advice in the future. Additionally, as a humanities student, most of what we do is concerned with the human spirit and the incredible diversity that exists within. JordanCon hosts and supports a large range of voices from the axes of race, sexuality, gender, and experience. To allow a space for all these voices to come together under the banner of a love of fantasy is very special to me, because it lets me see other perspectives and broaden my view of the world—a ever-present goal of any scholar of the arts and humanities.
Alex: This convention can significantly impact students in the arts and humanities because you get to interact with best-selling authors, incredible artists, and other scholars who attend the convention. It is a great way to create connections with people who are in similar fields. It can also benefit those who are now Myth and Folklore minors, as a lot of the discussions that happen include a wide range of different mythological stories, like our panel, for example.
Q: This was a convention about the genre of Fantasy. Why do you think it’s important for us to talk about Fantasy as a form of literature as well as art?
Laura: Fantasy is a form that is just as important and should be taken as seriously as genres like literary fiction. Fantasy allows us to engage with situations that could not, or should not, happen in reality, and to safely explore the outcomes (good or bad) of such situations. It lets us as a collective society examine ourselves, our lives, and our inclinations in a deep way, in a fantastical way that is far removed from what we already know. Fantasy is not just dragons and magicians and epic deeds. It assists us, writers and readers, in immersing ourselves in situations that may look externally different, but internally familiar. Fantasy helps us clean our glasses, so to speak—to help us see our world mirrored, to see familiar problems without being clouded by pre-existing factors. Eventually, after the questing and the journey-ing, we come back to our real world—our primary world—with fresh eyes.
Alex: Speculative fiction is often stigmatized as people view it as lacking academic rigor and focusing too much on escapism. However, fantasy and science fiction can be important tools to help learn and grow by creating empathy by showing different experiences in situations that are unique to fantasy and science fiction settings. It can also still be escapist while delving into themes that reflect social and cultural contexts that exist within our world, allowing us to experience these
issues in other forms; you can have deep explorations of themes without the constraint of reality. There is a reason why authors like Tolkien, who trailblazed what modern fantasy is, are still discussed and studied today, with a whole research field after him.
Q: What were some takeaways (academic, inspirational, personal, etc.) from the convention, or the trip as a whole, if any?
Laura: My biggest takeaway has been confidence. As a writer, I have struggled for a long time with the idea of choosing to write fantasy. Since growing up I somehow gained the worry that I wouldn’t be taken as a “serious” author if I wrote primarily in that genre, that I would somehow be lesser—even though fantasy has been a form I have always loved since I was very young. I remember I shared this with a fantasy author after a panel—she said to me, “See how many people came to the con this year. You can do whatever you want, and write whatever you want!” For some reason her words really hit home. Going to JordanCon, and interacting with dozens of fantasy authors and enthusiasts, has made a positive difference on me. There will always be an eager audience for the fantastic; and no matter what you write (or want to write), you are a serious writer because you are writing.
Alex: Some takeaways from the convention were just going to different panels and listening to authors talk about their writing. These conversations can be helpful when trying to evolve your own writing style. I also enjoy traveling with others and having a wide range of conversations with them.
Edited by Sophia Thomas (Co-Editor Voices)
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