by Jason Joyner | Jul 30, 2019 | Blog, Uncategorized
The best times in life take too long to get here and go by too fast.
That’s how it is each year for the annual Realm Makers conference for me. From July 18-20 a few hundred of my friends converged on a chalet-like hotel in St. Louis to celebrate faith, fiction, and fandom at this writing collective.
I’m the grizzled veteran for Realm Makers now, having gone to five of seven conferences. But every time there’s magic when we gather to enjoy old and new friends, sit under fantastic teaching for the craft, lifestyle, and business of writing, see writers pitch to agents and editor, learn from mentors, and celebrate the best in speculative fiction from Christian writers.conference for me. From July 18-20 a few hundred of my friends converged on a chalet-like hotel in St. Louis to celebrate faith, fiction, and fandom at this writing collective.
This year we returned to the same hotel as last year, so veterans had a comfort level with the location. The hallways spilled over with excited writers, from grey-haired folks to teens in the youth track. I love reconnecting with old friends and making new ones the most. I’ve heard a lot of great teaching, and I know there’s plenty for me to learn, but making connections with others who love fiction and faith like I do? That’s priceless.
I’m part of the staff, so I had some volunteer responsibilities. I’ve found writer conferences more enjoyable when I go with the attitude of “how can I serve?” There’s always comparison that a writer battles. When will my book get picked? Then when your book is picked, you see someone else sell more books. Or they win that award. But when I go to see how I can help others, then I get my eyes off my hang-ups and work to bless people.
Speaking of awards: Realm Makers has a unique awards banquet, in that it’s a costume dinner. There are so many creative people! From original characters to steampunk DC villains to a bevy of Doctors who aim their sonic screwdrivers at photographers, there’s always something to gawk at wandering the banquet. My friends went as the Avengers. I thought about going as Fat Thor from Endgame, but I was up for two awards this time, so my vanity got the best of me.![]()
It was very exciting to win the Realm Award for Best Debut Novel. But I cheered harder for my friend Lindsay Franklin, who won Best YA and Book of the Year.![]()
Winning the award was special. Yet I found more rewarding was people coming up to me to say how much they enjoyed Launch. It released right before Realm Makers 2018, so I was able to sell it there. This year I got good feedback from folks. When a grandfather said the first sentence sucked him in, and he was so happy to have a clean, exciting book to pass on to his grandkids—that made my day right there.
Alas, Realm Makers comes and goes too quickly. Before I knew it, my roommates (brothers in arm) had put away the Superfight card game and said goodbye. Now I’m in real life mode, and the days scream by so fast.
Even though the brilliant RM 2019 is in the past, I’m already excited for RM 2020. Atlantic City, are you ready for an invasion of Realmies?
Maybe I’ll see y’all there.
—
Jason Joyner
Author of the YA novel Launch
Available online at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and other outlets.www.jasoncjoyner.com
by Jason Joyner | Jul 16, 2019 | Uncategorized
As a writer of speculative fiction with a faith element, this is the best week of the year!
It’s time for Realm Makers again!
Realm Makers is a conference for writers of faith where the focus is to develop both your faith and your fiction, to deepen your soul and strengthen your craft. Now in its seventh year, it continues to grow and reach new writers who love the science fiction, fantasy, supernatural aspect of stories.
I’ve been blessed to go for the last five years now. It has grown from a niche group of
dedicated writers to a professional conference requiring larger meeting space each year. It doesn’t just develop a writer with craft, business, and marketing instruction, but it connects people in a tribe that lets them know they are not alone – there are faithful believers who enjoy the geeky stories as well.
Okay, I’m gushing. It’s because RM has helped me with a family of writers who support me and my fledgling publishing journey. Without RM, I wouldn’t have my book Launch out, I wouldn’t be with my publisher, and I may not be continuing in this journey.
If you’re a Christian who loves to write any type of weird, wonderful stories in the sci-fi/fantasy genre, you need to check out Realm Makers and see if coming to a conference in the future is for you. We have a wonderful Facebook group, the Realm Makers Consortium, that connects hundreds of like-minded people.
And if you live in the St. Louis region, on July 20th there’s a Book Festival open to the public where you can buy dozens of amazing books, and get them signed by the authors. It’s headlined by Brent Weeks and Terry Brooks, and it’s going to be a party!
Hope to see you there!
by Jason Joyner | Jul 1, 2019 | Blog, Uncategorized
Last week I posted some thoughts about Toy Story 4. It’s a spoiler post if you want to check it out, but I explained how I really enjoyed the movie even though I thought there was a glaring mistake.
Despite that flaw, there was something grand in TS4 that I continued to think about after leaving the theater, so here comes another blog post. But like last time, there’s SPOILERS if you haven’t seen it.
There’s several new toys introduced in the movie, including a fun motorcycle stuntman voiced by Keanu Reeves. The most important new toy is “Forky”, a craft Bonnie made at kindergarten orientation. She was very upset there and Woody had stowed away in her backpack. He threw some objects out of the trash to Bonnie’s table, and Forky was born.
Made out of a spork, googly eyes, a pipe cleaner, some yarn, and two halves of a wood ice cream spoon, Forky achieves sentience. I don’t know what kind of magic Bonnie has, but her new creation is alive and is now her favorite toy.
The only problem? Forky doesn’t believe his favored status with Bonnie. In fact, he’s in denial over his whole existence as a toy. Forky knows where he came from – the trash can. He’s trash, and all he wants to do is go back to where he belongs in the garbage can.
Thus begins an amusing montage of Forky diving for any trash can nearby, and an exasperated Woody keeping Forky from literally throwing his life away, because Woody knows how much Forky means to Bonnie.
This conflict of Forky not accepting what he was created to be leads to the main complication of the movie, when he falls out of Bonnie’s family’s RV and Woody dives after the runaway spork. Ever the dutiful sheriff, Woody tries to explain to Forky that he’s created for more than being trash, and he has a purpose in bringing joy to Bonnie.
That’s pretty deep for a kid’s movie.
It’s very impressive that they made it work. As Forky comes to life, he’s like an infant, with a singular purpose: getting back to the trash. Then he argues with Woody more and more, until he sees the light and realizes he is so much more than the trash from which he was created.
This speaks to the deep story of humanity. Too often we act like Forky. We’re created from dust and to dust we’ll go, so we live as if we are only going to return to the “trash”. We abuse ourselves, unable to be convinced of our true worth.
In our case, our creator is God the Father. We were created much like Forky, to bring pleasure to him who gave us life. That is the chief end of humanity. But how often do we wallow in the garbage of life, not willing to accept the truth that despite our humble nature, we have a glorious purpose and place of acceptance with God? All too often, I’m afraid.
But we are a new creation in Jesus, and even though we started as “trash”, we are no longer that, and we should live with a respect for the image of God in everyone, including ourselves.
There’s even a Christ parallel in Woody. He cares so much about Bonnie’s happiness that he risks himself over and over to keep Forky and Bonnie together, even when Forky openly rebels against that idea. The idea can’t be stretched too far, but it is a very noble pursuit for Woody.
So, Pixar. Even though I was critical of how you handled Woody’s character by his ultimate choice, I have to give you huge praise for setting up such a beautiful image of the One True Myth, the original heroic story of sacrifice to restore a creation in rebellion. I hope Forky always keeps his new identity – not trash, but a beloved toy created for pleasure.
Just like we are toward the Father.
by Jason Joyner | Jun 24, 2019 | Blog
You can’t go back.
Sequels have diminishing returns.
Don’t ruin a good thing.
There was a lot of hand-wringing when Pixar announced that they were doing a Toy Story 4. How could they? It seemed they had done the impossible already: wrap up a beloved series in a perfect way – handing off Woody, Buzz, and the gang to a new child who would love them as much as Andy. It was such a fitting ending. Why would they risk ruining things with one more go?
Cars 2 anyone?
I almost didn’t join my family for the movie on Sunday, but didn’t want to miss out and went at the last minute. I was treated to an amazing movie. The animation is so gloriously good, it is ridiculous. The cobwebs, the lighting, the detail. Holy moly. The characters we love are back, along with a slew of new toys that join right in. It was a very entertaining move.
But if you haven’t seen it, I’m going heavy into SPOILER TERRITORY below, so be warned.
As we walked out of the movie, my family discussed how much they enjoyed it. When it was my turn, I said, “It was the best movie I’ve ever seen that botched the ending.”
What was my problem?
The movie centers on Woody getting ignored by Bonnie, the girl that Andy left his beloved toys with from Toy Story 3. He sneaks into her backpack on kindergarten orientation day and helps her by giving her the raw materials to make Forky, a spork with googly eyes, pipe-cleaner arms, and sticks for feet with “Bon-nie” written on them.
Forky becomes her new favorite toy. He has an issue though. He believes he’s trash, as that’s where his raw materials come from. So as Bonnie’s family goes on an RV adventure, Woody is trying to keep Forky from returning to whence he came, as he tries to hit the garbage can whenever the opportunity arises.
So Forky gets lost in a town with an antique store and a carnival. Woody goes to rescue him, and runs into Bo-Peep, the friend from the first movie who disappeared after that. She was given away and made her way to fight for lost toys by rescuing them.
I could go on with the synopsis, but I don’t want to summarize the whole movie. In the end, the toys part ways. Forky is reunited with Bonnie. But Woody decides to stay with Bo and help lost toys find homes or purpose.
Here, after another beautiful movie (but not tear-inducing to my teen who cries every time he watches the end of 3), Pixar makes a fatal mistake.
I couldn’t accept Woody leaving his friends behind.
My wife disagreed, and argued that they spent the movie building the case for him to make this choice. Sure, they did. But it still went against everything we loved about Woody from the first three movies. He is neurotic, jealous, and insecure – but he’s the heroic sheriff that keeps the toys together. He constantly puts himself at risk to keep them together, whether it’s Buzz in the first, Jessie and Bullseye in two, or the whole gang in three.
His character had been well-established. Yet he went against who he was for the sake of the plot in 4. Woody had the same choice in two, and he chose his kid. And three was possibly the best ending of any movie trilogy ever.
I will admit, four is a beautiful movie. Lines aren’t wasted. The animation is so freaking good. The ideas it presents deserve more blog posts. 😉 It effectively ended the possibility of another movie. Woody and Buzz are finally separated, and it would such a stretch to see them brought back together.
I loved Toy Story 4, despite the way they mess up the characterization for Woody established in three prior films. If it weren’t for that, it would be the clear best movie of the series.
The lesson for writers is simple: stay true to your characters. Even over years and four movies, it is important to keep them consistent to who you’ve made them to be. Even the best stories, like Toy Story 4, can be undone if you miss this crucial point.
by Jason Joyner | Jun 11, 2019 | Blog
It makes an author’s day when you get to talk to enthusiastic readers. I had the joy of that over this last weekend at the fun Homeschool Idaho Convention. I shared a booth there with my author friend Peter Leavell on June 7-8, and we were in the exhibitor hall for the in-between times for workshops and sessions.
Between parents looking for good reads and teens excited to talk about their favorite books, there was no shortage of literary talk. It was an infusion of much needed fuel for writing. But I was there to sell books overall. I made good contacts and was pleased with how things went. But I learned more about a theory I’ve been mulling.
I managed to tighten up my pitch even more. It wasn’t hard to get conversations started. Yet I still can’t stick to what I’m supposed to be doing: selling my books.
Instead, I really enjoyed having Peter there to talk about his books. He had something come up that kept him out Saturday morning, so I didn’t only have to talk about Launch. I could talk about Peter’s books and point to his strengths if that seemed to connect with the person. I was reading The Story Peddler by Lindsay Franklin in-between busy times. I probably sold a couple copies of her book in the morning! If there were families with younger kids (since my book is YA) I would tell them about my publisher Little Lamb Books and promote books from our other authors. Finally, if I didn’t have a specific book to recommend, I’d point parents to the Realm Makers Bookstore where they sell fantastic stories from Christian writers.
It cemented my hypothesis: rising waters lift all boats. At least for me, I don’t like to focus on just myself. That’s boring. But if I can talk about good books, I’m elated. If I can see any of the authors from Little Lamb do well, it indirectly helps me because it helps my publisher. The Realm Makers Bookstore has made it their mission to get the word out about great speculative fiction. If more people are aware of these stories and are looking, it helps all of us.
I think the author community in general is very supportive because we love good stories and want to see more of them. The Christian speculative fiction may be even more so because we love the fact that God is glorified in fantasy or sci-fi, so we’re doubly rooting for things. If we get the word out on great stories like Peter’s or Lindsay’s, then people will remember there’s a variety to look for out there.
I may not be a gorilla marketer, only looking out for myself. But I will do what I can to lift the waters and see all the ships around me rise. It makes marketing much more enjoyable for me, and I think it gives me credibility that I’m not just about myself. We’re all in this journey, and I can’t wait to see how this genre grows in the future.
