{"id":151,"date":"2015-08-12T07:00:46","date_gmt":"2015-08-12T12:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/jessicaconoley\/?p=151"},"modified":"2015-08-12T07:00:46","modified_gmt":"2015-08-12T12:00:46","slug":"super-secret-library-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/jessicaconoley\/super-secret-library-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Super Secret Library Day with George RR Martin"},"content":{"rendered":"

You may remember My Great Escape a few weeks ago that ended at a super secret library event.\u00a0 At that event the guest of honor was George RR Martin<\/a>.\u00a0 While I would like to assume everyone knows who GRRM is, I realize my blog includes readers (like my Grandma) who may not have stumbled upon one of his novels.\u00a0 The important thing to know is not only is he a hell of a writer, but he\u2019s also an extremely talented editor.\u00a0 And, right now, after jumping off the \u201csecurity bridge\u201d to swim the waters between writer and editor full-time, he\u2019s the person who rocks my face off the most.\u00a0 It\u2019s not just that he does what I do in the most successful way possible. He does it in a way I respect.\u00a0 So there I was at a super secret library event, sitting in the audience, fan-girling to the point of obsession.<\/p>\n

5\/22\/15-noon-1 p.m. at the Kansas City, MO Public Library<\/a> 30th<\/sup> & Prospect branch.<\/p>\n

I get there early.<\/p>\n

This library\u2019s adorable with a kids play section, cheerful colors on the walls, patterned reading chairs.\u00a0 There\u2019s a glassed-in meeting room with roughly one hundred seats set up facing a padded center chair on a small pedestal.\u00a0 Next to the comfy-chair is an end table.<\/p>\n

I sit along the center aisle, three rows from the front.\u00a0 About ten \u2018til noon I hear someone say \u201cMr. Martin\u201d, and for the first time since I got my super secret invite I am certain<\/em> he is the person we\u2019re here to see.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s a bit like Santa in black pants with navy suspenders, a black & white short-sleeved shirt.\u00a0 His white beard matches the stripes in his shirt and hair sticks out from under his black newsboy cap.\u00a0 The librarian helps him settle in at the front of the room.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s very unaffected\u2014kind to the librarians and the British lady and two friends who came with him.<\/p>\n

The first few minutes people take out their phones and snap pictures.\u00a0 It\u2019s like he\u2019s in the zoo.\u00a0 It seems uncomfortable, and I feel bad for him. I don\u2019t think he enjoys having his picture taken, but he lets us do it because he knows it\u2019s part of the job\u2014but perhaps that is me transferring my own fear of the camera to him, maybe he doesn\u2019t mind at all. I take two pictures myself, and then feel guilty.<\/p>\n

The British lady, Joanna, speaks first. She says they love the library.\u00a0 And wherever they go they do what they can to support it.\u00a0 She says how excited they were to help today and then introduces GRRM, who has been sitting next to her the whole time.<\/p>\n

GRRM starts talking and realizes the room is small enough he doesn\u2019t need a mic. There are maybe sixty of us, and when we all agree we can hear him he continues. \u201cNew Mexico has the best Mexican food, but not much in the way of BBQ.\u00a0 I come to KC for the BBQ.\u201d\u00a0 He\u2019s been coming here for sci-fi conventions since the 70s.<\/p>\n

He read from the Song of Ice and Fire <\/a>series, book #6, starting by saying he\u2019s written the story in a tight focus limited third person viewpoint.\u00a0 It\u2019s a scene with a siege against Daenerys\u2019s city.\u00a0 The scene opens with catapults flinging corpses of bodies over the city walls.\u00a0 Barristan is getting ready to lead the men into battle.<\/p>\n

He reads and the room sits quiet, everyone fixated on his voice and the tale he\u2019s spinning before us.\u00a0 His voice is calm, but there are small pauses sometimes\u2014the pauses of a writer thinking that part\u2019s not right <\/em>or I can do that better<\/em>. The pauses don\u2019t interrupt his cadence.\u00a0 They\u2019re just quarter-second sporadic silences.<\/p>\n

The Q&A begins.<\/p>\n

I want to ask a question, but am terrified I won\u2019t be able to talk or my question will come across as dumb or it\u2019s something he\u2019s heard a million times.\u00a0 I don\u2019t raise my hand at first.\u00a0 I have to work up my nerve.<\/p>\n

One of the super-secret-library-event-conspirators, Christine Taylor-Butler, is the first one to raise her hand.\u00a0 \u201cDo you keep a character bible? How do you keep track of all of your characters\/world?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI keep lists.\u201d\u00a0 Long ever-expanding lists, some of them are in the backs of the books.<\/p>\n

A young woman says she just finished writing her first novel and she went back to read it and noticed the first chapter\u2019s terrible \u201cWhat should I do?\u201d He says the first chapter has to be the best\u2014especially if you\u2019re going to make it through the slush piles.\u00a0 You\u2019ve got three pages to catch an agent\u2019s attention.\u00a0 A lot of the time people don\u2019t get into the action fast enough.\u00a0 Can she just cut the first chapter? Is anything confusing or missing? If so, just start with Chapter two.<\/p>\n

I raise my hand.<\/p>\n

What I really want to ask is \u201cDoes Arya get her wolf back?\u201d Because all I want is for Arya to get her wolf back.\u00a0 99% of me tearing through each of the books in a gluttonous reading frenzy is to see if Arya gets her wolf back. But I know that\u2019s not a question that will help me be a better writer.\u00a0 So I get ready to ask him about the thing I struggle with on every single story.<\/p>\n

He nods to me.<\/p>\n

I wait a half second to make sure I\u2019m really still alive and then I open my mouth.<\/p>\n

(Oh yeah, one of the things GRRM is also good at is Act Breaks a\/k\/a leaving your audience wanting more.\u00a0 I thought I’d give it a try on this post… Don’t worry part 2 will be up before you know it.\u00a0 But, if you want to get it even sooner my email subscribers always get posts before they go public.\u00a0 You can sign up here.<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You may remember My Great Escape a few weeks ago that ended at a super secret library event.\u00a0 At that event the guest of honor was George RR Martin.\u00a0 While I would like to assume everyone knows who GRRM is, I realize my blog includes readers (like my Grandma) who may not have stumbled upon…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,6,7],"tags":[2,4,5,8,9,10],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSuper Secret Library Day with George RR Martin - Jessica Conoley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Kansas City, MO public library hosts an exclusive event featuring George RR Martin. | Part one of a two-part adventure in Kansas City.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Super Secret Library Day with George RR Martin - 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