A. L. Kaplan

Tag: Awesome Con

  • My Day at Awesome Con 2025

    My Day at Awesome Con 2025

    I had a great time at Awesome Con on Saturday.

    And yes, I am wearing my WOKE AND PROUD t-shirt.

    This time I didn’t need to explain to anyone what WOKE was and lots of people wanted to know where they could buy the design. (Visit my Redbubble Shop) I guess people are waking up. (pun intended)

    The panel was a lot of fun with great questions from the audience. We probably could have used another 45 minutes.

    Pictured from right to left: Mayonn Paasewe-Valchev, A. L. Kaplan, William Ray, Katie Aiken Ritter, Harrison Demchick

    Is is photo was taken 10 minutes before the panel began. (9:45 on a Saturday morning!) By the time the panel started, there were no empty chairs. I didn’t crop the picture so you could see the scale of the room.

  • I’ll be at Awesome Con 2025!

    I’ll be at Awesome Con 2025!



    Awesome Con runs from April 4-6, 2025, and I’ll be there on Saturday.

    The Writer’s Ally Presents: How Authors Craft Great Characters!

    Whether novel, movie, TV series, or comic book, the key to any great story is a great character. But what makes a character great? How do you craft a character who is dynamic and compelling–a character who compels readers and viewers to keep reading? This discussion will bring together a panel of published authors to discuss the mechanics of top notch characterization: defining characteristics, fatal flaws, conscious wants and unconscious needs, and character arc. In discussing the characters they’ve created and the characters they love, they’ll teach you how to build characters—main characters, supporting characters, heroes, villains, and everything in-between—that readers will never forget.

    Panelists: Harrison Demchick, William Ray, A. L. Kaplan, Mayonn Paasewe-Valchev, Katie Aiken Ritter

    Date: Saturday, April 5, 2025
    Start Time: 10:00 AM
    End Time: 10:45 AM
    Room/Location: Room 206

    Awesome Con
    Walter E. Washington Convention Center
    801 Mt Vernon Pl NW
    Washington, DC 20001

  • Awesome Con Appearance

    Looking for something fun to do this weekend?

    Come to Awesome Con

    I’ll be on the Other Realities: An Introduction to World Building panel with Joab Stieglitz and Jennifer Povey.

    The panel begins at 5:45 PM on Saturday, August 21, 2021

    Mask up and come on by.

    Awesome Con
    August 20-23, 2021
    Walter E. Washington Convention Center
    801 Mt Vernon Pl NW
    Washington, DC 20001

    STAR TOUCHED

    STAR TOUCHED

    Sometimes it’s hard to be who you are meant to be.

    Especially when your powers can get you killed.

    Eighteen-year-old Tatiana is running from her past and her star-touched powers eight years after a meteor devastates earth’s population.

    Her power to heal may be overshadowed by more destructive abilities. Fleeing the persecution of those like her, Tatiana seeks refuge in a small town she once visited. But this civil haven, in a world where society has broken down, is beginning to crumble.

    Only by harnessing the very forces that haunt her can Tatiana save her friends…and herself.

    Hummingbird: A Star Touched Story

    Plagued by memories not her own, a young hummingbird struggles to decipher the visions and powers that set her apart from her fellow birds. But the road to awareness is fraught with danger that could doom her to repeat history. One step toward understanding. One stride toward survival. One leap toward flying free from the past.

    WOLF DAWN

    WOLF DAWN

    A Hidden Past – A Deadly Secret

    Gifted with the ability to wolf-talk, Kara has lived with the wolves since she lost her memories eight years ago. Now at sixteen, snippets of her past send her searching for answers.

    But the warm welcome she receives in the human village hides more danger than life with the pack.