AUTHOR INTERVIEW : JedimandaI have seen a lot of cosplay books in my time (hey, I even released two

AUTHOR INTERVIEW : JedimandaI have seen a lot of cosplay books in my time (hey, I even released two books myself!) and I can honestly say that if you are interested in starting out in cosplay, this book is for you. JediManda’s new book Creative Cosplay is actually two books in one. First is Cosplay and Convention 101 for those new to the scene. The second is an introduction to sewing.EJEN: Cosplay and convention 101 is a great idea. I have seen many topics about that on blogs, YouTube but I have never seen it in a book format. I know you’ve done plenty of panels in your day. Was the book based on panels you’ve done in the past and just expanded?JEDIMANDA: Oh yes, absolutely. My editor and I decided that we should take the book in a direction of a “Cosplay 101” type panel but in book form. I definitely pulled inspiration and my notes from panels that I used to do. EJEN: I understand you were discovered at GenCon 2018 at a panel. Tell me exactly what happened and why you at first declined at first?JEDIMANDA: I couldn’t believe it! That convention was nuts. When my book agent reached out to me to pitch the book deal, she said she saw me at one of my panels there. It was so crazy because I struggled at that convention, I didn’t think my panels were the best. I initially declined because I’m not a writer. I went to school for Fine Art and writing was not my forte. I struggled to write papers in college. But they convinced me that the majority of their authors are in the same boat and that they have experience helping out our “artist firsts, writers second” type authors. There was a lot of hand hold in the beginning then I got the hang of it! I really enjoy writing now, but I still love run-on sentences. EJEN: What was the writing process like and what is it like working with a team from the publisher? JEDIMANDA: It was marvelous honestly. After the first quarter of struggling and feeling that imposter syndrome sink in, I crunched out most of the writing during the summer of 2019. Then the editing started and that took a long time. I had the best editor to work with, Beth, she and I vibed hard throughout the rest of the book. Both of us really enjoyed working with each other and she enjoyed learning about cosplay in the meantime from me. EJEN: What was the most difficult part of the book to work on?JEDIMANDA: The fabric chapter, that was A LOT of research. I know what I know with fabric but I had to relearn a lot of content that I studied in school plus new fabrics that I do not work with everyday. EJEN: Since the book came out during the pandemic, how did that affect the roll out of the book in relation to the marketing aspect?JEDIMANDA: It affected it a lot. We (publishing company and I) had a mini book tour planned on top of the social media book tour we planned. I was supposed to present to sewing and quilting conventions and unfortunately that all canceled. We will still do it once conventions start back up, but it’s going to be a bit. Plus I wanted to take my books to our conventions and talk on panels about the book. (throws hands in the air) Oh well, soon we will be back.  Photo: @aleestudios EJEN: You’ve been sewing since 2008 and cosplaying since 2012. Name some of your greatest hits and tell me some of the more interesting responses at conventions.JEDIMANDA: Greatest hits! I love it. Definitely a top hit was my Queen Amidala and FlameMaiden group meetup at Star Wars Celebration 2019 in Chicago. That caused a stir in the best way. So many people stopped to video and photo us, it was incredible! We had 19 handmaidens! Another greatest hit of mine is winning the regional championship in my Anastasia gown at the The Crown Championships of Cosplay in 2018. I was so shocked, I couldn’t believe it. I had the best time twirling and smiling on that stage. I remember when I exited the stage I had a bit of a headache from all the twirling. Turns out, twirling works! Find more at Jedimanda.comPhoto: @theportraitdude -- source link

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