Well, it looks like I'm going to Otakon this year after all, since one of my fellow panelists from last year contacted me and said he'd like to run a fanfic panel again
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It can be hard when things run over. We always had a list of things we planned to discuss, but never got through it. Basically, if a topic goes on forever but the majority of the audience is enjoying the discussion, I think that's a good thing. The danger is, is the topic you're discussing only interesting to the two people arguing about it?
We rarely had too much trouble with being mean, mostly as we rarely used specific examples, but generalities, unless it was a fic famous for being bad, such as Artemis's Lover. I advise just stating right up front, "We are not here to tell you how awesome your fics are. That's what FFNet reviews are for. And if you can't handle me telling you how to improve your writing, you might consider another panel. We are here to tell you how to make your fanfics better, not to love you." Bluntness at the start helps pave the way for far less trouble in the middle. And if some folks walk out, well, they likely would have been upset anyway.
For two years, we even made the panel a discussion group/workshop, and encouraged folks to bring fics to the panel to be evaluated. This didn't work as well as I'd hoped, as no one ever remembered to actually bring a fic, so mostly we just had folks telling us their ideas.
If you do end up with another 1am panel, also say right up front that you WILL be cutting people off for time, and that it's nothing personal, but they're going to throw you out at 2am.
Truth to tell, we always had to deal with people being mean more than people crying. Especially when we said their 700-page Samurai Pizza Cats tragic rape fic might not appeal to everyone. :)
We rarely had too much trouble with being mean, mostly as we rarely used specific examples, but generalities, unless it was a fic famous for being bad, such as Artemis's Lover. I advise just stating right up front, "We are not here to tell you how awesome your fics are. That's what FFNet reviews are for. And if you can't handle me telling you how to improve your writing, you might consider another panel. We are here to tell you how to make your fanfics better, not to love you." Bluntness at the start helps pave the way for far less trouble in the middle. And if some folks walk out, well, they likely would have been upset anyway.
For two years, we even made the panel a discussion group/workshop, and encouraged folks to bring fics to the panel to be evaluated. This didn't work as well as I'd hoped, as no one ever remembered to actually bring a fic, so mostly we just had folks telling us their ideas.
If you do end up with another 1am panel, also say right up front that you WILL be cutting people off for time, and that it's nothing personal, but they're going to throw you out at 2am.
Truth to tell, we always had to deal with people being mean more than people crying. Especially when we said their 700-page Samurai Pizza Cats tragic rape fic might not appeal to everyone. :)
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