Once upon a time....
There were a group of Lj friends who were enjoying all aspects of the Buffy fandom. Some of them had attended the US Writercon and were sad that nothing similar was being held in the UK. So they got chatting online and eleven of them decided to meet up in a Nottingham hotel in October 2006. They called this a "Minimeet" and a fun time of planning, eating and gossiping was had by all.
The outcome was that they would try and stage a small event for like-minded fans the following year, and that's what happened. This was held in Nottingham again in August of 2007 and this time there were more people (and slaymesoftly came all the way over from the US!). The scene had been set for this to continue.
2008 saw the minimeet move to Reading, and yet more fun was had. In 2009 the event moved to Coventry and every year since it has continued, to start with during August, but in 2014 the date was moved into September which seemed to suit more people (and didn't clash with annual family holidays).
So now we are in 2016, and this means the writerconuk event has been going for 10 years. Some of the original members have moved away from Lj (and sadly one member has passed away), but many of the people who were there at the start, are still attending these events. The Buffyverse is no longer the main fandom represented, instead the fandom areas are incredibly diverse, but the structure of the event has changed only slightly over the years:
Reasons to come:
The outcome was that they would try and stage a small event for like-minded fans the following year, and that's what happened. This was held in Nottingham again in August of 2007 and this time there were more people (and slaymesoftly came all the way over from the US!). The scene had been set for this to continue.
2008 saw the minimeet move to Reading, and yet more fun was had. In 2009 the event moved to Coventry and every year since it has continued, to start with during August, but in 2014 the date was moved into September which seemed to suit more people (and didn't clash with annual family holidays).
So now we are in 2016, and this means the writerconuk event has been going for 10 years. Some of the original members have moved away from Lj (and sadly one member has passed away), but many of the people who were there at the start, are still attending these events. The Buffyverse is no longer the main fandom represented, instead the fandom areas are incredibly diverse, but the structure of the event has changed only slightly over the years:
- Friday everyone arrives and there is a meet and greet with a quiz followed by a group meal.
- Saturday there are presentations - over the years these have looked at writing, blogging, artwork as well allowing for the group to be hands-on creative (learning how to make icons and doing crafts) and opportunities to creating some writing. Saturday night has also morphed into cocktails night, and the Saturday banquet.
- Sunday is the AGM and general goodbyes with everyone slowly drifting off home.
Reasons to come:
- It's not a big scary-huge event (the hotel can only accommodate 40 in the conference room anyway and usually there are between 15-30 people).
- You don't have to worry you aren't a 'dedicated' fan - I'm not involved in fandom very much, but it's still interesting and informative. The quiz reflects this as last year there were also general knowledge questions as the fandoms represented are so diverse.
- Everyone is friendly (including the hotel staff who have got used to us over the past 8 years (and several of them are fans of various shows themselves!).
- You can share a room to keep costs down, and you don't have to eat in the hotel either. The train station is really close (I'm going by train again this year) and if you need a lift I have no doubt someone may well be going your way!
- It's fun.