So I realize people are still thinking about *this* WriterCon . . .

[sahiya]

. . . but tonight antennapedia and I were talking as we filled out our surveys, and we ended up brainstorming possible workshop/panel/roundtable ideas for next WriterCon! Since we're all fresh off this last one and still buzzing about it, I thought it might not be too early to see what everyone else was thinking. The survey does this as well, but of course we

Comments

[rahirah]

Second the constructive crit panel; that's a sadly neglected skill in fandom. I'd love to see a workshop on character voice. And there was a fun drabble challenge panel/workshop thingy at WC2004 that I think is definitely worth reviving.

[sahiya]

Character-voice would be awesome. There are so many ways to show it. And that drabble challenge thing sounds like fun!

I really think what I'm wanting is more interactive workshops next time around, with lots of give and take between the moderators and the audience.

[yourlibrarian]

I second the drabble panel suggestion. I didn't go to it myself but I heard it was very good (and as a plus many of the drabbles were shared post-con).

Also re: the concrit idea, I would suggest combining this into another beta panel next time. Being a reader doing it and being a beta doing it are not the same thing, but one is essential to the other.

[sahiya]

Yes, that's definitely one way to do it. We might have a general "Constructive Criticism 101: Do's and Do Not's," which could include both beta reading and general constructive crit. I feel like the writer-beta relationship is almost the only place in fandom where con crit is "okay," but I wish it were not so.

[sahiya]

Hee, I suggested Portland for next time around.

antennapedia says the beta reading job is all about authorial intent - figuring out what the writer wants to do and then helping them do it. I can see how that last bit might get lost if there were too many people. So what you're saying is that the fic exchanges should be three people, max, rather than the 4-5 I suggested. That makes sense, though in that case we would probably end up structuring it differently (i.e. giving people a space to meet each other and then letting them schedule their own discussion/con crit time).

[harmonyfb]

Portland was one of the cities we considered for 2009, but the hotel prices were prohibitive.

Re: Another idea

[harmonyfb]

Personally, I only look for the het/slash/pick-your-kink tags if I'm reading pron. (When I'm reading sex, I'm looking to be titillated, and some things just don't do it for me.)

Now, a 'gen' label - to me - signals that the story is plot-driven, not character-driven (no matter what the relationship status or sexual orientation of the characters.)

Re: Another idea

[sahiya]

Hmmm! It's an interesting idea, but I'm not sure what we would call that. It might fall into "homophobia in fandom," or something similar. Perhaps a panel on -isms in fan writing. (or in this case archiving) would be a good thing to have. We are, after all, WriterCon.

[yourlibrarian]

I remember someone suggesting in a panel that there be a future one on rare pair writing. Perhaps that could be combined in a panel also discussing working in small fandoms.

[sahiya]

Yes! I went to one on small fandoms at Yaoi Con once. It was great. It was all about how to grow your fandom (Step 1: Give the books to your friends. Step 2: Bribe them to write fic.)

[spiralleds]

Hahahaha! I love it.

[alixtii]

Wow, a rarepairs panel would be awesome.

[prncssflutterby]

Those all sound like great ideas.

I know what I would found helpful when I went in '06... Maybe some kind of newbie!writer thing. How to find resources and betas. Places to post different things online. Things like that. I'm still in need of something that tells me all those grammer things I can never remember that you're taught in grade school...

I also really liked the ones in '06 that we wrote a drabble or short bit form like the Drabblemania or the Ensemble one. That was more helpful I thought than bring work in arleady. But then maybe that's because at the time all I really had was drabbles.....

I just hope I get to go next time.

[sahiya]

Oh yes, that would be a great thing to have. I also really like the idea of interactive writing sessions. I think a pr0n one would be hilarious. We could hook someone's laptop up to an overhead and take dictation or something.

[prncssflutterby]

A prOn one would be cool too but I have issues writing things like that myself. I sounds awesome in my head and so I write it down the it looks stupid. Course there's also my insecurities with writing stuff like that.

We could hook someone's laptop up to an overhead and take dictation or something. That could potentially end up really really funny.