My writercon experience
Cross posted to my journal.
Having written up my presentation yesterday, it's time to write about the writerconuk experience.
I've actually been staring at my screen for a while as I wasn't sure how to start this - 'writercon' makes the event sound like it's just for writers (and there was a lot of discussion about this on the last day). As you know, I'm not a writer - I'm barely a reader (except for the odd drabble) these days and I haven't really created anything arty for ages, so I'm kind of out of the loop there too.
This is my third writerconuk event - 4th if you count the very first meet up we had in Nottingham to discuss whether it was feasible to stage an event in the first place - and doesn't include the visit to Highgate or the London Aquarium which were arranged when we all realised livejournal fandom people aren't scary.
Are there discussions about fanfic and writing? Yes, there are. There are even presentations about it, but everyone always makes those so interesting and informative that even though I don't write I've always found them really informative from a readers point of view.
But really - that's only one aspect of the event.
There's the joy of meeting people that you've 'known' for ages online and finding out you like them just as much 'in person' (and the weird thing is they speak just like they write!).
There's the lovely relaxing feeling that you can talk about fandom and not get the 'eyeroll' you get at home.
There's the discussions about everything and anything that ISN'T anything to do with fandom (just like 'normal' people do!). This year I learned that "Howrse" is apparently fascinating and 'brougham' is pronounced 'broom' and you can ride in one.
There's the party atmosphere - especially by the evening when there may have been alcohol involved (although I didn't actually drink very much this year).
There's the silly stuff that makes you literally cry with laughter (and which when you tell the family they don't 'get' because you HAD to be there).
There are the goodie bags with the mementoes of the event to treasure afterwards (thanks to the highly resourceful bogwitch who excels herself every year!), and the raffle where everyone gets a present to take home at the end.
There are the hugs and smiles of greeting, and the hugs goodbye that make you not want to go at the end and leave all your friends (even though you post when you get home and 'talk' to them again!).
Those are the things that make you want to do it all over again the following year.
So - what did we do this year?
My journey started when I drove over to pick up lilachigh who according to the SatNav in my car only lives around 25 minutes away. The only problem was that this SatNav woman didn't seem to know where she was going, and I swear at one point took me round in a circle. I also (rather worryingly) appeared to be off the road on the map display at one point and when I pressed the button was told that I was not on a digital road. Well, no - but I was driving along a road... definitely!!
Anyhoo - having decided to ignore SatNav woman (who by the end of the journey we decided was Evil!SatNav woman) I got there by reading road signs...! Loaded up the car and we started the roadworks-plagued journey to Coventry.
We got there quite a bit later than expected so were both famished and headed straight for the bar (food!!!) and found fandom people already there! Hugs and smiles all round and then having fortified ourselves with nachos and liquid refreshment we settled down to chat with everyone as more people arrived and were greeted with hoots and cheers!
The Hotel staff took all this in their stride - especially as we ended up rearranging the whole bar area seating to accommodate new arrivals so we could talk (I did notice as soon as we adjourned elsewhere the chairs/tables all got put back as if by magic!).
At 6pm it was time for meeting and greeting and the committee Chair just_sue kicked off the event after the welcome by arranging us into teams for the fandom quiz. There were multifandom questions and we did really, really well..... OK we weren't last!! LOL!
At 8pm almost all of us adjourned to the Thai restaurant next door where we took over the whole restaurant and ate yummy food served by grumpy staff on pretty plates and served in interesting bamboo steamer thingies without chopsticks.
I was stuffed!
It was then back to the hotel and we adjourned to the break out area - which is apparently supposed to be for all hotel patrons, but we managed to intimidate encourage others to avoid the area for the whole weekend by sheer numbers and noise. I can't really remember what we talked about, other than we certainly did all talk to each other and at around 11.30pm I had to go to bed as I was knackered, but certain others (hils) were still on twitter tweeting about being drunk awake and talking to kittypoker1 at 4am....
The next morning I wasn't surprised to see peasant_ and thismaz come down around the same time as me (early risers!) and wait impatiently for breakfast to be served. We had a good old natter over breakfast and greet the others as they slowly joined us.
Then it was time for the events of the day!
This year speakr2customrs started it all off with a talk about writing original characters and the pitfalls you can fall into when doing it (with examples!). I really enjoyed this.
Then it was my turn (which you can read about in my report. I think it went well, although I did pick the wrong video for the hobbits!
After coffee (and biscuits) we heard from hils who led a discussion about whether you should plan a fic, or just 'fly by the seat of your pants'. This was a really lively discussion and everyone joined in. I found it really interesting as I think I'd be a 'planner', but that probably because I'm used to planning lessons ;)
Lunch was down in the hotel restaurant and this was followed by ningloreth who told us about things to think about when writing (a.k.a. 'thinkythoughts') using pie charts and statistics which identified some really interesting (and occasionally surprising) demographics within different fandoms.
Next up was sueworld2003's talk about artwork and linked really well with mine (which wasn't planned at all!) and had loads of gorgeous manips to look at. It was really interesting to hear Sue talk about how she puts artwork together and what the images represented for her and what she tries to express to others in the process.
Another break (moah coffee!) was followed by wildecate's talk about writer's block with lots of examples of exercises you can try to overcome it drawn from her own experiences. We all got to try writing something for 2 minutes - which seems like ages, but you really can't write much in that time (especially long hand!).
Finally the whole day was rounded off with some participation in mirasol's cosplay workshop. This was an introduction to what cosplay is, how to make costumes on the cheap and then we all got to make something for ourselves which was great fun! I made a Tardis!! No - not a full sized one!
What a fantastic day! I am always impressed by everyone's presentations, particularly as few of those who volunteered have any experience of public speaking and it's not easy to stand up in front of a load of people! Well done everyone!!
It wasn't over yet - following the extremely lovely buffet dinner with wine supplied by gillo (I ate far too much of as I'm greedy and wanted to try everything!) we adjourned to the breakout area for a singalong to the Buffy musical 'Once More with Feeling'.
Some of us read the speaking parts (I was Tara) and I think we definitely improved on the accents of the characters - particularly speakr2customrs's version of Eyeore!Spike. peasant_ did a wonderful impression of Giles right down to cleaning her glasses at the appropriate times! EVERYONE sang all the parts and although we might not have been totally in tune or perhaps even in the correct tempo, we were certainly very enthusiastic (enough to frighten anyone else coming upstairs to use the public loos!). I wanted to do the whole thing again after we'd finished... but it was not to be :(
Well done wildecate for organising the whole thing - it was brilliant!
More chat - more wine and bed for me - leaving lots of others still on their laptops/e-readers or gossiping in the corners....
I was (annoyingly) up bright and early (again) the next morning - and as usual there was peasant_ and thismaz waiting for breakfast again, so I joined them and slowly everyone else came down too.
Our final presentation was by curiouswombat who suggested a photo challenge on writerconuk over the next year to inspire writers which was very well received. I think some of the photos could also be used as base pictures for arty stuff too, so I'm looking forward to seeing what people post.
Finally it was the AGM and the existing committee of just_sue, kittypoker1 and thismaz stepped down after two years (4 years for Sue!), to make way for a new committee to take us forward to next year. Well done to the volunteers who were unanimously voted in ;). Well be back in Coventry next year!!
The raffle and then - it was time for goodbyes (I missed a few of those, so if I did miss you going I'm sorry!). lilachigh and I decided lunch might be a good idea before we set off so we sat and chatted to those who didn't have to rush off straight away.
Then it was back in the car and Evil!SatNav woman guided us home without too much fuss while we set the world to rights and didn't stop to draw breath the whole way home....
All in all a wonderful time was had. I had very little voice yesterday - clearly too much over enthusiastic singing and far too much chat. It'll be in Coventry next year in the Ramada Hotel again as the staff are so tolerant of us! Do come if you can - I can't recommend it highly enough!
Having written up my presentation yesterday, it's time to write about the writerconuk experience.
I've actually been staring at my screen for a while as I wasn't sure how to start this - 'writercon' makes the event sound like it's just for writers (and there was a lot of discussion about this on the last day). As you know, I'm not a writer - I'm barely a reader (except for the odd drabble) these days and I haven't really created anything arty for ages, so I'm kind of out of the loop there too.
This is my third writerconuk event - 4th if you count the very first meet up we had in Nottingham to discuss whether it was feasible to stage an event in the first place - and doesn't include the visit to Highgate or the London Aquarium which were arranged when we all realised livejournal fandom people aren't scary.
Are there discussions about fanfic and writing? Yes, there are. There are even presentations about it, but everyone always makes those so interesting and informative that even though I don't write I've always found them really informative from a readers point of view.
But really - that's only one aspect of the event.
There's the joy of meeting people that you've 'known' for ages online and finding out you like them just as much 'in person' (and the weird thing is they speak just like they write!).
There's the lovely relaxing feeling that you can talk about fandom and not get the 'eyeroll' you get at home.
There's the discussions about everything and anything that ISN'T anything to do with fandom (just like 'normal' people do!). This year I learned that "Howrse" is apparently fascinating and 'brougham' is pronounced 'broom' and you can ride in one.
There's the party atmosphere - especially by the evening when there may have been alcohol involved (although I didn't actually drink very much this year).
There's the silly stuff that makes you literally cry with laughter (and which when you tell the family they don't 'get' because you HAD to be there).
There are the goodie bags with the mementoes of the event to treasure afterwards (thanks to the highly resourceful bogwitch who excels herself every year!), and the raffle where everyone gets a present to take home at the end.
There are the hugs and smiles of greeting, and the hugs goodbye that make you not want to go at the end and leave all your friends (even though you post when you get home and 'talk' to them again!).
Those are the things that make you want to do it all over again the following year.
So - what did we do this year?
My journey started when I drove over to pick up lilachigh who according to the SatNav in my car only lives around 25 minutes away. The only problem was that this SatNav woman didn't seem to know where she was going, and I swear at one point took me round in a circle. I also (rather worryingly) appeared to be off the road on the map display at one point and when I pressed the button was told that I was not on a digital road. Well, no - but I was driving along a road... definitely!!
Anyhoo - having decided to ignore SatNav woman (who by the end of the journey we decided was Evil!SatNav woman) I got there by reading road signs...! Loaded up the car and we started the roadworks-plagued journey to Coventry.
We got there quite a bit later than expected so were both famished and headed straight for the bar (food!!!) and found fandom people already there! Hugs and smiles all round and then having fortified ourselves with nachos and liquid refreshment we settled down to chat with everyone as more people arrived and were greeted with hoots and cheers!
The Hotel staff took all this in their stride - especially as we ended up rearranging the whole bar area seating to accommodate new arrivals so we could talk (I did notice as soon as we adjourned elsewhere the chairs/tables all got put back as if by magic!).
At 6pm it was time for meeting and greeting and the committee Chair just_sue kicked off the event after the welcome by arranging us into teams for the fandom quiz. There were multifandom questions and we did really, really well..... OK we weren't last!! LOL!
At 8pm almost all of us adjourned to the Thai restaurant next door where we took over the whole restaurant and ate yummy food served by grumpy staff on pretty plates and served in interesting bamboo steamer thingies without chopsticks.
I was stuffed!
It was then back to the hotel and we adjourned to the break out area - which is apparently supposed to be for all hotel patrons, but we managed to intimidate encourage others to avoid the area for the whole weekend by sheer numbers and noise. I can't really remember what we talked about, other than we certainly did all talk to each other and at around 11.30pm I had to go to bed as I was knackered, but certain others (hils) were still on twitter tweeting about being drunk awake and talking to kittypoker1 at 4am....
The next morning I wasn't surprised to see peasant_ and thismaz come down around the same time as me (early risers!) and wait impatiently for breakfast to be served. We had a good old natter over breakfast and greet the others as they slowly joined us.
Then it was time for the events of the day!
This year speakr2customrs started it all off with a talk about writing original characters and the pitfalls you can fall into when doing it (with examples!). I really enjoyed this.
Then it was my turn (which you can read about in my report. I think it went well, although I did pick the wrong video for the hobbits!
After coffee (and biscuits) we heard from hils who led a discussion about whether you should plan a fic, or just 'fly by the seat of your pants'. This was a really lively discussion and everyone joined in. I found it really interesting as I think I'd be a 'planner', but that probably because I'm used to planning lessons ;)
Lunch was down in the hotel restaurant and this was followed by ningloreth who told us about things to think about when writing (a.k.a. 'thinkythoughts') using pie charts and statistics which identified some really interesting (and occasionally surprising) demographics within different fandoms.
Next up was sueworld2003's talk about artwork and linked really well with mine (which wasn't planned at all!) and had loads of gorgeous manips to look at. It was really interesting to hear Sue talk about how she puts artwork together and what the images represented for her and what she tries to express to others in the process.
Another break (moah coffee!) was followed by wildecate's talk about writer's block with lots of examples of exercises you can try to overcome it drawn from her own experiences. We all got to try writing something for 2 minutes - which seems like ages, but you really can't write much in that time (especially long hand!).
Finally the whole day was rounded off with some participation in mirasol's cosplay workshop. This was an introduction to what cosplay is, how to make costumes on the cheap and then we all got to make something for ourselves which was great fun! I made a Tardis!! No - not a full sized one!
What a fantastic day! I am always impressed by everyone's presentations, particularly as few of those who volunteered have any experience of public speaking and it's not easy to stand up in front of a load of people! Well done everyone!!
It wasn't over yet - following the extremely lovely buffet dinner with wine supplied by gillo (I ate far too much of as I'm greedy and wanted to try everything!) we adjourned to the breakout area for a singalong to the Buffy musical 'Once More with Feeling'.
Some of us read the speaking parts (I was Tara) and I think we definitely improved on the accents of the characters - particularly speakr2customrs's version of Eyeore!Spike. peasant_ did a wonderful impression of Giles right down to cleaning her glasses at the appropriate times! EVERYONE sang all the parts and although we might not have been totally in tune or perhaps even in the correct tempo, we were certainly very enthusiastic (enough to frighten anyone else coming upstairs to use the public loos!). I wanted to do the whole thing again after we'd finished... but it was not to be :(
Well done wildecate for organising the whole thing - it was brilliant!
More chat - more wine and bed for me - leaving lots of others still on their laptops/e-readers or gossiping in the corners....
I was (annoyingly) up bright and early (again) the next morning - and as usual there was peasant_ and thismaz waiting for breakfast again, so I joined them and slowly everyone else came down too.
Our final presentation was by curiouswombat who suggested a photo challenge on writerconuk over the next year to inspire writers which was very well received. I think some of the photos could also be used as base pictures for arty stuff too, so I'm looking forward to seeing what people post.
Finally it was the AGM and the existing committee of just_sue, kittypoker1 and thismaz stepped down after two years (4 years for Sue!), to make way for a new committee to take us forward to next year. Well done to the volunteers who were unanimously voted in ;). Well be back in Coventry next year!!
The raffle and then - it was time for goodbyes (I missed a few of those, so if I did miss you going I'm sorry!). lilachigh and I decided lunch might be a good idea before we set off so we sat and chatted to those who didn't have to rush off straight away.
Then it was back in the car and Evil!SatNav woman guided us home without too much fuss while we set the world to rights and didn't stop to draw breath the whole way home....
All in all a wonderful time was had. I had very little voice yesterday - clearly too much over enthusiastic singing and far too much chat. It'll be in Coventry next year in the Ramada Hotel again as the staff are so tolerant of us! Do come if you can - I can't recommend it highly enough!