Exercise your franchise! Vote for Wincon panels!
Hi, Winconians!
Today we're opening up voting for Wincon panels. We had loads of amazing panel ideas submitted, and now we want to put them into a schedule that works for you! If you're planning to attend Wincon, or know someone who might be, please spread the word.
We've put together a handy-dandy poll HERE, where you can tell us the panels you're interested in, the panels you're REALLY REALLY interested in, and the panels you'd like to help out with if there's an opportunity.
Voting for a panel (or saying you're interested in being on it) doesn't guarantee that it will be chosen, and we may ask some moderators to combine or modify their panels depending on interest. But we'd really like to make sure there's programming for everyone at Wincon, and that you all have ample opportunity to flail about the fannish things you love most. (If you're interested in being on a panel, please leave your email address in the box provided in the poll, so we can put you in direct contact with other panelists.)
In order to not clutter up the poll, we have lengthier panel descriptions under the cut. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them here!
Femslash A frank and open discussion on the state of femslash within fanfic and fandom. The dynamics of femslash, good and bad femslash and where to find it will be discussed as well as why it seems so fandoms lack it completely.
Let's Talk About Kink How do we write and talk about kink in fandom? How do we practice Your Kink Is Not My Kink And That's Okay without squicking ourselves or hurting anyone else? How do real life and fictional kink intersect, and how do they really, really not?
Keeping It in the Family Incest! Erotically codependent brothers! The influence of Flowers in the Attic on your youth! The Folgers commercial! Harry Styles' hot sister! Anything with the suffix -cest!
YA Books: Not Just For The Young (Or Adult) I want to have a discussion about YA books. This would include books that are hot this Fall, trends in YA lit, books made into movies, YA on twitter, and fave book recommendations.
Queering Gender in Fandom A small group panel about queering gender in fandom, be it through cosplay, fic, vid, gifset, whatever, and I'd love to talk about canonically gender nonconforming characters, plus all the ways fandom finds to fuck with the binary. Trans, genderqueer, crossdressing character fic, Rule 63, what we like, what we could be doing more of, what would be a good time. Pan-fandom!
User Interface I don't think Wincon has ever had a video game panel. With all of the talk I've seen for games like Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed, and World of Warcraft lately, I'd adore a panel about why we love these animated pixels so much, how we got into gaming, console vs computer (or both), or even what it's like not fitting the stereotypical "gamer" mold.
Niche fanworks Do you live for Yuletide? Are you off by yourself writing Cora/Erika and Scott/Boyd while all your friends are shipping Sterek? If you live for small fandoms, rare characters, and rare pairs, or if your fannish preferences are otherwise outside the norm for your fandom (i.e. you're a femslash fan in SPN fandom), this is the panel for you. Discussion to include finding fanworks to satisfy your particular itch, & what it's like to generate fanworks w/ no built-in audience. What keeps us motivated to create despite low hit counts, kudos, & comments comparatively speaking. Join the conversation to commiserate, pool resources re: comms & challenges for your niche of choice, & maybe even make some friends who share that niche with you.
Book-based fandoms For fans of the Vorkosigan Saga, Young Wizards, His Dark Materials, the Hainish Cycle, Alliance-Union, or any other book or series of books. Exploring how being fannish about books differs from being a fan of a show, movie, or even comic book - from the slower pace of new canonical output, to the necessity of headcanons regarding how characters look & speak, to the challenges of handling changes in your fandom when the source material is adapted for TV & film. Also looking at how we participate in these fandoms and how we find fellow fen - does the rise of image-heavy Tumblr make it easier or harder? Where do we go to find fans and fanworks in our favorite literary fandoms?
Podfic! A podfic appreciation panel for fans & creators of podfic. Discussion could include the past, present, & future of podfic, how podficcers choose fic to podfic, how listeners choose podfics to download, issues surrounding author permission and transformative works policies, issues surrounding feedback, the impact of cover art, & lots & lots of squee. Also, why are some fandoms extremely podfic friendly, while in others it's almost unheard of? How has podfic evolved as a fannish medium? What are some things that podficcers do that really excite us as listeners? Also, I can't overemphasize the squee. Buckets of squee.
We Invented the Remix: A Popslash Retrospective Discussion about the popslash fandom of the late 90s/early 00s and its impact on fandom as we know it today.
Magical Realism Tropes "Hello, I'm magical realism! You may know me from such tropes as: 'everyone wears a timer that counts down to the moment you meet your soulmate'; 'everyone is born with the name of their beloved written on their hand'; and 'when music comes out of nowhere everyone takes a moment to break into song and dance!'
I am a relatively new trope in fandom (as far as I can tell), but people really like me, because, hey, I'm quite charming in my fancifulness and I lend easily to romance. The best thing about me is, I LOVE to be talked about at Wincon panels!"
What Makes You Haha Comedies! This is a panel about shows that make us laugh. We might also get into how fandom interacts with comedies and how that's different from what we do with dramas. Right now, my intent is to focus mainly on currently airing and recent comedies, but that could change/expand depending on the interests of the panelists.
RPF Fandom Lyfe A discussion of both the pros and cons of being in an RPF fandom, including the awesome stuff, fandom problems and 4th Wall Issues. Touching on 'hearing that we're the wrongest all the time', and 'please don't hang out outside their houses you make everyone look crazy', and cruising right on through to 'I've never seen this characterization before and I like it!', 'We raised HOW much money for charity?' and 'that fanart is flipping incredible'. May also quickly (or at length, whatever) talk about 'Oh wow, apparently you're different in real life than my headcanon. Or at least on Twitter', and 'What about the vloggers?'
HOCKEY "Come talk hockey/hockey RPF! Potential topics include: the lockout and the ways in which the lockout allowed fandom to grow exponentially; becoming a fan of a perpetually bottom-dwelling team and the ensuing heartbreak; reading fic of a team you don't root for and/or liking players on teams you root against; the popularity of trope inversion in hockey fic; mainstream hockey fandom's issues with race, class, and gender and how that changes the ways in which we engage with fandom; the Olympics; the trade deadline; shifting team allegiances; and other topics that come to mind!
Chromatic Diversity: Doing it Right We all know there's a lack of diversity when it comes to characters of colour in a lot of the media we enjoy, not to mention outright whitewashing in some cases. So what are the shows and movies that are doing it RIGHT? Possible shows to discuss: Parks & Rec, Community, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Elementary, Arrow
Help, Help, I can't find "The End"! There should be some sort of "how to end fics" panel. Because 90% of my fic ideas are "Ooo, what would happen if this one canon event went differently, and how would that one change ripple out and change other events" and then I have no idea how to end it in a way that is good.
American Horror History The history behind American horror with ties to multiple fandoms including American Horror Story. A discussion of how American History has shaped and created American monsters.
Alternative ways to participate in Fandom Okay, so let's say you can't really write great fic. And you can draw stick figures and manip heads onto bodies, but that's about it. That doesn't mean you can't participate in Fandom! There's lots more ways to give your creative streak free reign! From cookie cutters, legos, barbies (Can we say Plastic Winchesters?), and coloring book pages, to crosstitch, plushies, tshirts, and board games, get some ideas and brainstorm new ways to let your freaky fandom flag fly!
Things That Go Squee in the Night Discussion of horror TV shows, such as American Horror Story, The Walking Dead, Grimm, Sleepy Hollow, etc etc. (SPN discussion is welcome, but we will be focusing on other shows.)
Young Hercules: Before the man became myth, before the myth became legend... For those interested in reminiscing about the short-lived television show, or interested in learning about it for the first time. See Ryan Gosling before he was a movie star! See Dean O'Gorman before he was a dwarf! Get a brief primer about the show and why it's still so awesome after over a decade off the air, and ask questions!
Fic anatomy: from plotbunnies to plots worth reading So you've got a plotbunny. That's great. But how do you go from a "what if" fic idea to a full-blown plot with climaxes and stuff. How many buildups/climaxes/twists should a good plot have? Is there such a thing as too much plot? Are subplots necessary to good fics, and how do you find/build subplots? What is good plot pacing? Join us for the plotiest plots you've ever heard plotted!
Five-Minute Fandoms A place to view and pimp five-minute fandoms, including commercials, music videos, songs, poems, or anything else that is five minutes or less. People come to the mods at least an hour in advance and load up their commercial on a computer/sign up, and the panel can run like a mini vids show. Each presenter can give a 1 minute rundown of what they think makes it ripe with fannish possibilities. Fun for all!
Feminism and the BBC This will be a discussion about female characters on the BBC with a focus on Doctor Who, Sherlock and Downton Abbey. How do we identify with them, are they strong women or are the just there for support?
The Servants Quarters: Classism/Race/Gender in Downton Abbey This panel will be a discussion of the characters up and downstairs at Downton Abbey and how classism, race and gender play roles within the show. This will be looked at both in a historical context and a modern day context.
Tearing Down Angry Fandom Walls A DC fan and a Marvel fan sit together and list the worst mistakes of their comic fandoms to finally come together instead of attacking each other. The focus will be on mistakes within their OWN fandoms so that both fandoms can come together in their self-hatred.
Fandoms of the Flower Crown A wide-ranging discussion structured around the flower crown meme, covering some of the more popular fandoms that use the meme (1D, SPN, Hannibal, WtNV, etc.), how fandom is performed on tumblr, and the increasing transparency of the 4th wall as Hugh Dancy, Bryan Fuller, Cecil Baldwin, & many others don the flower crown and celebrate our fandoms with us.
Who died and made you king of the zombies? Let's talk about zombies. Fast zombies. Slow zombies. Book zombies. Movie zombies. Comic book zombies. TV show zombies. Real diseases that act like zombie viruses. What to pack in your Bug Out Bag and what to leave behind. How to survive the Zombie Apocalypse. And if all else fails, just do the Thriller dance. You should be fine.
Orange Is the New Black Discussion of Orange Is the New Black. Potential areas of discussion include the awesome, diverse cast of ladies and crazy femslash potential.
My Mad Fat Diary Discussion of British series My Mad Fat Diary and all of its awesomeness. (The show includes significant discussion of mental health issues including eating disorders. Con goers should be aware that those topics will probably come up in this panel.)
Brooklyn 99 Celebrating five central POCs, a gay character, three women, explicitly disregarded old straight white guys, and all the shipping/ensemble possibilities therein. The trials and tribulations of shipping live-action comedy shows. What's different about a fandom dominated by het/femmeslash rather than m/m slash, esp having come from male-dominated fandoms (although not limited to). Writing/fandoming in a comedy fandom that's got social justice in mind. Being a fanartist in a fandom with more than just young-middle aged white guys. Everything perfect about Rosa/Gina. Why The Uninitiated Should Watch This Show.
Apocalypse/Worst Case Scenario Guide Do you know what to do if the world as we know it ended tomorrow? In these ever-changing times, it's good to have a plan, or to at least start planning to have a plan. From Zombie outbreaks to more likely government collapse and shortages, we'll go over things you should be stockpiling at home, classes you should be taking (i.e. first aid and target practice), and how to find bomb and underground shelters in your area. Plus, and possibly most important of all, coping techniques for surviving if and when the internet stops working.
Teen Wolf Discussion of the MTV Teen Wolf TV show. Rage Bog provided.
In Memoriam A panel to remember fallen characters.
Fandom Survival 101 A discussion on inner-fandom communication, politics, norms and basically just how not to be overwhelmed. May touch on fandom history, wank, social trends and How Not To Be That One Person.
Kinks Disney Gave Us What it says on the tin. As children, Disney warped us all. It seems fitting that we revisit that while we're in Orlando.
Supernatural Discussion of the CW's Supernatural.
One Direction: Straight to Hell How a dumb boy band ruined my life and yours.
As a final note, today is the birthday of your programming co-head, the gorgeous and talented spreadsheet queen, clex_monkie89. Happy birthday, Clex!! <3
Today we're opening up voting for Wincon panels. We had loads of amazing panel ideas submitted, and now we want to put them into a schedule that works for you! If you're planning to attend Wincon, or know someone who might be, please spread the word.
We've put together a handy-dandy poll HERE, where you can tell us the panels you're interested in, the panels you're REALLY REALLY interested in, and the panels you'd like to help out with if there's an opportunity.
Voting for a panel (or saying you're interested in being on it) doesn't guarantee that it will be chosen, and we may ask some moderators to combine or modify their panels depending on interest. But we'd really like to make sure there's programming for everyone at Wincon, and that you all have ample opportunity to flail about the fannish things you love most. (If you're interested in being on a panel, please leave your email address in the box provided in the poll, so we can put you in direct contact with other panelists.)
In order to not clutter up the poll, we have lengthier panel descriptions under the cut. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them here!
Femslash A frank and open discussion on the state of femslash within fanfic and fandom. The dynamics of femslash, good and bad femslash and where to find it will be discussed as well as why it seems so fandoms lack it completely.
Let's Talk About Kink How do we write and talk about kink in fandom? How do we practice Your Kink Is Not My Kink And That's Okay without squicking ourselves or hurting anyone else? How do real life and fictional kink intersect, and how do they really, really not?
Keeping It in the Family Incest! Erotically codependent brothers! The influence of Flowers in the Attic on your youth! The Folgers commercial! Harry Styles' hot sister! Anything with the suffix -cest!
YA Books: Not Just For The Young (Or Adult) I want to have a discussion about YA books. This would include books that are hot this Fall, trends in YA lit, books made into movies, YA on twitter, and fave book recommendations.
Queering Gender in Fandom A small group panel about queering gender in fandom, be it through cosplay, fic, vid, gifset, whatever, and I'd love to talk about canonically gender nonconforming characters, plus all the ways fandom finds to fuck with the binary. Trans, genderqueer, crossdressing character fic, Rule 63, what we like, what we could be doing more of, what would be a good time. Pan-fandom!
User Interface I don't think Wincon has ever had a video game panel. With all of the talk I've seen for games like Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed, and World of Warcraft lately, I'd adore a panel about why we love these animated pixels so much, how we got into gaming, console vs computer (or both), or even what it's like not fitting the stereotypical "gamer" mold.
Niche fanworks Do you live for Yuletide? Are you off by yourself writing Cora/Erika and Scott/Boyd while all your friends are shipping Sterek? If you live for small fandoms, rare characters, and rare pairs, or if your fannish preferences are otherwise outside the norm for your fandom (i.e. you're a femslash fan in SPN fandom), this is the panel for you. Discussion to include finding fanworks to satisfy your particular itch, & what it's like to generate fanworks w/ no built-in audience. What keeps us motivated to create despite low hit counts, kudos, & comments comparatively speaking. Join the conversation to commiserate, pool resources re: comms & challenges for your niche of choice, & maybe even make some friends who share that niche with you.
Book-based fandoms For fans of the Vorkosigan Saga, Young Wizards, His Dark Materials, the Hainish Cycle, Alliance-Union, or any other book or series of books. Exploring how being fannish about books differs from being a fan of a show, movie, or even comic book - from the slower pace of new canonical output, to the necessity of headcanons regarding how characters look & speak, to the challenges of handling changes in your fandom when the source material is adapted for TV & film. Also looking at how we participate in these fandoms and how we find fellow fen - does the rise of image-heavy Tumblr make it easier or harder? Where do we go to find fans and fanworks in our favorite literary fandoms?
Podfic! A podfic appreciation panel for fans & creators of podfic. Discussion could include the past, present, & future of podfic, how podficcers choose fic to podfic, how listeners choose podfics to download, issues surrounding author permission and transformative works policies, issues surrounding feedback, the impact of cover art, & lots & lots of squee. Also, why are some fandoms extremely podfic friendly, while in others it's almost unheard of? How has podfic evolved as a fannish medium? What are some things that podficcers do that really excite us as listeners? Also, I can't overemphasize the squee. Buckets of squee.
We Invented the Remix: A Popslash Retrospective Discussion about the popslash fandom of the late 90s/early 00s and its impact on fandom as we know it today.
Magical Realism Tropes "Hello, I'm magical realism! You may know me from such tropes as: 'everyone wears a timer that counts down to the moment you meet your soulmate'; 'everyone is born with the name of their beloved written on their hand'; and 'when music comes out of nowhere everyone takes a moment to break into song and dance!'
I am a relatively new trope in fandom (as far as I can tell), but people really like me, because, hey, I'm quite charming in my fancifulness and I lend easily to romance. The best thing about me is, I LOVE to be talked about at Wincon panels!"
What Makes You Haha Comedies! This is a panel about shows that make us laugh. We might also get into how fandom interacts with comedies and how that's different from what we do with dramas. Right now, my intent is to focus mainly on currently airing and recent comedies, but that could change/expand depending on the interests of the panelists.
RPF Fandom Lyfe A discussion of both the pros and cons of being in an RPF fandom, including the awesome stuff, fandom problems and 4th Wall Issues. Touching on 'hearing that we're the wrongest all the time', and 'please don't hang out outside their houses you make everyone look crazy', and cruising right on through to 'I've never seen this characterization before and I like it!', 'We raised HOW much money for charity?' and 'that fanart is flipping incredible'. May also quickly (or at length, whatever) talk about 'Oh wow, apparently you're different in real life than my headcanon. Or at least on Twitter', and 'What about the vloggers?'
HOCKEY "Come talk hockey/hockey RPF! Potential topics include: the lockout and the ways in which the lockout allowed fandom to grow exponentially; becoming a fan of a perpetually bottom-dwelling team and the ensuing heartbreak; reading fic of a team you don't root for and/or liking players on teams you root against; the popularity of trope inversion in hockey fic; mainstream hockey fandom's issues with race, class, and gender and how that changes the ways in which we engage with fandom; the Olympics; the trade deadline; shifting team allegiances; and other topics that come to mind!
Chromatic Diversity: Doing it Right We all know there's a lack of diversity when it comes to characters of colour in a lot of the media we enjoy, not to mention outright whitewashing in some cases. So what are the shows and movies that are doing it RIGHT? Possible shows to discuss: Parks & Rec, Community, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Elementary, Arrow
Help, Help, I can't find "The End"! There should be some sort of "how to end fics" panel. Because 90% of my fic ideas are "Ooo, what would happen if this one canon event went differently, and how would that one change ripple out and change other events" and then I have no idea how to end it in a way that is good.
American Horror History The history behind American horror with ties to multiple fandoms including American Horror Story. A discussion of how American History has shaped and created American monsters.
Alternative ways to participate in Fandom Okay, so let's say you can't really write great fic. And you can draw stick figures and manip heads onto bodies, but that's about it. That doesn't mean you can't participate in Fandom! There's lots more ways to give your creative streak free reign! From cookie cutters, legos, barbies (Can we say Plastic Winchesters?), and coloring book pages, to crosstitch, plushies, tshirts, and board games, get some ideas and brainstorm new ways to let your freaky fandom flag fly!
Things That Go Squee in the Night Discussion of horror TV shows, such as American Horror Story, The Walking Dead, Grimm, Sleepy Hollow, etc etc. (SPN discussion is welcome, but we will be focusing on other shows.)
Young Hercules: Before the man became myth, before the myth became legend... For those interested in reminiscing about the short-lived television show, or interested in learning about it for the first time. See Ryan Gosling before he was a movie star! See Dean O'Gorman before he was a dwarf! Get a brief primer about the show and why it's still so awesome after over a decade off the air, and ask questions!
Fic anatomy: from plotbunnies to plots worth reading So you've got a plotbunny. That's great. But how do you go from a "what if" fic idea to a full-blown plot with climaxes and stuff. How many buildups/climaxes/twists should a good plot have? Is there such a thing as too much plot? Are subplots necessary to good fics, and how do you find/build subplots? What is good plot pacing? Join us for the plotiest plots you've ever heard plotted!
Five-Minute Fandoms A place to view and pimp five-minute fandoms, including commercials, music videos, songs, poems, or anything else that is five minutes or less. People come to the mods at least an hour in advance and load up their commercial on a computer/sign up, and the panel can run like a mini vids show. Each presenter can give a 1 minute rundown of what they think makes it ripe with fannish possibilities. Fun for all!
Feminism and the BBC This will be a discussion about female characters on the BBC with a focus on Doctor Who, Sherlock and Downton Abbey. How do we identify with them, are they strong women or are the just there for support?
The Servants Quarters: Classism/Race/Gender in Downton Abbey This panel will be a discussion of the characters up and downstairs at Downton Abbey and how classism, race and gender play roles within the show. This will be looked at both in a historical context and a modern day context.
Tearing Down Angry Fandom Walls A DC fan and a Marvel fan sit together and list the worst mistakes of their comic fandoms to finally come together instead of attacking each other. The focus will be on mistakes within their OWN fandoms so that both fandoms can come together in their self-hatred.
Fandoms of the Flower Crown A wide-ranging discussion structured around the flower crown meme, covering some of the more popular fandoms that use the meme (1D, SPN, Hannibal, WtNV, etc.), how fandom is performed on tumblr, and the increasing transparency of the 4th wall as Hugh Dancy, Bryan Fuller, Cecil Baldwin, & many others don the flower crown and celebrate our fandoms with us.
Who died and made you king of the zombies? Let's talk about zombies. Fast zombies. Slow zombies. Book zombies. Movie zombies. Comic book zombies. TV show zombies. Real diseases that act like zombie viruses. What to pack in your Bug Out Bag and what to leave behind. How to survive the Zombie Apocalypse. And if all else fails, just do the Thriller dance. You should be fine.
Orange Is the New Black Discussion of Orange Is the New Black. Potential areas of discussion include the awesome, diverse cast of ladies and crazy femslash potential.
My Mad Fat Diary Discussion of British series My Mad Fat Diary and all of its awesomeness. (The show includes significant discussion of mental health issues including eating disorders. Con goers should be aware that those topics will probably come up in this panel.)
Brooklyn 99 Celebrating five central POCs, a gay character, three women, explicitly disregarded old straight white guys, and all the shipping/ensemble possibilities therein. The trials and tribulations of shipping live-action comedy shows. What's different about a fandom dominated by het/femmeslash rather than m/m slash, esp having come from male-dominated fandoms (although not limited to). Writing/fandoming in a comedy fandom that's got social justice in mind. Being a fanartist in a fandom with more than just young-middle aged white guys. Everything perfect about Rosa/Gina. Why The Uninitiated Should Watch This Show.
Apocalypse/Worst Case Scenario Guide Do you know what to do if the world as we know it ended tomorrow? In these ever-changing times, it's good to have a plan, or to at least start planning to have a plan. From Zombie outbreaks to more likely government collapse and shortages, we'll go over things you should be stockpiling at home, classes you should be taking (i.e. first aid and target practice), and how to find bomb and underground shelters in your area. Plus, and possibly most important of all, coping techniques for surviving if and when the internet stops working.
Teen Wolf Discussion of the MTV Teen Wolf TV show. Rage Bog provided.
In Memoriam A panel to remember fallen characters.
Fandom Survival 101 A discussion on inner-fandom communication, politics, norms and basically just how not to be overwhelmed. May touch on fandom history, wank, social trends and How Not To Be That One Person.
Kinks Disney Gave Us What it says on the tin. As children, Disney warped us all. It seems fitting that we revisit that while we're in Orlando.
Supernatural Discussion of the CW's Supernatural.
One Direction: Straight to Hell How a dumb boy band ruined my life and yours.
As a final note, today is the birthday of your programming co-head, the gorgeous and talented spreadsheet queen, clex_monkie89. Happy birthday, Clex!! <3