Diacon Alley Day 2!
Jul. 23rd, 2011 02:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ravenna_c_tanStarted the morning waking up an hour early with jet leg and an idea for restructuring my whole talk. So I spent an hour re-doing my presentation and pulling more quotes from the Harry Potter books out to use to illustrate points.
And I discovered Songquake wrote a filk for me! http://songquake-fic.livejournal.com/15712.html It's an "ode to fandom" -- Song for St Cecilia of Slytherin, based on my review of the DH2 movie and "Hymn for St Cecilia's Day" with text by W.H. Auden and music by Benjamin Britten. It is awesomeness so go check it out!
Then came breakfast in the Great Hall, I mean, the Rutherford dining hall, where I once again curse the fact that the English teacup is only 6 ounces. I had to go back for more tea three times. Sigh.
After breakfast we had some time so me, gatewaygirl, and hpstrangelove got together to talk about the panel we're doing later, and then it was time for the morning presentation on Shipping the Chosen One. Rowan Grayjoy, Lokifan, Ragdoll, and Clare/Emcee/Its_Art shanghai'd Gatewaygirl onto the panel as well to talk about how Harry's characterization in fanfic changes depending on whom he has been paired (or trio'd...) with. Fascinating discussion about various types of fics and ships. Overall it seems that what house the person he's paired with is from means more than what gender they are! Very interesting and lots of food for thought on rarepairs.
Then came my slot in which I gave a crash course writing MFA in one hour. I basically outlined the craft lessons I learned in pursuit of a masters in writing, distilled into a coherent theory of story creation, applicable to either original fiction or fanfic. The gist: you establish the expectations of your readers from the very first sentence of what you write, and it is your obligation to your readers to fulfill those expectations you have set. I talked about narrative stance (encompassing point of view, tense, character voice, attitude, diction, etc) and how its establishment in the opening sentence telegraphs so much to the reader instantly, just like the first impression of meeting a person for the first time. It's important that the narrative stance match, and work for, the story you have. Plot grows out of the interactions of the characters' Goals, Motivations, and Conflicts. You need to define the GMC for not just your protagonist but all the other characters as well. The plot, however, can be shaped into the three act structure for a number of reasons and a number of ways, continually raising the stakes for the main character. The Black Moment, Inciting Incident, Denouement, et cetera. I had a lot of fun teaching it. And at the end I made a plea for people to buy my books so I wouldn't have to carry them home and whoosh, they were all sold! I hadn't carried that many, I could only fit 12 into my suitcase, but whoosh, they were gone.
I frittered away the lunch break talking with people, which I do not regret in the least, and snacked on a banana I'd put in my bag during breakfast.
The afternoon kicked off with a panel on "What Counts as Canon?" with Vaysh, Inamac, Moony, and Winoniel. It was illuminating to hear Winonial and Inamac talk about the "old days" of early Trek and Sherlock Holmes fandom and fic back in the 1970s, and both Vaysh and Moony had some very cogent ideas on canon versus secondary canon and its importance to fandom. We are probably headed for a world where some fics will end up marked "PWP" meaning "Pottermore, What Pottermore?" And what happens when the actors, producers, directors, etc... involved in producing a show or movie contradict each other in what they say? That's part of what makes secondary canon secondary.
Then came "The Old Lady Smut Brigade: The Position of Crones in Canon and Fanfic." Excellent presentation by Kelly Chambliss, TheRealSnape, and Tetley the Second. These women are among the leading writers of fics featuring women over 40 and they presented some fascinating information about "OWCs" -- older woman characters. Fewer than 2% of all fics on FF.net feature McGonagall as a main character, and she's the OWC in the lead. However among LJ/IJ fests, it's closer to 8%, and if you look at just gen fests, cutting out the smut fests, you get 26%. They went through the descriptions of the older women characters in the canon and how Rowling so often ridicules them and uses them as little more than comic relief. Interestingly, Rowling has included three "delectable butches" in that cast, including Amelia Bones, Madam Hooch, and Wilhemina Grubbly-Plank, but even with that so many of them are vulture-hat wearing, etc. The presentation included not only Sherbet Lemons as prizes, but a top notch performance of a terrific Snape/McGonagall drabble you would just have to hear to believe.
And then came the panel I was on, "WIPs and Chains: The Incomplete Novel and the Serial in Fanfic." This was Gatewaygirl's idea on why we like to read and write works-in-progress and also why we hate to...
That's coming up, actually, as I type this, which will be followed by the Daily Deviant smut reading, and then the en masse trip to the cinema to see Deathly Hallows 2 in 3-D!
LATER: Now back in the room and where did the time go? It's 2am. Yeah, I didn't stay jet lagged for long and am drifting to my usual night owl ways...
The WIPs and Chains panel was quite fun, with many audience members sharing our joys and frustrations about following WIPs. So much of the really satisfying fanfic to read is long-form and you get a different experience of it when you read as its being posted as opposed to always waiting until it is done. It's more like a long term relationship instead of a fling that way, don't you think? But if what we like about reading works in progress is that we can have greater emotional investment in something we're reading over a long period of time, it's even worse then when the fic gets abandoned, the writer leaves the fandom, has RL issues that interfere, or loses interest. Most of the people who said they never read WIPs are because they got burned.
The day's programming capped off with a reading from folks in the Daily Deviant community, which was a really nice series of hot fics! Sabethea went first and brought down the house with her smutty Christmas fic which featured Snarky Snape, Drunken Remus (and Sirius), and the portrait of Walburga Black. No, I really can't do it justice, but it was brilliant, both funny and smutty. In fact, a lot of the fics in the reading were funny, and all were blistering hot. Francie read some "year 8" H/D, Sebastian (kabal42) read Pansy/Ginny in latex and leather, they were all really fun.
And then it was into the bus for the movie! The con hired a real 1960's red double-decker bus to take us down there (in two trips), and see the movie.
On second watching I noticed a few more things, but now I can't remember them because I've just been drinking a bit with some folks. I had barely more than a sip but now it's all just gone right out of my head. Liked it just as much the second time, though, maybe more.
Ah, right, remembered. SPOILER ALERT:
There's the scene where McGonagall gets all giddy with "I always wanted to use that spell!" and Molly Weasley just gives her this momentary sideways look like: you crazy bat. Also, someone pointed out to me that after Fred is gone, there's a moment where you can see George in the background turn to say something to him... heartbreaking.
There were more things but I'm tired... END SPOILER ALERT.
After coming back here I ended up talking with some folks, hanging out for a bit, MelusinaHP finally arrived (yay!!) and I gave two Tarot readings to Kye (son_of_darkness), one for him, one for a character of his. Both appeared to be spot on and, somewhat strangely, even though the cards were fully shuffled, used most of the same cards! You just never know.
And now, bed. Hm. Maybe I'll try to sleep through breakfast...
* * * *
And I discovered Songquake wrote a filk for me! http://songquake-fic.livejournal.com/15712.html It's an "ode to fandom" -- Song for St Cecilia of Slytherin, based on my review of the DH2 movie and "Hymn for St Cecilia's Day" with text by W.H. Auden and music by Benjamin Britten. It is awesomeness so go check it out!
Then came breakfast in the Great Hall, I mean, the Rutherford dining hall, where I once again curse the fact that the English teacup is only 6 ounces. I had to go back for more tea three times. Sigh.
After breakfast we had some time so me, gatewaygirl, and hpstrangelove got together to talk about the panel we're doing later, and then it was time for the morning presentation on Shipping the Chosen One. Rowan Grayjoy, Lokifan, Ragdoll, and Clare/Emcee/Its_Art shanghai'd Gatewaygirl onto the panel as well to talk about how Harry's characterization in fanfic changes depending on whom he has been paired (or trio'd...) with. Fascinating discussion about various types of fics and ships. Overall it seems that what house the person he's paired with is from means more than what gender they are! Very interesting and lots of food for thought on rarepairs.
Then came my slot in which I gave a crash course writing MFA in one hour. I basically outlined the craft lessons I learned in pursuit of a masters in writing, distilled into a coherent theory of story creation, applicable to either original fiction or fanfic. The gist: you establish the expectations of your readers from the very first sentence of what you write, and it is your obligation to your readers to fulfill those expectations you have set. I talked about narrative stance (encompassing point of view, tense, character voice, attitude, diction, etc) and how its establishment in the opening sentence telegraphs so much to the reader instantly, just like the first impression of meeting a person for the first time. It's important that the narrative stance match, and work for, the story you have. Plot grows out of the interactions of the characters' Goals, Motivations, and Conflicts. You need to define the GMC for not just your protagonist but all the other characters as well. The plot, however, can be shaped into the three act structure for a number of reasons and a number of ways, continually raising the stakes for the main character. The Black Moment, Inciting Incident, Denouement, et cetera. I had a lot of fun teaching it. And at the end I made a plea for people to buy my books so I wouldn't have to carry them home and whoosh, they were all sold! I hadn't carried that many, I could only fit 12 into my suitcase, but whoosh, they were gone.
I frittered away the lunch break talking with people, which I do not regret in the least, and snacked on a banana I'd put in my bag during breakfast.
The afternoon kicked off with a panel on "What Counts as Canon?" with Vaysh, Inamac, Moony, and Winoniel. It was illuminating to hear Winonial and Inamac talk about the "old days" of early Trek and Sherlock Holmes fandom and fic back in the 1970s, and both Vaysh and Moony had some very cogent ideas on canon versus secondary canon and its importance to fandom. We are probably headed for a world where some fics will end up marked "PWP" meaning "Pottermore, What Pottermore?" And what happens when the actors, producers, directors, etc... involved in producing a show or movie contradict each other in what they say? That's part of what makes secondary canon secondary.
Then came "The Old Lady Smut Brigade: The Position of Crones in Canon and Fanfic." Excellent presentation by Kelly Chambliss, TheRealSnape, and Tetley the Second. These women are among the leading writers of fics featuring women over 40 and they presented some fascinating information about "OWCs" -- older woman characters. Fewer than 2% of all fics on FF.net feature McGonagall as a main character, and she's the OWC in the lead. However among LJ/IJ fests, it's closer to 8%, and if you look at just gen fests, cutting out the smut fests, you get 26%. They went through the descriptions of the older women characters in the canon and how Rowling so often ridicules them and uses them as little more than comic relief. Interestingly, Rowling has included three "delectable butches" in that cast, including Amelia Bones, Madam Hooch, and Wilhemina Grubbly-Plank, but even with that so many of them are vulture-hat wearing, etc. The presentation included not only Sherbet Lemons as prizes, but a top notch performance of a terrific Snape/McGonagall drabble you would just have to hear to believe.
And then came the panel I was on, "WIPs and Chains: The Incomplete Novel and the Serial in Fanfic." This was Gatewaygirl's idea on why we like to read and write works-in-progress and also why we hate to...
That's coming up, actually, as I type this, which will be followed by the Daily Deviant smut reading, and then the en masse trip to the cinema to see Deathly Hallows 2 in 3-D!
LATER: Now back in the room and where did the time go? It's 2am. Yeah, I didn't stay jet lagged for long and am drifting to my usual night owl ways...
The WIPs and Chains panel was quite fun, with many audience members sharing our joys and frustrations about following WIPs. So much of the really satisfying fanfic to read is long-form and you get a different experience of it when you read as its being posted as opposed to always waiting until it is done. It's more like a long term relationship instead of a fling that way, don't you think? But if what we like about reading works in progress is that we can have greater emotional investment in something we're reading over a long period of time, it's even worse then when the fic gets abandoned, the writer leaves the fandom, has RL issues that interfere, or loses interest. Most of the people who said they never read WIPs are because they got burned.
The day's programming capped off with a reading from folks in the Daily Deviant community, which was a really nice series of hot fics! Sabethea went first and brought down the house with her smutty Christmas fic which featured Snarky Snape, Drunken Remus (and Sirius), and the portrait of Walburga Black. No, I really can't do it justice, but it was brilliant, both funny and smutty. In fact, a lot of the fics in the reading were funny, and all were blistering hot. Francie read some "year 8" H/D, Sebastian (kabal42) read Pansy/Ginny in latex and leather, they were all really fun.
And then it was into the bus for the movie! The con hired a real 1960's red double-decker bus to take us down there (in two trips), and see the movie.
On second watching I noticed a few more things, but now I can't remember them because I've just been drinking a bit with some folks. I had barely more than a sip but now it's all just gone right out of my head. Liked it just as much the second time, though, maybe more.
Ah, right, remembered. SPOILER ALERT:
There's the scene where McGonagall gets all giddy with "I always wanted to use that spell!" and Molly Weasley just gives her this momentary sideways look like: you crazy bat. Also, someone pointed out to me that after Fred is gone, there's a moment where you can see George in the background turn to say something to him... heartbreaking.
There were more things but I'm tired... END SPOILER ALERT.
After coming back here I ended up talking with some folks, hanging out for a bit, MelusinaHP finally arrived (yay!!) and I gave two Tarot readings to Kye (son_of_darkness), one for him, one for a character of his. Both appeared to be spot on and, somewhat strangely, even though the cards were fully shuffled, used most of the same cards! You just never know.
And now, bed. Hm. Maybe I'll try to sleep through breakfast...
* * * *
