sholio: sun on winter trees (BH-Mitchell Annie squee)
Sholio ([personal profile] sholio) wrote2009-08-02 09:47 pm
Entry tags:

Writercon yay!

After all my airport-related woes, I finally got to the hotel at 3 a.m. Saturday morning. But aside from missing the first day of the con (and also sleeping through the first round of panels this morning; oops), it's been awesome. I've never done a con like this one before; all the previous conventions I'd gone to were comic conventions, usually taking place in various non-hotel venues, and I was generally stuck behind a table all day. This is the first time I've done the whole panel and con-suite party thing, and I am totally having a blast. I cannot praise the organizers too highly -- they're taking fantastic care of us, and they've been feeding us very well with homemade food and snacks of both the healthy and non-healthy variety. I've met lots of LJ people; I'm sitting here in a hotel room with [livejournal.com profile] sgatazmy and [livejournal.com profile] astridv right now (all of us on our respective laptops). [livejournal.com profile] greyias already had to leave for her flight; I've also met [livejournal.com profile] ladycat777, [livejournal.com profile] cathexys, [livejournal.com profile] michelel72, [livejournal.com profile] donutsweeper and a metric ton of other people I don't know very well but whose LJ handles are generally familiar from having seen them around SGA fandom or [livejournal.com profile] metafandom. (I know I'm probably spacing on various people I should mention here, so just assume that I've got post-convention brain and I really enjoyed meeting all of you!)

Best of all, I really enjoyed all of the panels and workshops that I attended, and came away with my creativity in overdrive and tons of ideas for things to write about. The future of SGA fandom was discussed at one panel, now that it's a closed canon, and I want to think more about this and type up my meta-ish thoughts on the survival/success of the fandom and ways that we can keep it healthy. Despite everything, and my own negativity of the past few (pre-Writercon) days, I still consider SGA "my" fandom and I'd like to do my part to help keep up a high level of reader/writer involvement even without new canon.

Am, however, making a mental note for when I'm at Wizard World next weekend: I can apparently no longer stay up 'til 3 a.m. drinking and be fine in the morning, like I could when I was 22. Who knew?

It's still horribly smoky at home and it's going to be 85 to 90 degrees all week, which I do not miss. On the other hand, Oklahoma, where I shall be tomorrow, is apparently 100 degrees and humid. oh dear god kill me now please. *cries*
ext_841: (Default)

[identity profile] cathexys.livejournal.com 2009-08-03 03:43 am (UTC)(link)
I'm so sorry we didn't get a chance to talk more and longer, but it was great to even see you for like the minute we managed and now to have a face with your posts. Glad you had a lot of fun! *hugs*
ext_1981: (Leverage-Parker girly)

[identity profile] friendshipper.livejournal.com 2009-08-03 04:04 am (UTC)(link)
It was so awesome to meet you, and I really enjoyed your presentation! This has been a fantastic experience, and I've got so many more faces to put to LJ names now; very cool. :)

*hugs back*

[identity profile] leenys.livejournal.com 2009-08-03 03:49 am (UTC)(link)
Glad you had a blast. :D

I can tell you easily how to keep the SGA fandom alive. Get everyone to stop bitching. *winks*
ext_1981: (Shrine-Rodney back)

[identity profile] friendshipper.livejournal.com 2009-08-03 04:18 am (UTC)(link)
Ha. I think it's way more complicated than that! But I'm really happy that so many people are still in the fandom despite everything, even those who've been pretty quiet on that front lately. *pokes you gently*

I am tossing around some ideas for cool memes and show-related games and discussions and things, when I get back home in a couple of weeks.

p.s. I love that icon. :D
Edited 2009-08-03 04:18 (UTC)

[identity profile] livrelibre.livejournal.com 2009-08-03 04:38 am (UTC)(link)
Glad you got there OK and had a good time!
ext_1981: (Default)

[identity profile] friendshipper.livejournal.com 2009-08-03 05:10 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you! :) I'm glad you finally managed to escape Philly. :D
ext_2160: SGA John & Rodney (Default)

[identity profile] winter-elf.livejournal.com 2009-08-03 05:29 am (UTC)(link)
I'm very glad you made it - finally! *cough* I soooooo hear you on the staying up till 3am and then getting up before noon the next day. I can't do that anymore either. Oh, how I remember long ago cons and staying up till all hours and not being a zombie the next day.

I'm curious on the SGA panel. Was it just on SGA as a fandom survival or was it various closed canon shows and how they fared or didn't? I want SGA to continue as a fandom as well, because it's also my fandom. *sigh*

Ouch! 100! shudder. It was pretty hot here, but I don't think it broke 100.
ext_1981: (Sanzo headache)

[identity profile] friendshipper.livejournal.com 2009-08-03 06:27 am (UTC)(link)
Thanks. :)

It was just SGA specifically (though several people who were still active in other closed-canon fandoms, like Buffy or SG1, offered suggestions). I need to kinda sort through all the various ideas that were thrown out there, and the issues that people brought up, and get them straight in my own head before I post about it.

I'm still pretty optimistic about the fandom, though -- and I actually did say at the panel that one of the things that's very encouraging to me is that we had a room full of people from different parts of fandom (gen people, shippers of various persuasions, people who liked season five and those who didn't) and we all talked about the fandom and the show for an hour and a half without having any hurt feelings, upset or fights. It left me feeling really good about our ability to move forward as a fandom.

[identity profile] sgafan.livejournal.com 2009-08-03 06:56 am (UTC)(link)
Hiya ;) Don't post much but I had to pipe up about the interesting discussion over canon being closed in SGA. It's interesting to me because when I first started writing SGA, I actually had to adapt to open canon, because every fandom I'd written in before had long been closed. Yet, the fandoms were still vibrant communities with lots of stories and active members. Because of that, I really didn't even break stride writing when Atlantis was canceled, though its cancellation threw me for a loop otherwise. ;) I think a fandom can remain vibrant after a show ends, especially something like Atlantis that has so many options for stories because of the vast and almost endless opportunities its "world" offers. Besides, with canon closed, you don't have to worry about things you extrapolate on and "establish" in your own little world, being proven wrong. (which happened to me, more than once with Atlantis LOL ;))

My muse is still happily puttering along and I do what I can to help maintain the fandom and I'm optimistic about it's future (even if I HATE that my favorite show was canceled! ;) )

*goes back to lurking*
ext_1981: (Default)

[identity profile] friendshipper.livejournal.com 2009-08-04 04:56 am (UTC)(link)
Hi! :)

I've had similar experiences to you -- I haven't always fanned on closed-canon shows, but SGA was the first open-canon fandom in which I wrote more than an occasional one-shot episode tag, and I did have to adjust my way of thinking to accommodate it.

There are lots of examples of closed-canon shows that still have active ficcing communities, but they always do contract when canon ends, and I think that's what's scaring people about SGA right now. However, I think that SGA fandom was big enough to be fairly resilient now that there's no new canon, even if some people leave. I did feel like we had leveled off as a fandom in the last couple of years anyway -- there were a few new people coming in, but not really very many, and perhaps not even enough to offset the number who were leaving. So I think overall, there is probably going to be a noticeable shift in the whole "feeling" of the fandom, and probably, yes, a contraction as people drift off to other things. But I definitely think there will be enough people left to still have an active and lively fandom.

[identity profile] sgafan.livejournal.com 2009-08-04 06:08 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, ITA. They always contract some when canon closes/the show ends. Then you have things like movies *cough* (Movies!) that always brings a new influx of people but things really do level out.

I've noticed the fandom had leveled out the last couple years as well, mostly by new membership on the site I admin. Though I think, like you do, the SGA fandom will continue to thrive, even if its contracted some from what it once was. Stargate as a whole is a pretty good sized fandom and the new blood brought in by new shows always trickles down to all the shows in the fandom. :)

[identity profile] rheanna27.livejournal.com 2009-08-03 07:12 am (UTC)(link)
I'm glad you got to the con - eventually! I'm terribly envious - it sounds like SO MUCH FUN. Next Writercon, I am so there.
ext_1981: (Wiseguy-Vinnie Frank night)

[identity profile] friendshipper.livejournal.com 2009-08-04 04:49 am (UTC)(link)
I can honestly say that this was one of my favorite cons ever, and when/if it happens again, I am totally going to try to go. I really hope that you do too! :D

[identity profile] michelel72.livejournal.com 2009-08-04 04:41 am (UTC)(link)
I'm delighted you made it to the con -- it was wonderful to meet you. And sorry about Oklahoma. My friend and I joke about travel karma; hope I didn't accidentally snag all of yours!
ext_1981: (Bobby Winchesters hot)

[identity profile] friendshipper.livejournal.com 2009-08-04 04:43 am (UTC)(link)
It was great to meet you, too! And thank you for being cool with a bunch of mostly-strangers descending on your hotel room at 1 a.m. :D