(no subject)

[seekingferret]

It's hard to be too critical of ConZealand programming given the absurd circumstances under which they are undertaking the convention. And yet... :P

File 770 reports about criticism the con is facing for unequal and poorly arranged programming allotment for Hugo nominees, which seems to have as usual disproportionately affected minority Hugo nominees in a variety of ways. The con has already responded, making at least some effort to try to correct course, to their credit, but this is not the first time we've seen issues like this.



Meanwhile, my own personal bugaboo about Worldcon programming.

A Complete List of all Fanfic/Fanworks Related Programming on the Worldcon schedule

1. What Fanfiction Can Teach Genre Writers

Fanfiction’s popularity continues to grow, tapping into the special creative connection between authors and fans. What is it about this literary nexus that is so fascinating and stimulating for fans? And what might authors have to learn from fans who write it?


...


...



Yes, that's the whole list.


WE GAVE THE AO3 A HUGO LAST YEAR!!! IT WAS KIND OF A HUGE DEAL! WHY DOES WORLDCON PROGRAMMING CONTINUE TO THINK THAT FANFIC WRITERS AND READERS ARE SOME OTHER PEOPLE AND NOT AN INTEGRAL PART OF WORLDCON FANDOM? WHY DO THEY THINK THAT FANFIC IS ONLY WORTH TALKING ABOUT IN CONTEXT OF ITS RELATION TO ORIGINAL FICTION AND PRO AUTHORS?


Edit:

Oh, shit, I went back to my post about this from last year, and this is just a recycled panel description from Dublin with new panelists. WTF, Worldcon?

Comments

[ambyr]

Why. Why. Why.

[seekingferret]

On the plus side, it motivated me to email Discon's programming DH and ask if I can help develop fanworks programming.

[ambyr]

PLEASE DO.

[seekingferret]

I got an enthusiastic response and was directed to fill out the volunteer form so I could be processed before being added to the program brainstorming team. I realized after doing so that this is the second time I have filled out the Discon volunteer form; the last time was more than two months ago and I have not heard anything back yet. So... maybe I will be working on fanworks programming??

[ambyr]

If you don't hear anything back in a month or so, let me know and I will try to figure out where your application is languishing. (I am on staff, theoretically--I say theoretically because my particular staff position will be completely irrelevant if we can't do an in-person convention, so it all feels very tenuous :-/.)

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

Inertia?

Though, I did read that someone found that they had done a workshop previously, like between a couple of different WorldCons.

But yeah, it's a bit old that AO3ple are members in standing and professional SFF writers, but somehow fan fiction is the redhead in the room, kid brother or femme fatale.

It's as if Pro Authors are a default category which is ridiculous. Fen are more primordial than People with Agents. They may climb out of the ooze and secure a publisher but that's a distinction not an Original State.

Sounds like it's time for more What is Original Fiction and Shakespeare, Pastiche and Fermenting New Takes. Genre, literature and Novel|Romans

[rosefox]

I'm so tired of this.

[elf]

Yeah, I went through the schedule looking for fanworks-related topics, and... it's like they went out of their way to imply they don't exist.
Music in SF and Fantasy doesn't mention the existence of filk.

Fanworks-related panels I'd like to see:
* Genre differences between SF, fantasy, and fanfic
* "The readers don't talk to me anymore" - Going from fanficcer to pro writer, and the loss of feedback
* Writing fanfic of your own worlds
* Tropes in fanfic that don't exist anywhere else
* Commercialization Woes: Why it's okay to sell fanart but not fanfic
* Myths and rumors about copyright law as it relates to fanfic (requires an IP lawyer)
* "The fights are vicious because the stakes are small" - Why fanfic communities shred each other while ignoring pro content with the same tropes

...and so on. There's no shortage of fanfic-related topics that would make excellent panels of interest to people outside of the fanfic niche communities.

[alexseanchai]

I'd also want the commercialization panel to talk about fan comics. bc is (for example) Scarlet Lady by zoe-oneesama fanart or fanfic? for tumblr purposes, fanart, I think, but were Zoe to sell it for personal profit and were the copyright owners of Miraculous Ladybug to sue, I bet it's fanfic.

and the genre differences panel I think ought to speak to pro romance, too, for reasons including but not limited to how much fanfic is shippy. that might be a hard sell to an SFF con, though, for reasons including but not limited to internalized misogyny (and queermisia!) baked into attitudes about romance as a genre…

re going from fanficcer to pro writer, I know the reason Seanan McGuire stopped admitting what her fannish handle is is because fans of her pro work (and I'm tempted to apply sneer quotes to "fans", from how she described these comments, but unsolicited supposedly-constructive criticism is not exactly an unheard-of fandom phenomenon, either) started reviewing her fanfic as though it were as rigorously edited as her pro work and as though its writing were motivated by the same concerns as her pro work. can't imagine why she lost interest in having crossover between those two audiences.

re fans vs objectionable fan content not objectionable pro content, the same dynamic plays out in a lot of spaces and #OwnVoices is actually one of them. (I think, but cannot remember for sure, that the same Seanan McGuire essay that convinced me to pick up her novels—the one where she promises her fiction is sexual-violence–free—is the essay in which she observes that beta readers who are all for more female protagonists were reacting much more harshly to the actual draft of an October Daye novel than they did to a version referring to the protagonist as 'Harry Dresden' and 'he'.) social justice activism, as is perhaps unsurprising, is another. combine this with the ship-wars-meet-purity-culture "anti-shipping" stuff and no wonder we're all in this handbasket.

the tropes panel would probably have to address the omegaverse lawsuit unless it was back to back with a panel about pro fic using fanfic tropes, the current existence and future creation thereof. which might be the best way to keep the omegaverse lawsuit from taking over the tropes panel.

…and that last is apparently the only addition to your list that I can think of…

[elf]

Ooh, I'd forgotten about fan comics. I rarely read them, and I know they're a huge community. ...Another whole medium of F&SF that Worldcon and literary cons in general skip over.

I could see a panel on "Mystery, Horror, Thriller, Romance: SFF Genre crossovers." (I could potentially see a panel for each of those, but that would take a very writerly focused convention, not one for a mix of readers and writers.) Or a panel about "Scifi is a setting; is your plot M, H, T, R or Adventure?"

I've read that Seanan McGuire essay, and it stuck in my head for years before I actually read any of the Toby Daye novels (or for that matter, Dresden Files, which I have now also read).

If a convention were willing to address fanfic as something other than "practice writing on your way to going pro," it could have panels like "Too many plotbunnies, not enough time to write" and "How to run a fic exchange" and "History of Fic Archives."

[seekingferret]

Thanks, this is a helpful list!

[elf]

If you're looking for inspiration for fanworks-centered panels, you could check out Escapade's programming - that's a slash con in February. (I can't remember if you're familiar with it.)

While a whole lot of the panels are focused on specific fandom in ways that wouldn't appeal to a Worldcon crowd, some of the meta panels would be great with a different audience. The older panel listings are included on subpages to the Escapade page at Fanlore.

[starlady]

I recognize that they're under an extraordinary burden because pandemic, which is made worse because of New Zealand's mediocre internet infrastructure. And yet…so many of these problems have absolutely nothing to do with those circumstances.

[elf]

There's apparently an additional burden of New Zealand's anti-harassment laws, which prevent followup emails unless the person has responded.

But yeah, the tech issues are exacerbations, not the core problem.