The Witching Hour!
Oct. 10th, 2005 12:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
emmagrant01Oh, con drop is depressing, isn't it? I had such a good time at TWH, more fun than I even expected to have. It was great to be surrounded by fen for days, and the thought of going back to the real world is… blech. No! I want to pretend I'm at Hogwarts for another week, please!
I met so many amazing people, and that deserves another post. For now, here's what I did, in case you're interested. :-)
Thursday:
I missed the welcome feast and the sorting because I didn't get in until 9:00 pm, but I arrived at the Sheraton in time to go to the H/D Room of Requirement.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tea_and_toast dragged me into the room and introduced me, and there was a very large squee. :-P People were very nice, though, and lots of familiar people came over to hug me and say hello! Not long after that some of us headed over to the ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
pornish_pixies meetup (at a brewpub in Salem, a 20-minute bus ride away, but I had a great time chatting with geoviki along the way). There were so many amazing folks there that it was hard to know where to look first! It was after 1:00 before I got back to my hotel room.
Friday:
I'm glad I stayed at the Sheraton because there were lots of fun things going on there. There would be impromptu drabble challenges (followed by readings, of course), the movies were playing there (so if you couldn't sleep you could always pop in in the middle of the night), and there were a tremendous number of slashers staying there, so the room parties were great fun as well. It was a lot like staying at a boarding school, actually! But it was so far away from most of the programming that it still sucked to have to ride the bus into town to go to panels. The buses didn't come on a reliable schedule, either.
Friday morning, I went to a round table about canon vs. fanon characterizations of the Maruaders, which was pretty interesting. It was mostly Remus/Sirius shippers, as you might imagine, and they argued over details I have to say I haven't given much thought to! They spent the entire hour talking about Remus and Peter and never even made it to James or Siurius. I went to the Fiction Alley meetup for lunch, which was probably a bit odd considering that I have only one fic posted at FA and have never been active on the boards there. I met a lot of new folks, though, and that's always fun. And we got FA chapstick!
As you might expect, there were a LOT of panels about Snape in HBP. One on Friday afternoon basically was a debate about whether or not Snape is loyal to Dumbledore or to Voldemort, and that one got pretty heated! It was fascinating to sit in a huge room full of people who know so much about the books, though. There's nothing like being a geek in a crowd of geeks!
That night, there was a concert back at the Sheraton (Harry & the Potters opening for the Weird Sisters), and it was interrupted by a swarm of Death Eaters chasing Harry (played bymijan). The concert stopped and there was a battle right in the middle of the crowd, which finally ended with Harry getting away, I think. There was a cool picture of it in the newspaper the next morning.
I ended up at a room party that night withtea_and_toast and a bunch of the FA folks. They were really nice and welcoming to me, even though I was a stranger to most of them and they'd all known each other for a long time. This is one of the things I love about fandom, you know? Sure, there are crackhead lunatics out there, but in my experience, most fen are friendly and outgoing, and a lot of fun.
Saturday:
It rained ALL day Saturday, which really sucked. It was still warm and muggy too, which made it even more miserable. But the panels were great! I went to a panel about slash as a literary genre, another panel about Snape and his ambiguity in canon, and a panel about ethics and morality in the wizarding world. I mostly sat and listened to the discussions, really amazed by the level of discourse.
I managed to procure a ticket to hear Henry Jenkins talk over lunch, and that was probably the highlight of TWH for me. He was amazing -- smart, funny, and a great speaker. He talked about how fans are no longer underground or marginalized, but are now a force to be reckoned with in the media. He has a new book coming out soon and there's a chapter in it about Harry Potter fen that particularly focuses on how the kids in the fandom have been empowered by their participation in it, through forging connections with other kids online, learning to critically read, write, and beta, and expressing themselves through fan fiction and art. He talked about writing Mary Sues as an important phase young writers go through, saying that they self-insert in order to learn how to interact with the text. It was really fantastic, and I can't wait for his new book to come out!
The H/D roundtable was that afternoon, and it seemed to go really well. We had about 40 people, which was a good number for the small room we had. The conversation was about the ways in which the H/D dynamic has evolved over the last few books, and how each new infusion of canon has affected fan fiction and the depictions of the ship. We talked a lot about how much OOTP seemed to change the ship. Most people there thought it got a lot more interesting after that because there was more for the characters to overcome in order to be together. Several people suggested that the fics got a lot more complex after that, which makes for interesting reading. We then spent a lot of time talking about where we think the ship would go in light of HBP and what we saw of Draco there.
You know, I kept hearing H/D get maligned in other panels, as if the fics aren't as good as those in the other ships, or as if it's all fluffy OOC fic. That just isn't true, IMNSHO. Something that's really interesting, though, is that there is a sense that the bigger a ship is, the worse the fic must be. People seem to assume that just because something is popular, it must be crap. The were quite a few people who seemed to have the attitude that their small little niche of a ship that a handful of people read and write is somehow inherently better than H/D. It's such a reversal of the OTPism I experienced in the TPM fandom that it's almost difficult for me to wrap my brain around it!
That night there was supposed to be a Fall Festival in Salem, and they were going to turn the downtown area into Hogsmeade. Unfortunately, the rain really made that impossible. The Quidditch tournament had gone on as planned, but the thought of slogging around in the rain all evening didn't seem appealing to most people. I went out to dinner with a group of people, then participated in some drabbling back at the hotel.
Sunday:
The temperature dropped 20 degrees overnight, and the rain stopped -- so it finally felt like what everyone had expected it to! I ran intoqurinas, who had just come down for the day, purely by accident! We caught up over coffee and then went to panels. There was a great lineup of long panels that afternoon on slash and feminist issues in fan fiction writing. We talked about everything from the definition of slash to depictions of homosexuality in slash to the "Eww het!" phenomenon and what it implies about a female-dominated fandom. There were intense debates about what it means to write strong female characters, and lots of speculation about why many writers seem to avoid writing female characters altogether.
A group of us went out for sushi, then those of us who stayed at the Sheraton had to book it back to change for the Halloween Ball. The ball turned out to be a lot of fun.nmalfoy did a great job of DJing, and everyone was dancing and having fun. We were all dressed up, so it felt a bit like a school dance! There were lots of pictures being taken, and I met even more people whom I hadn't yet had a chance to talk to.
After the ball, the bus ride back to the Sheraton was great. We sang songs the entire way (yes, we were all drunk), ending with a very loud and long rendition of American Pie. The movie that night was POA, so I joined the giant pajama party to go watch it. It was hilarious! Before the movie, groups of people in costumes were acting out scenes on request, all with a fun and occasionally slashy twist, of course. When the movie finally started, it was a blast. People were shouting and cheering, calling out funny lines and of course taking advantage of every potentially slashy moment to make a comment. People were all in their PJs and curled up with pillows and blankets, passing around bags of popcorn. I was having these hilarious flashbacks to college!
I really was sorry to have to leave early Monday morning. My flight left at 9:00, so I was going to miss the Leaving Breakfast -- and I have no idea who won the house cup! I know I never earned any points for Gryffindor, though. Hufflepuff staged some huge thing at the Ball that earned them a lot of points, so I'm guessing it might have been them.
Overall, this was a fantastic weekend. It was just plain fun, you know? It was great to meet so many cool people who have only been LJ names to me in the past, to see everyone in amazing costumes, and to listen to great discussions about Harry Potter. I felt like I got to get to know fans outside of the H/D LJ world too, and that was something I didn't expect.
ETA: Check out the_witchinghour_ LJ for newsletters and pictures from TWH!
On posting photos: Lots of people took pictures at TWH and I know I showed up in them -- and I have a big favor to ask. I'd rather photos in which I'm clearly identified not be posted publicly. Under a lock is fine, but I just don't want to be so easily identifiable in a public space. With the new Blog search engines, it's hard to keep entries from being publicly available and easily searchable. Sorry to be a stick-in-the-mud about that, but I'm in the closet as a slasher, and I kinda want to keep it that way... Thanks in advance! :-)
So, Lumos! I'm planning to go. I've been asked to speak on a panel, and I'm thinking about submitting a proposal for a panel as well. I think it would be another fantastic weekend, and all in one hotel this time!
I met so many amazing people, and that deserves another post. For now, here's what I did, in case you're interested. :-)
Thursday:
I missed the welcome feast and the sorting because I didn't get in until 9:00 pm, but I arrived at the Sheraton in time to go to the H/D Room of Requirement.
tea_and_toast dragged me into the room and introduced me, and there was a very large squee. :-P People were very nice, though, and lots of familiar people came over to hug me and say hello! Not long after that some of us headed over to the pornish_pixies meetup (at a brewpub in Salem, a 20-minute bus ride away, but I had a great time chatting with geoviki along the way). There were so many amazing folks there that it was hard to know where to look first! It was after 1:00 before I got back to my hotel room.Friday:
I'm glad I stayed at the Sheraton because there were lots of fun things going on there. There would be impromptu drabble challenges (followed by readings, of course), the movies were playing there (so if you couldn't sleep you could always pop in in the middle of the night), and there were a tremendous number of slashers staying there, so the room parties were great fun as well. It was a lot like staying at a boarding school, actually! But it was so far away from most of the programming that it still sucked to have to ride the bus into town to go to panels. The buses didn't come on a reliable schedule, either.
Friday morning, I went to a round table about canon vs. fanon characterizations of the Maruaders, which was pretty interesting. It was mostly Remus/Sirius shippers, as you might imagine, and they argued over details I have to say I haven't given much thought to! They spent the entire hour talking about Remus and Peter and never even made it to James or Siurius. I went to the Fiction Alley meetup for lunch, which was probably a bit odd considering that I have only one fic posted at FA and have never been active on the boards there. I met a lot of new folks, though, and that's always fun. And we got FA chapstick!
As you might expect, there were a LOT of panels about Snape in HBP. One on Friday afternoon basically was a debate about whether or not Snape is loyal to Dumbledore or to Voldemort, and that one got pretty heated! It was fascinating to sit in a huge room full of people who know so much about the books, though. There's nothing like being a geek in a crowd of geeks!
That night, there was a concert back at the Sheraton (Harry & the Potters opening for the Weird Sisters), and it was interrupted by a swarm of Death Eaters chasing Harry (played by
mijan). The concert stopped and there was a battle right in the middle of the crowd, which finally ended with Harry getting away, I think. There was a cool picture of it in the newspaper the next morning.I ended up at a room party that night with
tea_and_toast and a bunch of the FA folks. They were really nice and welcoming to me, even though I was a stranger to most of them and they'd all known each other for a long time. This is one of the things I love about fandom, you know? Sure, there are crackhead lunatics out there, but in my experience, most fen are friendly and outgoing, and a lot of fun. Saturday:
It rained ALL day Saturday, which really sucked. It was still warm and muggy too, which made it even more miserable. But the panels were great! I went to a panel about slash as a literary genre, another panel about Snape and his ambiguity in canon, and a panel about ethics and morality in the wizarding world. I mostly sat and listened to the discussions, really amazed by the level of discourse.
I managed to procure a ticket to hear Henry Jenkins talk over lunch, and that was probably the highlight of TWH for me. He was amazing -- smart, funny, and a great speaker. He talked about how fans are no longer underground or marginalized, but are now a force to be reckoned with in the media. He has a new book coming out soon and there's a chapter in it about Harry Potter fen that particularly focuses on how the kids in the fandom have been empowered by their participation in it, through forging connections with other kids online, learning to critically read, write, and beta, and expressing themselves through fan fiction and art. He talked about writing Mary Sues as an important phase young writers go through, saying that they self-insert in order to learn how to interact with the text. It was really fantastic, and I can't wait for his new book to come out!
The H/D roundtable was that afternoon, and it seemed to go really well. We had about 40 people, which was a good number for the small room we had. The conversation was about the ways in which the H/D dynamic has evolved over the last few books, and how each new infusion of canon has affected fan fiction and the depictions of the ship. We talked a lot about how much OOTP seemed to change the ship. Most people there thought it got a lot more interesting after that because there was more for the characters to overcome in order to be together. Several people suggested that the fics got a lot more complex after that, which makes for interesting reading. We then spent a lot of time talking about where we think the ship would go in light of HBP and what we saw of Draco there.
You know, I kept hearing H/D get maligned in other panels, as if the fics aren't as good as those in the other ships, or as if it's all fluffy OOC fic. That just isn't true, IMNSHO. Something that's really interesting, though, is that there is a sense that the bigger a ship is, the worse the fic must be. People seem to assume that just because something is popular, it must be crap. The were quite a few people who seemed to have the attitude that their small little niche of a ship that a handful of people read and write is somehow inherently better than H/D. It's such a reversal of the OTPism I experienced in the TPM fandom that it's almost difficult for me to wrap my brain around it!
That night there was supposed to be a Fall Festival in Salem, and they were going to turn the downtown area into Hogsmeade. Unfortunately, the rain really made that impossible. The Quidditch tournament had gone on as planned, but the thought of slogging around in the rain all evening didn't seem appealing to most people. I went out to dinner with a group of people, then participated in some drabbling back at the hotel.
Sunday:
The temperature dropped 20 degrees overnight, and the rain stopped -- so it finally felt like what everyone had expected it to! I ran into
qurinas, who had just come down for the day, purely by accident! We caught up over coffee and then went to panels. There was a great lineup of long panels that afternoon on slash and feminist issues in fan fiction writing. We talked about everything from the definition of slash to depictions of homosexuality in slash to the "Eww het!" phenomenon and what it implies about a female-dominated fandom. There were intense debates about what it means to write strong female characters, and lots of speculation about why many writers seem to avoid writing female characters altogether.A group of us went out for sushi, then those of us who stayed at the Sheraton had to book it back to change for the Halloween Ball. The ball turned out to be a lot of fun.
nmalfoy did a great job of DJing, and everyone was dancing and having fun. We were all dressed up, so it felt a bit like a school dance! There were lots of pictures being taken, and I met even more people whom I hadn't yet had a chance to talk to.After the ball, the bus ride back to the Sheraton was great. We sang songs the entire way (yes, we were all drunk), ending with a very loud and long rendition of American Pie. The movie that night was POA, so I joined the giant pajama party to go watch it. It was hilarious! Before the movie, groups of people in costumes were acting out scenes on request, all with a fun and occasionally slashy twist, of course. When the movie finally started, it was a blast. People were shouting and cheering, calling out funny lines and of course taking advantage of every potentially slashy moment to make a comment. People were all in their PJs and curled up with pillows and blankets, passing around bags of popcorn. I was having these hilarious flashbacks to college!
I really was sorry to have to leave early Monday morning. My flight left at 9:00, so I was going to miss the Leaving Breakfast -- and I have no idea who won the house cup! I know I never earned any points for Gryffindor, though. Hufflepuff staged some huge thing at the Ball that earned them a lot of points, so I'm guessing it might have been them.
Overall, this was a fantastic weekend. It was just plain fun, you know? It was great to meet so many cool people who have only been LJ names to me in the past, to see everyone in amazing costumes, and to listen to great discussions about Harry Potter. I felt like I got to get to know fans outside of the H/D LJ world too, and that was something I didn't expect.
ETA: Check out the
_witchinghour_ LJ for newsletters and pictures from TWH!On posting photos: Lots of people took pictures at TWH and I know I showed up in them -- and I have a big favor to ask. I'd rather photos in which I'm clearly identified not be posted publicly. Under a lock is fine, but I just don't want to be so easily identifiable in a public space. With the new Blog search engines, it's hard to keep entries from being publicly available and easily searchable. Sorry to be a stick-in-the-mud about that, but I'm in the closet as a slasher, and I kinda want to keep it that way... Thanks in advance! :-)
So, Lumos! I'm planning to go. I've been asked to speak on a panel, and I'm thinking about submitting a proposal for a panel as well. I think it would be another fantastic weekend, and all in one hotel this time!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-10-10 05:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-12 01:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-10 06:06 pm (UTC)Pictures?
no subject
Date: 2005-10-12 01:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-10 06:10 pm (UTC)http://pics.livejournal.com/twh_hallie/pic/00018yax/g6
no subject
Date: 2005-10-10 09:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-10 06:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-10 09:05 pm (UTC)It was so great to meet you after reading your fics!
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
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From:no subject
Date: 2005-10-10 06:36 pm (UTC)The whole con sounds like so much fun... I'm very jealous of the movie watching with slashers thing. When I watch here, I have to bite my tongue from shouting - JUST SNOG HIM ALREADY! My friends would look at me weirdly.
The whole costume thing would rock also. I just finished up my Halloween costume of Tonks, so I'm really looking forward to Lumos so I can wear it there too (cheapest costume I could come up with on the fly...)
Thanks for sharing and feel free to keep the stories going. Maybe you could post about a discussion and we could all dissect it to live vicariously through your experience? (total nerd, I know)
no subject
Date: 2005-10-12 01:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-10 06:46 pm (UTC)That sounds like so much fun.
I'm glad you had a good time:)
I love people who are obsessed with the same things you are.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-12 01:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-10 06:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-10 11:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-10 07:13 pm (UTC)I think Lumos 2006 is going to be on my con schedule. That would rock in a huge, rocking way. I do regret that I only did one day of TWH. Oh well, such is life.
I think we should submit for a femslash roundtable!
Was there anything else you were thinking of doing for panels?
no subject
Date: 2005-10-10 09:09 pm (UTC)I do have a panel idea, but I'm still working on it. ;-)
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2005-10-10 07:29 pm (UTC)It was nice to meet you, btw. Even though we didn't really get to chat. :))
no subject
Date: 2005-10-10 09:07 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2005-10-10 07:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-12 01:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-10 07:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-12 01:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-10 07:59 pm (UTC)So, what was the quidditch match like? How did they do that?
How were the House points tracked, collected. Were there Prefects and Professors about?
Was everyone in full costume the entire weekend?
Sounds like fun, wish I could have gone. :)
no subject
Date: 2005-10-10 09:12 pm (UTC)There were prefects and heads of houses and such. The prefects would give and take points, and they had a big gallon jar of marbles for every house so you could see how the points were stacking up.
Lots of folks were in costume the whole time, which was fun to see.
:-D
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2005-10-10 08:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-12 01:07 am (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2005-10-10 08:11 pm (UTC)And I'm going to Lumos if it kills me. It's wierd, I'm nervous, I haven't been able to plan a trip this far in advance in a very long time. And I've never flown that far. I'm going to need xanax. Lots of it. But I'm going damnit!!!!!
I'm so glad you had a good time and I"m so glad you're home safely! I missed you loads and loads. We really need to catch up soon. *snuggles*
no subject
Date: 2005-10-10 11:59 pm (UTC)It would be awesome if you could make it to Lumos!
(no subject)
From:re the chapstick
Date: 2005-10-10 09:45 pm (UTC)More from me next week re the panel?
Re: re the chapstick
Date: 2005-10-10 09:49 pm (UTC)I'm looking forward to it! :-)
Re: re the chapstick
From:Re: re the chapstick
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Date: 2005-10-10 09:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-12 01:07 am (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2005-10-10 11:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-12 01:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-10 11:23 pm (UTC)Las Vegas?
SOOOOO THERE!!!
How the hell I am going to justify going to two fanish cons as well as taking my regular week for my family's summer trip all in July next year I have no clue, but I totally plan on doiing it even if I have to start saving now! See you there!
no subject
Date: 2005-10-11 01:58 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2005-10-10 11:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-12 01:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-10 11:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-11 01:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-11 12:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-11 01:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2005-10-11 01:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-11 01:40 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2005-10-11 01:31 am (UTC)You know, I kept hearing H/D get maligned in other panels, as if the fics aren't as good as those in the other ships, or as if it's all fluffy OOC fic
When I read this, I went, "WHAT!!!" out loud. I read slash because I think that of A LOT of the het I've read. I find that with H/D and S/R, the writing is better, the characters more developed, and (especially H/D) highly complex emotionally and plot-wise. I tend to shy away from a lot of the het pairings (even the ones I LOVE in canon) simply because I can't find anything nearly as good as the amazing pieces that the slash writers put out. I was just very surprised to read that people think of H/D the same way that I think of H/G or R/Hr in fanfic. Weeeeird.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-11 07:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2005-10-11 01:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-12 01:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-11 01:59 am (UTC)Dude, that was the most fun I've ever had making a complete and total ass out of myself :D
-Random Death Eater/Random Slytherin/Remus/Voldie
no subject
Date: 2005-10-11 02:04 am (UTC)(no subject)
From: