We're trying out a new location this week (Thursday 28 January). Get in touch if you want to join us. If it works out, we'll post about a permanent move next week.
9worlds_fanfic: (Nine Worlds Year Free Icon)
Nine Worlds Fanfic hosts a weekly writing date in London and on-line, every Thursday from 5-7.30pm. We welcome any type of writing, including fanfic, original fic, reviews, Nine Worlds track content, day job writing, and this article!

The London meetup happens at Starbucks on Minories (here), but you can take part from wherever you happen to be. Just spend a block of time writing on any Thursday evening (finishing at 7.30pm, when the London group gets kicked out of Starbucks), and email your word count to fanfic@nineworlds.co.uk to be included.

Chat is minimal at the Starbucks location, but there’s a friendly atmosphere. Writing dates are hosted by River (Right), and Untitled the Penguin:

Writing Date

By the time of the 2015 convention, we had written more than 157,000 words at writing dates. What a novel that would make!

Contact fanfic@nineworlds.co.uk with any queries, and follow @9WorldsFanfic on Twitter for updates and notices.
In case you missed them or want to remind yourself, you can now read the Fanfic Past talk given by [personal profile] lil_shepherd here, and see the Fanfic Present presentation from Faintdreams here.

Thanks to both for putting together an excellent programme item. We've surveyed the past and present. Who knows what the future holds...

To start with


Thank you to everyone who suggested programme items, came along, participated, applauded, critiqued, thought of a better way for next time, brought us chocolates, hung out in the bar, gave us hugs, created things, workshopped, argued, dressed up, was awesome, was there, wished they were there ... and anyone else who knows us :)

Workshops


There are already two THREE FOUR AO3 collections for writings done in workshops:
http://archiveofourown.org/collections/NineWorlds2015LessIsMore for the Less is More rewriting-shorter workshop.
http://archiveofourown.org/collections/NineWorlds2015WWC for the Working With Characters workshop.
http://archiveofourown.org/collections/NineWorlds2015POV for the First Person / Second Person workshop.
http://archiveofourown.org/collections/NineWorlds2015Flashfic for the Flashfiction session.

If / when you get around to typing up and posting anything you wrote, do add to the collections. ([personal profile] gloriamundi's ficlets are lonely ...) And if you were in a workshop that doesn't yet have a collection, let us know: we will set one up [easier if we centralise collection creation to minimise duplicates!]

Edit: you can also add non-workshop things -- presentations, talks etc -- to the parent collection, http://archiveofourown.org/collections/9WorldsFanfiction.

Vidshow playlist



[livejournal.com profile] such_heights has posted the vids she showed here.

Future Suggestions


We'll put up a post requesting these when we're past the raw con-drop aftermath :)

Recs lists will follow shortly.

please comment with any links you'd like us to add here!
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The schedule for the 2015 convention is available on the app here. The fanfic track can be found here.

If you don't have a ticket yet, you can buy one here. Day tickets are now available.

Join usssssss....
As always, identity is an issue for some folks on the fanfic track. We'll do all we can to work with the identity you want to use. Below is some information on how we will do this.

1. Names: You choose your own badge name. Where we need different details from you (e.g. real names for credit card details) we will keep them confidential to those who need to know, and they will only be used for the purposes we collected them for.

2. If you would rather not be photographed, we will provide special lanyard to make people aware of this. The convention will enforce this rule strictly; if you see anyone breaking it and taking photographs of anyone wearing such a lanyard, please tell us and we will intervene.

3. The fanfic track will not be filmed, recorded or streamed by the convention. We will also ask that attendees do not film or record sessions. We will enforce this as much as we can but we will need your help. If you spot someone breaking this rule, please tell us.

Unfortunately, we cannot absolutely guarantee your privacy. An old friend might recognise you and mention your real name. Someone from your workplace may turn up at the con (this happened to one of us – it was fine, but slightly alarming). Someone might manage to take a photograph or make a recording or film without our knowing, and this material might find its way onto the internet. Using a badge name will protect you to a certain extent, and we recommend it if you are concerned, but it's not completely foolproof. However, you can be assured that we will work with you and the convention organisers to protect you from unwanted privacy intrusion as far as it's possible to do so.

This policy has worked well for the last two years, but as always we are open to feedback. If there is more that you feel we could do, please let us know.
Sorry for the delay replying to all your lovely messages. Kate's got new cats, and Tanya's recovering from cockroaches. Replies soon!
9worlds_fanfic: 2015 logo (2015 logo)
[personal profile] piratemoggy kindly moderated a roundtable on sexuality and fanfic last year. Here's the description we used:

The panel discuss the depiction of sexuality in fanfic. Many fanwriters are writing about sex acts that are outside their experience: others may be projecting their own experiences and fantasies onto canon characters. Why do some writers depict a particular character as generally straight, but 'gay for [insert name here]'? How accurate / credible are fanfic depictions of sex and sexuality? Why does it matter if we get things wrong?

That's where we started. Where we ended up was a lot more complex. Feedback has suggested that we ought to follow up some of the issues raised in more detail.

If you were at the panel, what would you like us to focus on this year? We'd also like to hear from anyone who wasn't there, if they have suggestions on this topic.

Anonymous posting is enabled and all suggestions are welcome.

Thank you!
9worlds_fanfic: 2015 logo (2015 logo)
Nine Worlds Geekfest: 7-9 August 2015, London

If you have any programme suggestions for the fanfic stream at the convention, please leave them in comments below. Anon posting is enabled; make sure you're logged out if you want to be anonymous. Either fully-formed programme items or vague ideas are welcome. You can also email fanfic@nineworlds.co.uk.

If you'd like to be on fanfic programme, please leave a comment or email fanfic@nineworlds.co.uk, and let us know your areas of interest. You'll need to identify yourself for this, but you don't need a dreamwidth or LJ account. Just tell us your badge name and email address.

We can't promise to use every idea or find a spot for everyone, but we'll do our absolute best.

If you don't want to be on programme but would still like to be involved, could you commit to looking after the track for a session or two? We'd really appreciate this. All you need to do is stay in the room, be approachable, and let us know of any issues (contact methods provided).

We'll be at Dysprosium (Eastercon) 3-6 April at the Park Inn Heathrow. If you'd like to discuss Nine Worlds Fanfic programme, come and find us in the bar, or let us know here if you'd like to arrange to meet at Eastercon.

Please send us any programme ideas before 15 April 2015, after which we'll be squeezing in our brainstorming session before Age of Ultron is released. If you'd like to be a programme participant you can let us know any time, but the earlier you tell us the more likely it is we'll be able to find you a spot.

If you have suggestions for other tracks, but you're not sure where they belong, you can leave those here too and we'll pass them on. Tracks are not yet finalised so it may take a while to sort out, but we will make sure someone considers every idea.

Feedback on last year is still welcome, and you can post here anonymously.

Thank you!
Weekly fanfic writing dates continue on Thursday evenings, in Starbucks on Minories in London between 5-7.30pm. These are hosted by River, who will normally have Untitled the stuffed penguin on display as a not-terribly-secret sign. We try to colonise the long table in front of the counter.

All are welcome, and you can do any type of writing (or editing, or beta-reading), but fanfic is the plan. Writing rather than chatting is also the plan, but if the muse isn’t present, of course you can indulge in chat with anyone else suffering the same problem. Ludi and Kate will be there as often as possible, and we provide cover if River can’t make it.

Especially helpful for Yuletide suffering fun!
Thanks so much to everyone who attended and presented at and participated in the 2014 convention, and especially the fanfic track. It was a great weekend, and you made it so. We're still recovering, but our thoughts are already turning to next year, and how we can do things better.

If you have specific fanfic track feedback, it would be useful if you could send it to us directly. You can comment on this post (anon commenting is allowed, and will remain so unless it is abused), or you can email us on fanfic@nineworlds.co.uk.

You can talk to us about anything, including what you liked, but we're especially interested in what didn't work for you. This was only our second year, and we're after continuous improvement. We need your help to achieve that, and we'd be really grateful if you can spare some time to write to us.

If you come up with ideas, suggestions and plans for next year as a result of thinking about this, we'd love to hear those too. We're most emphatically *not* doing any planning yet, but we are collecting all suggestions together so that we can find them when we are. So if you have a fanfic-related talk you're burning to give, or a panel you want to see or be on, or a workshop idea, then by all means let us know now. We can't make any promises about next year's content, but your input is very valuable and we'll take it whenever you want to provide it.

THANK YOU!
Here are the vids we played at the welcome party / games night on Thursday night.
NB: this is not [personal profile] such_heights's vid programme from Friday night.

(Vidder names from the vid post as listed: please let us know if any need changing!)
Read more... )
Tags:
We invited y'all to post recs on the notice board in the Fanfic room: here they are!
Read more... )
And finally, a link to Lulu's AO3 survey results! here
Tags:
So, Nine Worlds 2014 is over. We don't know about you, but we could sleep for a month! Thanks to all who participated, whether as panellists or audience. You took our programme ideas and turned them into a truly wonderful reality, and we love you for it.

There will be an opportunity for formal feedback-giving quite soon, but if you have any burning issues you want to tell us about, or programme ideas for next year that just can't wait, then email us on fanfic@nineworlds.co.uk. You might not get a terribly prompt reply though, because...

Nine Worlds Fanfic is off to Loncon 3 on Thursday! Here's our schedule:

Fandoms are Fabulous (Kate and Tanya)
Thursday 16:30 - 17:30, Fanac Tent (ExCeL)Details )

If you made a poster at Nine Worlds and left it with us, we'll be taking it along for this session.

After that (so, Thursday 5.30-7pm) we'll be running our regular weekly fanfic writing date, concurrently with River who will be hosting in Starbucks on Minories as usual. The convention location is TBC, but it will be somewhere in the fan village and we'll have a sign.

We will also be running workshops and sessions in the Transformative Fandom space in the fan village. These are not in the programme guide, but will be advertised in the fan village ahead of time:

Friday 11am-1pm
Fic-related games and challenges

Friday 3-4.30pm
Crossovers & AUs workshop

Saturday 11am-1pm
Fic-related games and challenges

Sunday 3-4pm
Beta-reading workshop

We'll be playing Slash: Romance Without Boundaries in the games sessions (as well as some other games and fic challenges), and we do still have a few copies for sale at £20. So come and see us if you want one. Or just come and hang out with us anyway!
We promised to put the fanwork links up from the Nine Fanwork Recs item we ran on Friday. We had great fun with this one. Each speaker had an allotted 7 minutes to tell us about their favourite fanwork, timed by Bruce the singing, samba-dancing, robot kitchen timer. Bruce seems to have lost his voice, which was a relief to everyone after last year.

Here are the recs )
We've lost two participants from the Sexuality and Fanfic panel at Nine Worlds, with the result that representation on this item is not as wide-ranging as we would wish. Note that this is absolutely no reflection on our remaining panellists, we are simply seeking a greater range of views and input.

The panel description is:

Sunday 10 August
15.15-16.30
Sexuality and Fanfic
Exploring depictions of sexuality in fanworks
The panel discuss the depiction of sexuality in fanfic. Many fanwriters are writing about sex acts that are outside their experience: others may be projecting their own experiences or fantasies onto canon characters. Why do some writers depict a particular character as generally straight, but 'gay for [insert name here]'? How accurate / credible are fanfic depictions of sex and sexuality? Why does it matter if we get things wrong?"
Hazel Robinson (M), Emma England, Hannah

Will you be at Nine Worlds on the Sunday, and are you interested in this topic? If you would like to appear on this item and join the discussion, please email fanfic@nineworlds.co.uk.

We are particularly eager to hear from those who feel that their orientation is not fairly or accurately represented in fanfic. Depending on the level of response, we will either add panellists, or open up the item as a roundtable discussion instead. In either case, we will be seeking audience input throughout.
As always, identity is an issue for some folks on the fanfic track. We'll do all we can to work with the identity you want to use. Below is some information on how we will do this.

1. Names: You choose your own badge name. Where we need different details from you (e.g. real names for credit card details) we will keep them confidential to those who need to know, and they will only be used for the purposes we collected them for.

2. If you would rather not be photographed, we will provide special lanyards to make people aware of this. The convention will enforce this rule strictly; if you see anyone breaking it and taking photographs of anyone wearing such a lanyard, please tell us and we will intervene.

3. The fanfic track will not be filmed, recorded or streamed by the convention. We will also ask that attendees do not film or record sessions. We will enforce this as much as we can but we will need your help. If you spot someone breaking this rule, please tell us.

Unfortunately, we cannot absolutely guarantee your privacy. An old friend might recognise you and mention your real name. Someone from your workplace may turn up at the con (this happened to one of us recently – it was fine, but slightly alarming). Someone might manage to take a photograph or make a recording or film without our knowing, and this material might find its way onto the internet. Using a badge name will protect you to a certain extent, and we recommend it if you are concerned, but it's not completely foolproof. However, you can be assured that we will work with you and the convention organisers to protect you from unwanted privacy intrusion as far as it's possible to do so.

If there is more that you feel we could do, please let us know.
Explain to others why your fandom is fabulous! You can either make a poster in advance (see guidelines below), or come along to our poster-making session and make one with us.

Fandom is Fabulous Poster Session: Saturday 20.30-21.45 in County B

Fandom Poster-Making Session: Friday 11.45-13.00 in County B


Q: Which fandom can I make a poster for? )

Q: What should go on my poster? )

Q: What is the maximum size of my poster? )

Q: Can I make more than one poster? )

Q: What will happen at the poster session? )

Q: Do I absolutely have to identify myself with my poster? )

Q: What if I found out about the poster session too late to prepare, or I didn’t have any time to work on it before the con? )

Any other questions?

Email us on fanfic@nineworlds.co.uk, or leave a comment here.

Exciting News – Tie-in poster session at Loncon 3, the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention!

Nine Worlds Fanfic will be attending Loncon 3, the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention at the London ExCEL Centre 14-18 August 2014. And we want to take your posters with us! We’re helping to run a similar poster session to ours, on Thursday 14 August in the Fan Activity Tent. After that, posters from both conventions will be displayed as a temporary exhibition at the Worldcon. If you would like us to take your poster with us to Loncon 3, please let us know, or just leave your poster at Nine Worlds and we’ll automatically take it with us. If you don’t want us to do this, please come and take back your poster before you leave the convention. Unfortunately we can’t promise to return any posters we do take, so take lots of photos at Nine Worlds!

And if you’re attending Loncon 3, come and say hi to us in the Transformative Fandom space!
The second Nine Worlds Geekfest will be taking place 8-10 August 2014 at the Radisson Blu Edwardian hotel, Heathrow in London.
  • You can find links to writeups of and watch a video about 2013 here.
  • Our independent feedback report from 2013 is here.
  • Individual track pages for 2014 are linked from here.
  • Accessibility information is here,
  • FAQs, including hotel and travel information, are here.
  • A set of pre-con information podcasts is going up here. So far volunteers, fanfic, vendors, cosplay and ents podcasts are available. There are more to come!
If you have questions about *any* aspect of the Nine Worlds, you can email us on fanfic@nineworlds.co.uk and we’ll get someone to answer you asap.

As well as being here on Dreamwidth (crossposted to Livejournal), the fanfic track is on:

Twitter at @9Worldsfanfic
Tumblr at nineworldsfanfic
.
Twitter is best for up to the minute information. We use Dreamwidth/Livejournal for longer announcements, which we will link to from Tumblr and Twitter.

You can follow general con announcements and information at @London_Geekfest.
The Fanfic Programme is now up on the Nine Worlds website here. Check it out! There’s so much exciting stuff there, we hardly know where to start. We have guests galore, including Gavia Baker-Whitelaw (Hello Tailor), Erin Claiborne (eleveninches), Emma Vieceli, Elizabeth Bear, Pennypaperbrain, Kari Sperring, Kieron Gillen, Aliette de Bodard, Malin Rydén, Such Heights, Centrumlumina, Writcraft, Hazel Robinson (Piratemoggy), Liz de Jager, Nat Wilkinson (Febricant), Roz Kaveney, Charlotte Geater and loads more!

There will be parties, panels, workshops, roundtables, academic papers, micro-talks, discussions, a poster session and a fanvid show.

We’re looking forward to seeing you there!