Guest Experience at RavenCon

Apr 10, 2013 by Charity

You remember how I was saying that one of the pleasures of fandom was attending conventions? Well, this past weekend, I got the chance to be a guest at our local convention here in Richmond: RavenCon! Unlike the PCA/ACA Conference, RavenCon was less about the academics and more about the fun, but it did give me a chance to do some positioning of myself within the community. And given fandom’s love of critical discussion, I got to have the sorts of in-depth discussions I love best.

As well as a lot of fun.

I was on five panels and moderated two of them: a discussion panel revolving around Game of Thrones, including the adaptation and remediation from book to television; a panel exploring the works of J.J. Abrams (which I technically moderated but ultimately handed over to a panelist more able to discuss more than Alias and Lost); a Companions of Doctor Who panel (which I attended dressed as Rose); a costuming your character in writing panel (with four published fiction authors who I got to chat with about publishing!); and a panel on fan fiction, which I also moderated and took great joy in leading that discussion through a lot of ethics and critical discussion.

Other than that, I enjoyed running around with the other River City Rollergirls, representing our league, and playing with my various cosplays, all of which were a hit with other Con-goers. I cycled through four in two and a half days: Katherine from The Vampire Diaries, a gender bent Jack Harkness from Doctor Who and Torchwood, Rose Tyler from Doctor Who, and, of course, the Warrior Goddess–mascot of my roller derby team, The Uncivil Warriors.

Overall, it was a weekend that was a mix of networking and fun. I learned a lot about different fandoms, got to make new friends and have some fun with my rollergirls: a much needed hurrah before the rush of semester’s end.