Hello, San Diego!
If you're coming to Comic Con, the Harry Potter fandom has some terrific plans!
The annual Harry Potter Fandom Panel (Still Magic!) takes place on Sunday, July 21 at 4:15 PM in Room 6DE at the Convention Center. Sixteen years after we first went to Hogwarts, fans are still discussing, creating and gathering online and in person to share their love for J. K. Rowling's stories, and for the fandom! Look back, ahead, and into the Mirror of Erised with forever HP fans, including moderator Heidi Tandy (FictionAlley.org), Joey Richter and Brian Rosenthal (Team StarKid/A Very Potter Senior Year), Mark Oshiro (MarkDoesStuff.com), Harrison Homel (International Quidditch Association), Leslie Combemale (ArtInsights), Alex Carpenter (The Remus Lupins), and Lauren Bird (HP Alliance). Comic-Con badges are required for admission to this panel.
FictionAlley's Heidi Tandy is also on a panel on fanfiction with others who've contributed essays to SmartPop Books' FIC!, which is coming out this fall. Fanfiction has recently moved into the spotlight, with fic authors getting impressive book deals and Amazon announcing Kindle Worlds. But there's a lot more to the story than Fifty Shades of Grey. Panelists Amber Benson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Christina Lauren (tby789 and LolaShoes, Beautiful Bastard), Rachel Caine (Morganville Vampires, Weather Wardens), V. Arrow (aimmyarrowshigh, The Panem Companion), and Heidi Tandy (heidi8, Organization for Transformative Works) discuss how fan writing-from missing scenes to remixes and crossovers-and other fanworks re-imagine the boundaries of everything from sexuality and gender to character and authorship. They'll discuss the way fan culture is challenging today's entertainment and publishing industry norms, and consider the value a noncommercial creative space can bring to emerging and even professional writers and artists. Moderated by Anne Jamison (Fic: Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over the World). It's on Friday from 2 - 3 PM in Room 29A; badges are required for this panel, too.
If you're interested in fanfic, please join our friends at the OTW for A Meet-Up Of Our Own. Join Team OTW, MarkDoesStuff and a flock of fandomers, authors and readers who use and enjoy the AO3. There'll be pitchers of margaritas & sodas, as well as snacks like chips and salsa.
We're hosting activities including a few rounds of Cards Against Humanity. You'll also have plenty of chances to meet fellow fans, learn about OTW members' Comic Con panels and share - and get - your own Comic Con tips. And yes, we'll have prizes and giveaways, too!
We'll be at the Tequila Bar at the Marriot Marquis & Marina adjacent to the Convention Center from 8 PM until after 9:30, so we'll overlap with the end of Preview Night. To join us at A Meet-Up Of Our Own, no Comic Con badge (or Preview Night registration) is required; we're just asking for $5 donations. Anonymous donors have underwritten much of the cost of the event, so any surplus will be donated to OTW.
There's a lot of other events and panels for fanfic and fandom fans at Comic Con, including "When Grrls Fall In Love" on Saturday afternoon, TheOneRing.net's preview of The Desolation of Smaug, a Twilight fanfic panel, and a sneak preview of Catching Fire, the next Hunger Games film.
Let us know if you'll be at SDCC, or come and say hi to Heidi at any of her panels - she'll have vintage FictionAlley temporary tattoos for anyone who asks!
