MediaWrite
| Convention | |
|---|---|
| Name: | MediaWrite |
| Dates: | September 9-11, 1994 |
| Frequency: | |
| Location: | Milton Keynes, UK |
| Type: | |
| Focus: | |
| Organization: | |
| Founder: | Sara S. and Linda Hansford |
| Founding Date: | |
| URL: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
MediaWrite was a slash fan run convention that was held in Milton Keynes in 1994. 34 fans attended, mostly from England, 1 or 2 from Ireland, 1 from Scotland, 1 from the US, and 2 from Germany. Elke). Details below are summarized anonymously from a 1994 convention report posted to Virgule-L.
Programming
Friday
Friday night there was a short welcome by Linda, then dinner, and then a session ("And so to bed - for the first time") in which several people talked about how they got into fandoms and what stories they liked in particular.
Saturday
- "Why read, why write" - panel. Rosemary W. gave a short history of British K/S and drew some comparisons between British and American K/S. Some attendees felt that the early American writers seemed to spend a lot of time justifying the sexual relationship between K and S while the British writers didn't have such compunctions and just let them do it. Another attendee talked about and handed out the results of a survey of favourite Pros stories. Some titles that were mentioned over and over again were Injured Innocents, Camera Shy and Stage Fright, and Rediscovered in a Graveyard.
- "Writing" - panel. Helen Raven and Leonie talked about different approaches to writing. Some writers seem to prefer a more disciplined approach by doing outlines first, while others write what inspiration tells them. The topic spread out as a discussion among the whole group and again reminded me a lot of our list discussions. One participant talked about 'first-time' vs. 'established relationship' and expressed her opinion that 'established' stories give more opportunities to the writer to develop their own plots (as opposed to 'first-time' where the plot is already given, and that it would be good if people wrote more 'established' stories so that the characters had the chance to grow and develop. A ballot showed that almost all writers present had written in at least 2 fandoms, several ones in 5 and more. Helen and Sara shared their experiences with professional writing.
- Lee Owers S. held a session about poetry.
- "Fan Mart" - see below.
- "Does the team think" - a panel session with Meg, Elaine, Avril, Theo, Kathy, and Christine who answered some of the questions that the participants had sent in with the registration form. The questions were quite mixed. Some serious, some humourous, and the discussion was fairly light-hearted and lots of fun.
Sunday
- "Grammar" - panel. Laura and Cory explained common mistakes and grammar rules.
- "A future for zines" - panel. One publisher talked about the possibilities new computer technology offers to fandom. She suggested that maybe in some years zines won't be sold but purely distributed as files so everyone who wants a copy just gets the files and prints them out for themselves.
- "Fandom in the USA" - Kathy S. talked about fandom (conventions, fannish behaviour, zines) in the States. The bottom-line was: the only difference between British and American fans seems to be the accent and that the cons in the States are bigger.
- "Sex in the afternoon" - panel. Discussion how to write a sex scene, or rather, how not to write it. Linda, Anna, Elke, Kazi, and Evelyn presented their opinions, and the topic was discussed in the whole group. Many participants stressed the unimportance of explicit sex in stories. Someone suggested that maybe it's more fun to *write* a sex scene than to *read* it. Others said that you just get jaded or more picky after years in fandom.
Artwork: Some fans had artwork displayed in their rooms. Of note: colour paintings (oil) by a professional artist named David McAllister who perhaps was not aware of slash but who painted portraits of Bodie and/or Doyle for about 90 pounds a piece.
Videos: Several people had brought videos. The Bullshitters- a parody of The Professionals, done by a professional director and was shown on tv.
Sales/Zines/stories: Some people had brought stuff to sell for the "fan mart" on Saturday afternoon, mainly fanzines and buttons.
One room held the zine library - about 60-80 zines that could be checked out for the weekend.
Books: One attendee brought a book that gives advice about how to write gay erotica. "Lavender Blue - How to Write and Sell Gay Men's Erotica"