The fanworks track explores not just fanfic, but fan engagement and reworking in all media. We're running the following sessions this year:

Friday

• Why Fan Art Matters
  Muscadet 10am-11am
  Hamish Steele, Arkady Rose
  A panel about the significance of fan art; its history, why we're passionate about it, its role in influencing fans and fandoms and canon itself, as well as the opportunities its provided for artists, before looking at some of the current issues facing fan artists and fans of the art!




• Drabbles & The Art of Brevity
  Beaujolais 11:45am-12:45pm
  Nny
  Writing stories needn't be onerous! Drabbles - exactly 100 words in length - are the perfect introduction to writing. Whether you're an experienced writer or ready to try it for the first time, come along to our writing workshop and produce your very own drabble.




• Centering Villains as Protagonists
  Reims 11:45am-12:45pm
  Ollie, Duckbunny
  In traditional narratives the protagonist is also the good guy - how does it change the nature of storytelling when your protagonist is someone else's villain? We look at differing perceptions, unreliable narration, and maniacal cackling as we host this interactive session exploring what happens when villains assume centre stage.




• Taken Out Of Context: AUs, canon divergence & what-if?
  Alsace 1:30pm-2:30pm
  Emma (Signe_chan), Ciaran
  A fun practical workshop of crafting and writing AU fanfiction.




• Writing Superheroes
  Reims 3:15pm-4:15pm
  Emma (Signe_chan), Scribblemoose
  Confused by multiple canons? Perplexed by powers? Vexed by Super villains? Join us to contemplate the deeper mysteries of writing superheroes.




• Fandom Arts & Crafts
  Bourgogne 5pm-6pm
  Asilya [Nemo]
  
  
• Consent in Fanworks
  Bouzy 5pm-6pm
  Milena Popova
  With all the shippy, explicit content we produce, fandom can be a great space to explore issues of sexual consent for both readers and writers. Are archive warnings your catnip? Do you like writing consent negotiation? Do you play with power imbalances and dubcon? Do you nope out of anything but the consentiest fluff? Come and share your thoughts on how and why we do all these things!




• Nine At Nine Worlds: Shipping Edition
  Bordeaux 6:45pm-7:45pm
  Emma (Signe_chan), Ciaran and guest presenters
  Nine at Nine Worlds returns, and in the time honoured tradition we have nine bite-sized talks powered by pure fannish passion. This year's theme: OTPs, OT3s and more. What could be more fun than listening to fan people talk about the relationships they love? Join us to celebrate shipping in all its forms!




• What The Filk!
  St Julien 6:45pm-7:45pm
  Duckbunny
  A workshop on the noble and nerdy art of the filk: come along, pull up a tune, and write some nerdy parodies.
• Girl Meets Boy: writing female-empowered het fic
  Ciaran and Scribblemoose
  Depictions of heterosexual relationships in the media can be a hit or miss affair, often seeming thrown in for the sake of it, and fitting into narrow ideas which push female characters into well worn stereotypes, such as the damsel in distress, or the nagging wife. This panel aims to take a constructive look at writing relationships which feature dynamic, interesting and empowered representations of women




• Consensual incest shipping
  ImHereImQuire, Lann_The_Cleverest
  Twincest, wincest and the rest - sometimes brushed under the rug, occasionally grimaced at - are we fandoms' dirty little secrets? Would you like somewhere to froth about your ships without the judgement? This session is aimed at people who ship consensual incest pairings (canonical or fan created) to do just that, and also aims to discuss the way mainstream fan culture reacts to our ships. It is not for discussing non-con, or judging pairings. The session will be restricted to ages 18+.

Saturday

• The Role of Beta Readers
  Reims 9am-9:45am
  Viktoriya
  A beta reader will support the development of the story, will critique pace and check that plot twists make sense, as well as doing all the usual spelling and grammar and characterisation checks. For a comedy piece I once had a beta reader who worked solely on making sure the pacing of my jokes was correct! What is the role of the beta reader - and where are the dangers?




• Making Fan Vids 101
  Muscadet 10am-11am
  Asilyla
  Do you love fan vids... but wouldn't have a clue how to make one yourself? Never fear! This session will guide you in the dark and mysterious art of fan video creation!




• Strong In The Real Way
  Pouilly 10am-11am
  Quen Took
  Welcome, younglings! If you like to write, draw, and create, "Strong In The Real Way" is the session for you. We'll be creating our own flash fiction and illustrations, and thinking about what makes our favourite heroine or hero strong - whether that's their cool powers, their kindness towards others, their bravery, or something else!




• Don't Try This At Home: Dysfunctional relationships in fanfic
  Bouzy 11:45am-12:45pm
  Ollie, Duckbunny
  Are your faves problematic? Does OTP stand for Ostensibly terrible pairings? Some fics are wish fulfilments for the relationships we'd love to have then there's relationships that should never be seen outside of AO3 tags. This session explores the latter; the hate ships, the violent ships, the creepy ships? We talk about our favourite Don't Try This at Home dynamics, and the hows and whys of creating and appreciating them.




• History of Femslash
  Chalon 11:45am-12:45pm
  Selenay, Llin, Cleo, Roz Kaveney
  Femslash through the years A look back at femslash of the past, the fandoms and tropes and communities. Join us as we discuss where femslash began, reminisce about the classic pairings, and look at how it has evolved over the years. Whether you're a new fan or a long-time trooper, we want your input!




• Creating Fan-Made RPGs
  Pouilly 11:45am-12:45pm
  Michael Duxbury
  Exploring worlds and acting as characters from your favourite fandoms can be incredibly rewarding, and many officially licensed roleplaying games exist to provide this experience. But what if your fandom has no licensed game, or the licensed game is rubbish? Michael Duxbury advises how to mod your favourite tabletop RPG systems to run your favourite fictional settings.




• Cosplayers: Larp!
  Bourgogne 1:30pm-2:30pm
  Hosted by Ollie
  Its a fact: Give a man a mask and he'll tell you the truth - but give him a Darth Vader helmet and he'll start doing The Voice and vrooooming with rolls of wrapping paper. Costumes come with their own persona so why not take it a step further and roleplay? In this session you can play as your cosplay character in a low-rules, no numbers, non combat setting suitable for curious beginners and experienced larpers alike.
  Age: 18+ due to potential language, flirting and pretend alcohol consumption.




• Fandom Fashions Through The Ages
  Reims 1:30pm-2:30pm
  Viktoriya
  What's in style changes in fiction just as often as what is on the catwalk! Have you ever wondered what happened to the "get'em all!" fics that used to be so popular? Or when the coffeeshop AU became all the rage? Bring your fanlore knowledge and come talk with us about what's in, what's out, and when we wear pink. (Wednesdays, naturally.)




• Online fancrafts, going beyond fanfic
  Pouilly 3:15pm-4:15pm
  Nny
  The internet has given us an evolving stream of ways to create and share fanworks with the world. From livejournal roleplay communities and tumblr blogs to 8tracks playlists and pintrest boards we discuss our favourite ways of expressing fan enthusiasm online!




• Midrash as Jewish Fanfiction
  St Juilen 3:15pm-4:15pm
  Hannah
  Is David/Jonathan your OTP? Did you squee at that Avengers-themed Haggadah? Want another framework than 'textual poaching' for your fanfiction writing? This session is an introduction to the Jewish perspective on transformative fanworks. I'll be exploring Rachel Barenblat's notion of fanfiction as midrash, with fans as respected interpreters, analagous to the classical rabbis who for centuries interpreted scripture and to the modern midrashists who continue that work today. Jews read their sacred texts through the lenses of interpretation, and each is considered to have their own unique perspective and commentary to make. And engaged fans read literary and pop-culture source texts through the lenses of fannish conversation and storytelling. I'll be presenting examples from both the Jewish and fannish worlds, with opportunity for discussion and your own recommendations afterwards. All are welcome, let's have a great conversation!




• Characterizing Sexuality
  St Julien 5pm-6pm
  Ollie
  A fun, practical workshop looking at applying sexual preferences, kinks and behaviours to characters, what we can extrapolate, what we can subvert, and how to use sexuality to further character development and tell stories within fanfic. 18+

Sunday

• Why we love femslash
  Reims 9am-9:45am
  Selenay, Llin, Cleo
  There is actual canon f/f in many properties now, so what keeps us going back to femslash for our fix? What does femslash fic provide that the canon relationships don't and why do we love it so? Join us to celebrate the joy and beauty of femslash.




• Beyond the Winter Soldier: PTSD in recovery fics
  Chalon 10am-11am
  Helen Gould
  PTSD in recovery fics. In this talk, Helen will be exploring recovery and PTSD in fanfiction and why these stories are so popular. She will also be looking at how PTSD is treated for different characters and why this is important. Due to the nature of the topic, this talk will contain references to violence, torture, sexual abuse, and death. 18+ only.




• Fan Vid Show and Tell
  Muscadet 10am-11am
  Hannah
  Do you have a favourite fan video? Have you made a fan video you want to show off? Come along for an opportunity to introduce and share your vid with us! (PG rated vids for this session).




• Collaborative Fanfic Story Telling
  Mouton Cadet 11:45am-12:45pm
  Ollie, Emma (Signe_chan)
  Fanfiction in co-op mode? You betcha! A lighthearted and fun practical workshop when we look at some different ways that we can create fanworks with others. All ages.




• Harry Potter Fancrafting
  Pouilly 11:45am-12:45pm
  Laura Beard
  Sew a wizard's hat head decoration or a Hedwig brooch/finger puppet. There will also be printed puzzles available. For all ages.




• Fanworks Fandom Farewell Fair
  Cremant 1:30pm-4:30pm
  Ollie, Asiyla, Elena
  The official fanworks closing party - come together to squee, swap contact details, enjoy some tea, cake and party games with the fanworks crew as we say goodbye until next year!




• Shakespearean Fanfiction
  Reims 3:15pm-4:15pm
  Lisa Burscheidt, Michele Howe, and Ro Smith
  The works of Shakespeare are fundamentally transformative – he transforms us as we transform the plays. The flexibility of Shakespeare combined with his understanding for deep human truths has fired the imagination for 400 years. We will discuss how directors have brought us to reflect on our times, our politics, our history, our cultural assumptions (gender, race, sexuality and more) by their choices - for example, by casting women in traditionally male parts, setting plays in non-Western environments etc. We will also explore how writers have been inspired to extend the plays and the relationship between fanfiction and works like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.