hi! i'm delighted to hear from you. i'm ellen, chair of fanfiction. great to meet you! john krall had said he was going to pass my contact info to someone named chris norman? and i had never heard from that person. so i'm thrilled to hear from you!
it wasn't so much that i was interested in running a panel, though that may be an option. it was that john, apparently, was impressed by how fully integrated and highlighted fanfiction has become within kumoricon, which apparently is relatively unique amongst cons. we have innovated programming beyond simply having a panel. both last year and this year, we also ran a fanfic contest. this year, we added the "beta station" and "fanfiction bedtime stories". the beta station was a drop-in space authors, beta readers, and fans to mingle, read each others' works, provide concrit (constructive criticism), make plans to collaborate, etc. the bedtime stories event was a big hit. we basically turned a conference room into a slumber party atmosphere (credit due to sailor naboo for setting the precedent with live action sailor moon slumber party last year). then it was basically an open mic, for folks to read their own, or others', fics and/or have others read their fics. and next year, i'm aspiring to create "fanfic theatre": we would actually cosplay our own and each others' fics!
though it became a project independent of the con, folks who met via last year's kumoricon fanfiction programming also founded a zine, recently renamed "the kosmix", to provide an off-line forum for fanfic, fanart, articles on such, etc.
what john had asked was whether i would be interested in assisting sakuracon programming staff in planning, developing and running fanfic-related programming. absolutely! i've never been to a sakuracon, but would be absolutely and devoutly delighted to assist in any fashion.
what do you have planned? what did you host last year? are you also running the contest?
feel free to additionally contact me off-forum:
rem_saverem_was_right@yahoo.com
(541) 543- 9524.
thanks and love!
ellen.