Con.txt 2021 writeup
Jun. 29th, 2021 09:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
allekhaI went to con.txt this weekend and had a good time!
I think I spoke up more this time than I did last year, but having discussion going on Discord at the same time as people were talking was also pretty great, and it went better this year than it did last year. I hate typing on my phone, but it might be nice to consider for in-person cons once it's less pandemic-y outside. Though we don't all want to end up staring at our phones instead of other people.
Aetiology and Treatment of Hanahaki Disease
This was a fun exploration of how hanahaki could work, presented as an in-universe presentation from a doctor. It started with an explanation of the 'history of treatment' - surgery and its side-effects, blood transfusions that were only sometimes successful (not a twist on the trope I've seen, but an interesting idea) - and then got to a theory of hanahaki. Essentially, under this idea it's essentially it's a genetic allergy triggered by the pheromone of 'kataomoi' (one-sided love) in those who are vulnerable, so a properly done transfusion could produce a cure. Might use that one in a fic someday.
The one sour moment from me was one someone asked an in-universe question about case studies being overwhelmingly done on cis white men. I know they were riffing off of the realities of European/US/Canadian medical studies, but it made me uncomfortable because it didn't seem really appropriate when:
a) the fake disease and the fake pheromones have Japanese names
b) it's a Japanese trope that originated in Japanese media
c) even in English fandom, this trope is still far more prevalent in anime fandoms or, like, BTS RPF, not western live-action fandoms
But the other questions - like what the hanahaki survivors' groups look like, the ethics and safety of using the flowers in art pieces and the like, whether the different flowers have meanings (the good doctor decided that Vulcans should probably be coughing up something like fractal brocolli flowers), etc. I think we could have gone on for longer if there was the time. Would love to worldbuild more about the history and differing cultural attitudes towards the disease.
Also, the presenter dressed up with flowers, including one juuust to the side of their mouth. A+ costuming.
There Was Only One Panel!
This one was about forced intimacy tropes (in the sense of forcing characters into the same physical and emotional space, not as in rape or dubcon). What I thought was most interesting was the very non-scientific survey presented at the beginning about whether certain tropes counted as forced intimacy and when/why they do or don't. My first thought at all the 'maybes' There Was Only One Bed got was 'but that's the CLASSIC intimacy trope!', but on second thought, I have read platonic bed-sharing fic for platonic fluff or humor, so. (And have shared The One Bed with platonic friends and written bed-sharing with friends in times and places where it's perfectly expected when traveling. But it's always going to make me think of There Was Only One Bed But They're Pining for Each Other So It's Shippy first, hah.) Someone described the appeal of these tropes as 'relationship/intimacy speedrun'.
At one point, the chat go going on an absurdly tropey pile-up. Your ship to be visits relatives while Pretending to Be Dating to make their grandparents happy, but there is only room for them in the Canadian Shack out back and There Is Only One Bed, and then a snowstorm hits and they are Trapped Together and need to Huddle For Warmth, and also the fruitcake is contaminated with Sex Pollen and/or aliens descend to Make Them Do It, and they get along so well that the family decides to get them into an Arranged Marriage....
Trans/Nonbinary Vidshow
The full playlist is available here. The She-Ra one is the first thing I've seen or heard of that actually makes me kind of want to watch the show (I don't care if shapeshifter is becoming a cliche for genderqueer characters, gimme, and also that's an attractive design, and also also some on-point lipsyncing from the creator). My recs from this one:
Hey Brother by Stardust in June, The Adventure Zone animatic with great art - I'm always so impressed by animatics, as someone who can't draw, and I'm glad they're getting more popular nowadays! Used to be you'd just find MADs on NicoNico or reposted on Youtube.
Most Girls by Henriikka, Euophoria - idk this show at all, but that eye makeup *_*
Learning to Fly by rhoboat, makes me want to see the film
Who Does the Laundry, and Other Worldbuilding Trip Hazards
This panel opened with everyone's favorite 'what's the weirdest thing you've researched for writing' question, which I never quite know how to answer. Old FS competition dates and jump physics? Names of Heian Japan colors and dyestuffs? What was traded between Tang China and Nara Japan? Medieval demographics? Silkworm raising? Traditional Hungarian embroidery and clothing construction? (Okay, that one was for cosplay.)
There was some discussion at the beginning of what people find the hardest to worldbuild, on the scale of 'this world right now' to 'this world, future/history' to 'completely no world with no humans'. I (and the host) were surprised that 'completely new world with no humans' won, but it seems that some people find freedom in 'I can make up everything!' and others get nervous at 'I have to make up everything!'. Others mentioned that something like NYC is waaaay harder for them, because people who live there will notice any small thing you get wrong.
Other discussion questions: verisimilitude or perfect accuracy? Research or writing? I answered that I love both, but not together - when I write, I want to just write it and not stop because I don't know what the activity my characters are doing actually looks like. This got the usual 'use square brackets' advice, which is fine for a name or something, but as someone in chat pointed out, sometimes the answer to that question changes how the scene works.
There was also some talk about how to make constructed worlds feel real via answering the two greatest questions of economics: where does the food come from, and where does the poop go (and who is dealing with it - slaves, servants, poor employees, unionized employees, robots?). Some discussion in the chat of basic economics resources, as well as a rec for Women's Work: The First 30,000 years (which I +1, it's a good book about the vitally important area of textile work), and I recced ACOUP, especially the bread series, for both food production and basic everyday economics for farmers. Fun panel!
Vidshow of Joy
Happy/upbeat vidshow, though there was one that made me feel pretty sad in the middle b/c characters dying of AIDS :x But still a good playlist! These were my favorites:
The Greatest by Bironic, POC superheroes - I'd seen this one before and was happy to see it again.
Kings by TallAnimals, badass Paralympians
Parachute by thingswithwings, Leverage OT3 - never seen Leverage, but maybe one day?
Better Than One by Chris Edwards, How To Train Your Dragon adorableness
Vidshow!!
Virtual vidshows make me miss the laughter and applause you get IRL, but in return - it's fun to put it up one screen, have the chat on another screen, and actually be able to talk about what's happening in the vids! Three hours of vidshow was pretty long, though, even with two intermissions, and Conline's interface is pretty glitchy. At some point, it started refusing to catch me up when I was lagging and I had to force it manually, and at the end it was hard to tell exactly what other people were seeing at any one point. Alas.
The vidshow itself had a ton going on - full list here - and I was happy that mine had a good reception despite being an obscure canon <3 Quick recs - probably not everything I enjoyed, but there was a lot:
villain by mads! - TMA animatic with great visual style
Long Way to Come Here by absternr, Fast Color, really beautiful and sells me on the movie
Riptide by mithborien, Unicorn Store, also makes me want to see what on Earth this is about
Teamwork by such_heights, adorable BSC vid
Instruction by sandalwoodbox, great dance editing
Hollaback Girl by findmeinthealps, I have resigned myself to never reading or watching Guardian, but this was fun!
A Little Bit Ghost Valley by alpheratz, I haven't tried Word of Honor yet, but this made me laugh
Rise Up by livrelibre, made me tear up
Look What You Made Me Do by jarrow, perfect song choice for Killing Eve
La Noyée | The Drowned Woman by Tafadhali, lovely Portrait of a Lady on Fire vid
Putting the Trans in Transformative
This one was about non-canonically trans characters in fic, starting with 'why'. I was a bit surprised at the discussion of writing characters as trans as a reaction against the canon creator, but I don't think that applies much to most of my fandoms. The other part of the discussion + the segue into who gets written as trans resonated a lot more. Sometimes characters are kinda GNC (which is fine on its own but) and you want more, sometimes there's (possible unintentional) parallels with trans experiences, and sometimes they give vibes.
Someone made the point that there's a lot more casual trans-ness in fic these days, like the only mention might be a character wearing a binder or taking magical cultivation hormones, instead of every fic having to be About A Character Being Trans, which is nice.
Discussion went to sensitive topics, where I might've word vomited a bit about how I've been seeing Discourse about how it's Bad and Transphobic to write magical mpreg and instead you should write it as FTM guys getting pregnant, but for some of us that's a huge squick, but I'm definitely not going to tell anyone not to, just plz tag stuff. Apparently this is a thing that has not yet touched all fandoms, which I am glad to hear as someone who is even more squicked by trans guy pregnancy than normal pregnancy or magical mpreg. Someone also asked about stuff like unsafe binding practices and whether you should do a PSA, have consequences in the fic, assume that your reader can probably find one of the five million other PSA about not using ACE bandages...?
This was one of those panels where I felt like we could've gone on for another hour with finishing up the discussion questions and opening up even more (how do we handle names in trans fic? tips for sex scenes? do we worry at all about accidental gender essentialism in how we choose or depict characters as trans, or in-character gender essentialism? - perhaps that one is a bit fraught for a con panel). I could probably start rambling on here, but I'll stop myself.
Writing Historical Fandoms 201
Someone linked this neat text analysis tool in the chat.
This panel was about how to write things like 'my historical fandom is now historical itself and the study of history is in a different place now'. There was a fair amount of Les Mis talk that went over my head (I know that Les Mis is written by Victor Hugo and is about people in the French Revolution, and also there was a popular musical whose music got stolen for a lot of FS programs) but also some talk about what everyone's favorite Tiffany problem is (mine is broadcasting - comes from casting [throwing] your seeds broadly). Someone else's was the Romans having take-out and drive-through meal places. IIRC, Edo also had takeout, though cooking was a little more possible there because apartments had a shared square where a hearth could be built.
People also grudged about 'historical accuracy' assumptions that are not only not accurate but also less interesting than actual history. ...and historical inaccuracies that are less interesting (this character thinks of their trauma as PTSD, uses modern identity labels, etc), including I'm Not Like Other Girls done in ways that don't reflect their historical culture and setting. Of course such people did exist, but they wouldn't think like a time-traveling modern reader. I was reminded of Laura Ingalls, who was a tomboy who hated corsets and sewing (and so did her mom! but they both still sewed, 'cause clothes gotta be made and that was one of the few ways Laura could make money to support her family outside the home) and her Super Badass Moment of rocking a school bench so hard the bolts come loose from the floor when her sister is being bullied.
Apparently in some fandoms like The Terror, you can start identifying the primary sources that other people are referencing. (I'd love in Onmyouji fandom ever got big enough for that problem.)
Werewolf Torts and Undead Anuities
Supernatural circumstances meets mundane law and accounting. Hilarious panelists, almost started crying with laughter at one point. Examples:
-If I'm getting married on the astral plane, where do I register it?: The astral courthouse
-If I'm married on the physical plane and getting married to someone else on the astral plane, is that legal?: The US does not currently recognize plural marriages, sorry!
-If I'm married on the astral plane but not cohabitating on the physical plane, how do I file my taxes?: Depends on your income level, whether or not you have a kid living with you, and if your marriage is recognized on the physical plane.
(Great day for the Snapewives!)
-I made some zombie children, can I claim them as dependents?: Are they really your children, or are they employees who deserve a W2? :|
-Just my arms got reanimated, do I need to file my taxes?: The US does not recognize living states other than 'alive' or 'not alive'. You probably need to get your estate to deal with any income.
-I joined a great start-up that only allows me to leave if I stab myself with nails, how would that affect my insurance: Under the ACA, you should be able to get health insurances despite pre-existing nails.
-My son-in-law has started raising the dead, defying decency, and refusing to follow our household rules!: Not a question but that sucks, um, ???try mindfulness???
Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered
This one was a little quieter - maybe people were starting to get tired or maybe the attendance was lower at this one.
This one was a magic panel, so we started with talk about what kinds of magic there are. Written, spoken (in the correct ancient tongue?), physical, bardic, cultivation and onmyoujitsu, and then the chat got sidetracked with discussing how being deaf/Deaf/HoH would affect spoken magic. Can you cast sign language spells in Harry Potter? Can you do writing magic if you have dysgraphia?
Then favorite magical tropes and how they can affect relationships. Magical doubles? Magically enhanced sex? Sex-powered magic? H/C - exhausted mages are my favorite here, but there's also 'woke up with magic', 'woke up without magic', hiding magic for reasons, or discrimination based on having or using the wrong kind of magic (see all the Thor fics and also actual Norse mythology where seidr is 'women's work').
What's the difference between a witch and a magician? Gender, apprenticeship vs schooling, innate vs external, class differences? (This one felt like much more of a western distinction to me.) What gets gendered in magic? Someone said that traditional shamanism in many cultures includes elements like cross-dressing or not acting as the sex assigned at birth. Potions get gendered differently depending on the author.
Someone recced the anthology Mitêwâcimowina: Indigenous Science Fiction and Speculative Storytelling, which I want to read now.
There was a question about why people were primarily adding examples from books. There were some good points like that you can get much more internal in a book vs something like a movie, that you can exposit a lot more in prose than in dialogue, that novels just have a lot more room for constructing the kind of complex magical systems that tend to stick in the brain, and that some kinds of magic are easier to cheat in text, like someone having a magical voice like a siren. However, if I had to pick one answer myself, I'd still go with this part of mine: this panel was full of people who are more likely to watch live-action (where special effects, even now, can be limited) and read novels (can describe whatever the hell they want), rather than watch animation (easier to portray magic - see AtLA, Little Witch Academia, etc etc) or play video games (also capable of having complex magic systems if they want - I'm sure an Elder Scrolls lore nerd could go on for 5k about the nature of magic and Mundus and whatnot). Someone also pointed out that books are disadvantaged in that they can't actual let do stuff like see magical dance, and those can be hard to describe well in text.
It was a nice way to wrap up the con, and I'm definitely going to trawl through the chat at some point for books to read.
I think I spoke up more this time than I did last year, but having discussion going on Discord at the same time as people were talking was also pretty great, and it went better this year than it did last year. I hate typing on my phone, but it might be nice to consider for in-person cons once it's less pandemic-y outside. Though we don't all want to end up staring at our phones instead of other people.
Aetiology and Treatment of Hanahaki Disease
This was a fun exploration of how hanahaki could work, presented as an in-universe presentation from a doctor. It started with an explanation of the 'history of treatment' - surgery and its side-effects, blood transfusions that were only sometimes successful (not a twist on the trope I've seen, but an interesting idea) - and then got to a theory of hanahaki. Essentially, under this idea it's essentially it's a genetic allergy triggered by the pheromone of 'kataomoi' (one-sided love) in those who are vulnerable, so a properly done transfusion could produce a cure. Might use that one in a fic someday.
The one sour moment from me was one someone asked an in-universe question about case studies being overwhelmingly done on cis white men. I know they were riffing off of the realities of European/US/Canadian medical studies, but it made me uncomfortable because it didn't seem really appropriate when:
a) the fake disease and the fake pheromones have Japanese names
b) it's a Japanese trope that originated in Japanese media
c) even in English fandom, this trope is still far more prevalent in anime fandoms or, like, BTS RPF, not western live-action fandoms
But the other questions - like what the hanahaki survivors' groups look like, the ethics and safety of using the flowers in art pieces and the like, whether the different flowers have meanings (the good doctor decided that Vulcans should probably be coughing up something like fractal brocolli flowers), etc. I think we could have gone on for longer if there was the time. Would love to worldbuild more about the history and differing cultural attitudes towards the disease.
Also, the presenter dressed up with flowers, including one juuust to the side of their mouth. A+ costuming.
There Was Only One Panel!
This one was about forced intimacy tropes (in the sense of forcing characters into the same physical and emotional space, not as in rape or dubcon). What I thought was most interesting was the very non-scientific survey presented at the beginning about whether certain tropes counted as forced intimacy and when/why they do or don't. My first thought at all the 'maybes' There Was Only One Bed got was 'but that's the CLASSIC intimacy trope!', but on second thought, I have read platonic bed-sharing fic for platonic fluff or humor, so. (And have shared The One Bed with platonic friends and written bed-sharing with friends in times and places where it's perfectly expected when traveling. But it's always going to make me think of There Was Only One Bed But They're Pining for Each Other So It's Shippy first, hah.) Someone described the appeal of these tropes as 'relationship/intimacy speedrun'.
At one point, the chat go going on an absurdly tropey pile-up. Your ship to be visits relatives while Pretending to Be Dating to make their grandparents happy, but there is only room for them in the Canadian Shack out back and There Is Only One Bed, and then a snowstorm hits and they are Trapped Together and need to Huddle For Warmth, and also the fruitcake is contaminated with Sex Pollen and/or aliens descend to Make Them Do It, and they get along so well that the family decides to get them into an Arranged Marriage....
Trans/Nonbinary Vidshow
The full playlist is available here. The She-Ra one is the first thing I've seen or heard of that actually makes me kind of want to watch the show (I don't care if shapeshifter is becoming a cliche for genderqueer characters, gimme, and also that's an attractive design, and also also some on-point lipsyncing from the creator). My recs from this one:
Hey Brother by Stardust in June, The Adventure Zone animatic with great art - I'm always so impressed by animatics, as someone who can't draw, and I'm glad they're getting more popular nowadays! Used to be you'd just find MADs on NicoNico or reposted on Youtube.
Most Girls by Henriikka, Euophoria - idk this show at all, but that eye makeup *_*
Learning to Fly by rhoboat, makes me want to see the film
Who Does the Laundry, and Other Worldbuilding Trip Hazards
This panel opened with everyone's favorite 'what's the weirdest thing you've researched for writing' question, which I never quite know how to answer. Old FS competition dates and jump physics? Names of Heian Japan colors and dyestuffs? What was traded between Tang China and Nara Japan? Medieval demographics? Silkworm raising? Traditional Hungarian embroidery and clothing construction? (Okay, that one was for cosplay.)
There was some discussion at the beginning of what people find the hardest to worldbuild, on the scale of 'this world right now' to 'this world, future/history' to 'completely no world with no humans'. I (and the host) were surprised that 'completely new world with no humans' won, but it seems that some people find freedom in 'I can make up everything!' and others get nervous at 'I have to make up everything!'. Others mentioned that something like NYC is waaaay harder for them, because people who live there will notice any small thing you get wrong.
Other discussion questions: verisimilitude or perfect accuracy? Research or writing? I answered that I love both, but not together - when I write, I want to just write it and not stop because I don't know what the activity my characters are doing actually looks like. This got the usual 'use square brackets' advice, which is fine for a name or something, but as someone in chat pointed out, sometimes the answer to that question changes how the scene works.
There was also some talk about how to make constructed worlds feel real via answering the two greatest questions of economics: where does the food come from, and where does the poop go (and who is dealing with it - slaves, servants, poor employees, unionized employees, robots?). Some discussion in the chat of basic economics resources, as well as a rec for Women's Work: The First 30,000 years (which I +1, it's a good book about the vitally important area of textile work), and I recced ACOUP, especially the bread series, for both food production and basic everyday economics for farmers. Fun panel!
Vidshow of Joy
Happy/upbeat vidshow, though there was one that made me feel pretty sad in the middle b/c characters dying of AIDS :x But still a good playlist! These were my favorites:
The Greatest by Bironic, POC superheroes - I'd seen this one before and was happy to see it again.
Kings by TallAnimals, badass Paralympians
Parachute by thingswithwings, Leverage OT3 - never seen Leverage, but maybe one day?
Better Than One by Chris Edwards, How To Train Your Dragon adorableness
Vidshow!!
Virtual vidshows make me miss the laughter and applause you get IRL, but in return - it's fun to put it up one screen, have the chat on another screen, and actually be able to talk about what's happening in the vids! Three hours of vidshow was pretty long, though, even with two intermissions, and Conline's interface is pretty glitchy. At some point, it started refusing to catch me up when I was lagging and I had to force it manually, and at the end it was hard to tell exactly what other people were seeing at any one point. Alas.
The vidshow itself had a ton going on - full list here - and I was happy that mine had a good reception despite being an obscure canon <3 Quick recs - probably not everything I enjoyed, but there was a lot:
villain by mads! - TMA animatic with great visual style
Long Way to Come Here by absternr, Fast Color, really beautiful and sells me on the movie
Riptide by mithborien, Unicorn Store, also makes me want to see what on Earth this is about
Teamwork by such_heights, adorable BSC vid
Instruction by sandalwoodbox, great dance editing
Hollaback Girl by findmeinthealps, I have resigned myself to never reading or watching Guardian, but this was fun!
A Little Bit Ghost Valley by alpheratz, I haven't tried Word of Honor yet, but this made me laugh
Rise Up by livrelibre, made me tear up
Look What You Made Me Do by jarrow, perfect song choice for Killing Eve
La Noyée | The Drowned Woman by Tafadhali, lovely Portrait of a Lady on Fire vid
Putting the Trans in Transformative
This one was about non-canonically trans characters in fic, starting with 'why'. I was a bit surprised at the discussion of writing characters as trans as a reaction against the canon creator, but I don't think that applies much to most of my fandoms. The other part of the discussion + the segue into who gets written as trans resonated a lot more. Sometimes characters are kinda GNC (which is fine on its own but) and you want more, sometimes there's (possible unintentional) parallels with trans experiences, and sometimes they give vibes.
Someone made the point that there's a lot more casual trans-ness in fic these days, like the only mention might be a character wearing a binder or taking magical cultivation hormones, instead of every fic having to be About A Character Being Trans, which is nice.
Discussion went to sensitive topics, where I might've word vomited a bit about how I've been seeing Discourse about how it's Bad and Transphobic to write magical mpreg and instead you should write it as FTM guys getting pregnant, but for some of us that's a huge squick, but I'm definitely not going to tell anyone not to, just plz tag stuff. Apparently this is a thing that has not yet touched all fandoms, which I am glad to hear as someone who is even more squicked by trans guy pregnancy than normal pregnancy or magical mpreg. Someone also asked about stuff like unsafe binding practices and whether you should do a PSA, have consequences in the fic, assume that your reader can probably find one of the five million other PSA about not using ACE bandages...?
This was one of those panels where I felt like we could've gone on for another hour with finishing up the discussion questions and opening up even more (how do we handle names in trans fic? tips for sex scenes? do we worry at all about accidental gender essentialism in how we choose or depict characters as trans, or in-character gender essentialism? - perhaps that one is a bit fraught for a con panel). I could probably start rambling on here, but I'll stop myself.
Writing Historical Fandoms 201
Someone linked this neat text analysis tool in the chat.
This panel was about how to write things like 'my historical fandom is now historical itself and the study of history is in a different place now'. There was a fair amount of Les Mis talk that went over my head (I know that Les Mis is written by Victor Hugo and is about people in the French Revolution, and also there was a popular musical whose music got stolen for a lot of FS programs) but also some talk about what everyone's favorite Tiffany problem is (mine is broadcasting - comes from casting [throwing] your seeds broadly). Someone else's was the Romans having take-out and drive-through meal places. IIRC, Edo also had takeout, though cooking was a little more possible there because apartments had a shared square where a hearth could be built.
People also grudged about 'historical accuracy' assumptions that are not only not accurate but also less interesting than actual history. ...and historical inaccuracies that are less interesting (this character thinks of their trauma as PTSD, uses modern identity labels, etc), including I'm Not Like Other Girls done in ways that don't reflect their historical culture and setting. Of course such people did exist, but they wouldn't think like a time-traveling modern reader. I was reminded of Laura Ingalls, who was a tomboy who hated corsets and sewing (and so did her mom! but they both still sewed, 'cause clothes gotta be made and that was one of the few ways Laura could make money to support her family outside the home) and her Super Badass Moment of rocking a school bench so hard the bolts come loose from the floor when her sister is being bullied.
Apparently in some fandoms like The Terror, you can start identifying the primary sources that other people are referencing. (I'd love in Onmyouji fandom ever got big enough for that problem.)
Werewolf Torts and Undead Anuities
Supernatural circumstances meets mundane law and accounting. Hilarious panelists, almost started crying with laughter at one point. Examples:
-If I'm getting married on the astral plane, where do I register it?: The astral courthouse
-If I'm married on the physical plane and getting married to someone else on the astral plane, is that legal?: The US does not currently recognize plural marriages, sorry!
-If I'm married on the astral plane but not cohabitating on the physical plane, how do I file my taxes?: Depends on your income level, whether or not you have a kid living with you, and if your marriage is recognized on the physical plane.
(Great day for the Snapewives!)
-I made some zombie children, can I claim them as dependents?: Are they really your children, or are they employees who deserve a W2? :|
-Just my arms got reanimated, do I need to file my taxes?: The US does not recognize living states other than 'alive' or 'not alive'. You probably need to get your estate to deal with any income.
-I joined a great start-up that only allows me to leave if I stab myself with nails, how would that affect my insurance: Under the ACA, you should be able to get health insurances despite pre-existing nails.
-My son-in-law has started raising the dead, defying decency, and refusing to follow our household rules!: Not a question but that sucks, um, ???try mindfulness???
Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered
This one was a little quieter - maybe people were starting to get tired or maybe the attendance was lower at this one.
This one was a magic panel, so we started with talk about what kinds of magic there are. Written, spoken (in the correct ancient tongue?), physical, bardic, cultivation and onmyoujitsu, and then the chat got sidetracked with discussing how being deaf/Deaf/HoH would affect spoken magic. Can you cast sign language spells in Harry Potter? Can you do writing magic if you have dysgraphia?
Then favorite magical tropes and how they can affect relationships. Magical doubles? Magically enhanced sex? Sex-powered magic? H/C - exhausted mages are my favorite here, but there's also 'woke up with magic', 'woke up without magic', hiding magic for reasons, or discrimination based on having or using the wrong kind of magic (see all the Thor fics and also actual Norse mythology where seidr is 'women's work').
What's the difference between a witch and a magician? Gender, apprenticeship vs schooling, innate vs external, class differences? (This one felt like much more of a western distinction to me.) What gets gendered in magic? Someone said that traditional shamanism in many cultures includes elements like cross-dressing or not acting as the sex assigned at birth. Potions get gendered differently depending on the author.
Someone recced the anthology Mitêwâcimowina: Indigenous Science Fiction and Speculative Storytelling, which I want to read now.
There was a question about why people were primarily adding examples from books. There were some good points like that you can get much more internal in a book vs something like a movie, that you can exposit a lot more in prose than in dialogue, that novels just have a lot more room for constructing the kind of complex magical systems that tend to stick in the brain, and that some kinds of magic are easier to cheat in text, like someone having a magical voice like a siren. However, if I had to pick one answer myself, I'd still go with this part of mine: this panel was full of people who are more likely to watch live-action (where special effects, even now, can be limited) and read novels (can describe whatever the hell they want), rather than watch animation (easier to portray magic - see AtLA, Little Witch Academia, etc etc) or play video games (also capable of having complex magic systems if they want - I'm sure an Elder Scrolls lore nerd could go on for 5k about the nature of magic and Mundus and whatnot). Someone also pointed out that books are disadvantaged in that they can't actual let do stuff like see magical dance, and those can be hard to describe well in text.
It was a nice way to wrap up the con, and I'm definitely going to trawl through the chat at some point for books to read.
