#nerdcon2015

    This weekend, I attended the inaugural Nerdcon. The theme of the con was stories, which may seem broad but is really the one thing that brings everyone together, the thing that makes each culture its own. The con was put together by Hank Green, and could easily have turned into a weekend where all of his brother's YA buddies came together to talk about their books, but he did a great job of bringing together a diverse group of writers and performers. There were panels on not only writing but on storytelling through song, moral responsibility in telling stories, and puppetry. I must say, in just the theme alone, I was 100% sold on the idea.

    I will start by admitting I'm not a huge fan of large crowds of people, and while I get completely star struck by my favorite authors, I'm not about to wait hours (or half an hour in this case) and give up other experiences to meet said authors. So the idea of a con with less than 3,000 people in attendance was another huge drawing point for me. The first day, which was a Friday while many high school and college students still had class, had less people and the overall age of those attending was higher. This was a nice first day to ease into it and get the feel of the con. The second day, a Saturday, meant more people, so I didn't make it to any signings and sadly didn't get into one of the panels I was most excited about. However, like with any con, there were a lot of great people to meet and when a panel was too crowded, we would just find a quiet place to talk or play games. The vendor room was particularly nice at this con, because it was small and intimate and just about everyone working was more than glad to chat and play games with us.

    The first day, we headed to the vendor room first. We had a packed schedule and wanted to make sure we got the books we wanted for signings. This worked out well, since we just happened to walk in as John Green was chatting with booksellers and signing books. It set the precedence of the con for me, to see such big authors hanging out on the floor, chatting and greeting everyone working and attending. My boyfriend even chatted with him about video games and gave some recommendations. The first panel I attended was Adaptation into Alternate Media. It was interesting, many of the authors talking about having their books turned into movies. For me, it was nice seeing Maureen Johnson on that panel, because she had something different to bring to the table - her experiences writing plays and games. The next panel, Honing Your Craft, was especially interesting. All of the authors talked about their writing process. It was super useful to learn that most authors only write about three or four hours a day. As someone who is working on writing a book now, it taught me a lot about how to approach the process, particularly when I’m stuck. The rest of Friday mostly involved watching main stage shows and hanging out. It was a perfectly packed yet laid back day one.

    The next day was a bit more intense. There were more people, which meant getting into panels in the smaller auditoriums was tough. We were the first people to grab seats for the Life Online panel, which focused on how creators interact with fans on social media and separate that persona from their actual selves. Unfortunately, being at the panel meant we didn’t get into the Writing Sex panel, which would have been amusing. But not being in that panel meant we could line up for and get into Tropes, Misinformation, and Stereotypes, which was by far my favorite panel of the weekend. It was fascinating and informative to hear the panelists talk about how they approach writing diverse characters and avoid making them stereotypes. Also, Mary Robinette Kowal moderated the panel and took our questions first, making sure the panel discussion was about what the audience really wanted to know. The second day’s main stages were even better and the convention concluding with Welcome to Night Vale’s cast performing Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, which was so much fun.