​​​Panels

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• Animating Your Art

More and more often we see artists taking their images and creating simple animated gifs out of them. But just how hard (or simple) is it to do this? Come and learn about some techniques, programs, and tools to help you take your art and make it move!

Eve Clemente, Teabeforewar



• The Birth, Death, and Rebirth of Sherlock Holmes

How did Sir Arthur Conan Doyle get the idea for Sherlock Holmes in the first place? What made him kill off his most successful character? And why is it that he gave in to public pressure and brought him back even though he personally didn’t want to write any more stories? ​

GOH Laurie King, GOH Lee Eric Shackleford, Tom Keogh (M)

 

​• Cosplay Connection: How Cosplay Expands on The Fandom Experience

What is it about cosplay that brings cosplayers to conventions in droves? Is it just the ability to dress up? The lure of being someone else for a day? The snap of cameras? This panel seeks to debunk some myths about cosplay, and explore what it is about cosplay that makes it so much a part of the fandom landscape as fanfiction and fanart.

Eddy Dughi (M), Lyra Ngalia, Chelsea Robinson, Mallory Turner



• Cosplay 101: From Closet to Convention

So, what exactly is cosplay? Do I need to have any special skills to do it? Why is everyone wearing a purple shirt? Do I have to sew, or can I just buy things? Where do I go to buy things? Cosplay, or costume play, has been a staple of conventions for ages, but the glut of modern Sherlock Holmes adaptations make it significantly easier to dip one's toe into the fun and exciting world of cosplay. This panel aims to discuss the dos and don't of convention cosplay, the differences between buying and making your costumes, and ways to cosplay without breaking the bank or (necessarily) learning how to sew.

Eddy Dughi, Lyra Ngalia (M), Chelsea Robinson, Mallory Turner



• The Elements of Slash

Most of us have read slash and loved it, but how exactly does it work? What are the nuts and bolts of writing a good sex scene? This panel will examine a few pieces to see how writers create their effects, with an eye toward some of the basic questions: how explicit should you be? what does "explicit" mean, anyway? Is it about how much metaphor you use? How many body parts you describe and how? Several writers will talk about their processes and take questions from the audience about how to go about this scariest of writing tasks. (18+)

Liz Eckhart (M), Chelsea Robinson, Ben Signpost, Songlin, Lori Summers, Berlynn Wohl

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• Fandom 101

Just getting into fandom? Then you must have a lot of questions! Like, where are the best places to go find fandom? Where do you go to find fanfic and art? And then there’s all the jargon like OST, slash, fanon, shipping, cosplay, etc. Come to learn the basics of fandom and ask questions about things you’ve seen but just don’t understand.

Cara McGee (M), Chelsea Robinson, Ben Signpost, Lori Summers, Mallory Turner

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• Fanfic Writing 101

Have you always wanted to write fanfiction, but just don't know where to start? Do you have some great ideas but don't know how to flesh them out? This panel will help new fanfic writers get past some of their fears about writing by tackling the basics - finding inspiration, plot development, creating compelling characters, and showing rather than telling your audience your story. We will also talk about issues that are specific to fanfic writers. How do you determine where to post your work? How do you write a summary that will catch people's attention? Why is it important to properly tag, rate, and trigger warn your fic? Let us help you break through your fears and start writing stories!

Chelsea Robinson, Ben Signpost, Songlin (M), Lori Summers, Berlynn Wohl



• Filing off the Serial Numbers

So you’ve written a great story and everyone tells you that it’s brilliant and you should publish it, only there’s one small problem - it’s a piece of fanfiction based on pre-existing characters or world setting. What are your options if you decide you want to go ahead and try to publish your work? Do you “file off the serial numbers”? Do you take a risk and check out Kindle Worlds? Or is there a way to take the core ideas in your story and transform them into something that is truly original and yours? ​

Chelsea Robinson, Lori Summers (M)

 

• Free Sherlock

On February 14, 2013, a civil action was filed against the Arthur Conan Doyle Estate. The goal is to prove that the characters of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John H. Watson are no longer protected by federal copyright laws and to "free" them so that writers, filmmakers and others are in turn free to create new stories about them. Come to learn about this effort, the reasons for it, and what it means for future creative endeavors starring Sherlock Holmes.

GOH Laurie King, GOH Les Klinger

 

• How Do You Draw That?

Is there a particular thing you are trying to figure out how to draw and you just can't wrap your head around it? A horse? A Hobbit? A dragon? Fawnlock? Come and ask our artists and let them show you how to draw those things that keep stumping you.

Feyuca, Cara McGee (M), Sketchlock, Teabeforewar, Mallory Turner

 

• Play the Cliché

When writing stories, it's important to avoid obvious clichés... unless, of course, you know how to use them to your advantage! Come learn about the different kinds of clichés and tropes found in Sherlock fiction (Deus Ex Mycroft, Big Brother is Watching You, Stoic Saint John, Sherlock is Always Right, etc.) and how to turn them on their ear to delight and misdirect your readers.

Liz Eckhart, John Longenbaugh, Ben Signpost (M)

 

• The Play’s the Thing

The stories of Sherlock Holmes have been brought to the stage under many guises – William Gillette’s The Last Case of Sherlock Holmes was the first in 1892, but others have followed including Holmes & Watson, Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Carol, and our very own Vicious and Vulgar. What are the challenges and choices when bringing Sherlock Holmes to the stage, and how do they differ from film and television renditions?

GOH Lee Eric Shackleford, John Longenbaugh (M), Alison Luhrs, Sammy Scott

 

• Playwriting 101

What are the challenges in writing a play? How is writing a play different from writing a novel? How can one take a story and adapt it for the stage? What are some different ways that one can go about creating a stage production? Is a traditional script even necessary? Come listen to a number of playwrights, thespians and theater people talk about the various techniques and challenges that comes along with crafting something for the stage.

GOH Lee Eric Shackleford (M), John Longenbaugh, Alison Luhrs, Sammy Scott

 

• Sailing the Fandom Dinghy: The Joys and Perks of Shipping The Unpopular

In this panel we’ll be discussing of what it's like to ship characters that the majority of fandom does not. Prepare yourself for discussions on how a lack of fanwork can drive creativity, on how discourse in a smaller ship can make a large fandom easier to handle, discover new tiny ships, and bask in the company of people whose shipping interests are not necessarily in the majority.

Eddy Dughi, Lyra Ngalia (M), Chelsea Robinson, Mallory Turner

 

• Same Character, Different World

There's a popular trend in fanfic to take characters and cross them over into completely different worlds and stories than they originally came from. What are the challenges of writing AUs that go beyond just a slight shift in environment or abilities? How does one keep iconic characters themselves regardless of setting or situation? Why are such wildly divergent crossovers and AUs so popular to read and write and how can one make them believable and compelling?

Abundantlyqueer, Chelsea Robinson, Ben Signpost (M),  Songlin, Lori Summers

 

• Sexuality and Sherlock

"The fairer sex is your department." "Not really my area." Unambiguous declarations of asexuality? Celibacy? Although, he is being awfully specific that it's women he's not attracted to…Come speculate with us on the nature of Sherlock Holmes's attractions, such as they may be, and the depictions of Holmes's sexuality and sexual orientation throughout the years.

GOH Lee Eric Shackleford, Liz Eckhart, Songlin (M), Berlynn Wohl

 

• Sherlock Holmes and the Problem of the Post-Imperial Hero

Sherlock Holmes made his debut at a pivotal moment in British imperial history. To contemporary readers, Conan Doyle's fiction would have been at least tangentially part of a wider public debate about England's future, but this aspect of the Holmes canon tends to be invisible to modern readers. This presentation provides some imperial context, by considering the framing device of John Watson’s narration, as well as contrasting Sherlock Holmes with the heroes of high-imperial fiction from some forty years earlier, and finally by looking at how Holmes himself is the prototype for subsequent late-imperial heroes.

Abundantlyqueer (M)

 

• Sherlock Scholarship

Sherlockian scholarship has been going on for over 100 years. What questions remain unconsidered? Have all the answers been found? Where can you get started on the research? How could you find out what else has been written on a subject? These and more topics will be explored in this panel.

GOH Les Klinger (M), Liz Eckhart

 

• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

We all know that Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories about Sherlock Holmes became one of the most popular series in the world, but few of us know much more about the man beyond his infamous characters. Who was Arthur Conan Doyle? When, how, and why did he start writing Sherlock Holmes? Why do his stories matter from a cultural, literary and genre viewpoint? What else did write and do in his lifetime?

GOH Les Klinger, GOH Lee Eric Shackleford, Abundantlyqueer, Tom Keogh (M)

 

• The Weapons of Sherlock Holmes

Learn about the weapons of the Victorian era and specifically Dr. John H.Watson's preference for British Bulldog revolvers. Guest panelists Gordon Frye and James Romnes will have actual historical pieces on display and will be discussing the various types of weapons used through Sherlock's many incarnations and their relevance and usage over the years.

Gordon Frye (M), James Romnes

 

• Why Sherlock? (And Why Now?)

Even the most casual of readers know who Sherlock Holmes and John Watson are; they are inescapable icons in literature. However, in recent years, between two movies, two separate prime-time TV series, and a host of other literature formats, the Consulting Detective and his faithful partner have re-emerged in popular culture. Why has brainy in the form of Sherlock Holmes suddenly become the new sexy to a new generation of readers and film-goers? Join us to talk about all the different versions of Sherlock Holmes that have graced the silver (and small) screen in the 21st century and discuss why the crime-solving duo is once again in the public imagination.

Abundantlyqueer, Liz Eckhart, John Longenbaugh (M), Tom Keogh