So I got home from the 2013 North American Discworld Convention late yesterday, and I just wanted to provide a slightly better summary of what went on at the con? So, here. Con thoughts below the cut. It's messy and disorganized, but it has a couple anecdotes that might be interesting to Discworld fans hidden in the personal ramblings? *shrug*
So, first off, the thing that was tough about the con was that the Guest of Honor, Sir Terry Pratchett, had to cancel about half a week or so before the con started which, you know, disappointing for everyone. (I'd bought tickets in the first place after a late night discussion with mintleaftea that began with "Hey by the way I've met Terry Pratchett" and turned into "WHAT WHAT WHERE HOW CAN I DO THAT" and resulted only a few days later in my buying tickets to my first convention. I suspect many other people had come for similar reasons. However, he had to cancel because they've moved up the publication date of Raising Steam so that it occurs this year, during the 30th anniversary of Discworld, and so he's doing intense read-through polishing right now.) So I wasn't sure what to expect at the con at all.
But what I found out at the con was that there were actually other really awesome things about NADWCon beyond just the expected physical presence of favorite author and hero? So here. Some cool things that happened.
First off, panels! The con programming seemed really well-done? Right away when I say the Con programming grid, there were so many titles that just jumped out at me (Time Travel in Discworld! Editing Discworld! Discworld Through the Ages!) - several times during the weekend I had to make semi-agonizing last minute decisions about which panels to attend (*sigh*), and I still wish I'd had more time to cram things into. But the panels I did go to were great - for instance, I heard some really great anecdotes (favorite one: a story from Bernard Pearson (that's the Cunning Artificer) about how he'd heard a phone call between Terry Pratchett and "Steven, uh, Mumblemumble, a famous Hollywood producer I'm not supposed to actually name", in which said Steven "Mumblemumble" (;D), it was implied, told Sir Terry that he could "make him a very rich man" and Terry responded, "Well, actually, I'm afraid I'm already a very rich man. What I want to know, Mr. *Mumblemumble*, is whether you can makeme happy. Can you help me tell the stories I want to tell?" <3) and some excellent meta discussions (the "Myths and Legend in Discworld" panel, for interesting, was awesome - the panelists mostly just opened the discussion up to the audience and moderated it and several people had some really interesting theories about the nature of belief in Discworld (by the way, if the person who had the theory about Vetinari as a pseudo-god in recent books is reading this - I raise you Sam Vimes in Snuff! re: required supernatural elements. Let's talk.))! Some panels also provided a cool look into the process behind Discworld (new discoveries: apparently Pterry is really big on doing research by asking people with direct firsthand experience? Hence all the interesting details in the books, I suppose).
The other con programming was also great - the Maskerade was a highlight (... I also may have tentatively planned out a future Maskerade act with a new con-going friend for the next NADWCon, shh ;D), as was Terry Pratchett: The Highly Inaccurate Musical (which involved puppet!Neil Gaiman). I also really enjoyed seeing Discworld movies? I mean, up until I got tumblr, I'd never heard of Discworld movies before, so this was my first time seeing any, and I can't imagine a better audience to have seen them with. (Also, asdfghjkl, the Hogfather movie was just perfect (the rising ape/falling angel scene was pretty much book accurate and I nearly cried ;___;) and, although I only saw half an hour or so of it, Going Postal looked amazing as well.) ... also, attending the Sing-Along with Nanny Ogg was an educational experience, to say the least (and I caught myself singing "... but the hedgehog can never be buggered at all" later that night in the shower, whoops).
The dealer room was great - I do wish they'd had more Discworld specific shirts, but then again, how many Discworld-specific nerd t-shirts exist in the world? (Probably not many and I just have a weird thing for geek t-shirts, so ignore me.) ... also they had a signed copy of Jingo and that was my big con splurge and now it's sitting on my bedside table right next to me and wow, uh, SIGNED COPY OF MY FAVORITE BOOK IN THE WORLD. (I also bought some cheap second-hand extra copies of some of the books to lend to friends, seeing as my own copies are too battered to lend at this point. xD)
Also, as a sort of apology, perhaps, for not being there, people attending the Bedtime Stories event on Friday night got to hear the first thirty pages of Raising Steam, which previously had only ever been heard by Sir Terry, Rob Wilkins, and an editor. It sounds really, really great so far! And as funny and clever as one would expect. It also had some wonderful little moments with fan favorite characters that I'm sure will leave everyone really pleased, so. <3 ... I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to actually say about it, but basically, Raising Steam is going to be amazing and I cannot wait for it to come out.
And then on Sunday they set up a videolink to Pratchett Towers and we got to ask questions and I actually with my own voice got to ask Sir Terry a question and it was awesome. Also, favorite moment of the afternoon: the person who asked how much Terry's friendship with Rob Wilkins had inspired the development of Vimes's relationship with Willikins. Rob Wilkins reaction to that was the best. (Still chuckling over that. ;D) (Uh, sidenote: I do have a good half hour or so of the Q&A session filmed (my iPhone ran out of storage space at that point, sorry. :/) Would anyone be interested in my posting that to youtube?)
And, finally, meeting other fans in person was the coolest thing! By Saturday afternoon, I figured out that just spending time talking to other fans was actually a legitimate thing to do (as opposed to my prior instinct that not Attending All The Panels All The Time would be a waste), so I actually blew off a few panels I hadn't really wanted to attend and just sat down outside in the hallway and talked to people who'd asked interesting questions or said something neat or just, you know, commented on a fandom shirt I was wearing/had a similar shirt themselves. (All right, I admit, I suck at starting conversations, but it worked, OK?) As a result of which I had several really awesome hour+ long discussions with some really neat people and am now following several on tumblr/am in touch with them via other methods. I got to talk about things like the similarities between Star Trek and Discworld (like their shared ability to use both the metaphorical language of speculative fiction and very realistic happenings to point out social wrongs) or the beauty of Reaper Man or the differences between Granny Weatherwax and Vimes with real people, and they understood me, and they had really cool things to say in response that made me think, and no one told me to shut up! ;D (Also special shout-out to MarshTwain who a) is a really neat individual, b) is a sickeningly talented artist, and c) just casually gave me a picture of Vimes (reading Where's My Cow to Young Sam) which is totally getting framed and going with me to college ;D.) In general, just seeing fen walking around and talking with them gave me a really amazing sense of community and solidarity. (People walking around in cosplay! People reciting "Where's My Cow" at the closing ceremony! People singing the Ankh-Morpork anthem! ... hell, even people singing "The Wizard's Staff Has a Knob on the End"!)
Just ... everyone made me feel really welcome and safe. Despite being one of the youngest attendees there by herself (possibly the youngest? I met one twenty year-old there alone, but no one younger than that ...), I pretty much never felt anything other than totally at ease. I made friends and asked questions and talked about Discworld and it was awesome. I cannot wait for 2015, and I can't imagine a better first con experience. <3
