Below you will find a list of all of the programming that has been submitted for CONfab 2021, in alphabetical order by submission title. They are also available in this spreadsheet, in the order they were submitted.
You can cast your vote for submissions you’d like to see, at this link.
Voting will run from Monday, August 2nd at 10AM Eastern, through Sunday, August 15th at 10PM Eastern.
Quick Links:
Single Fandoms
Title: Aliens, Romance, and the American Dream: CW Roswell then and Now
Fandom: Roswell, New Mexico
Description: More than just teenage romance, the Roswell High books turned CW shows once in 1999 and now in 2018, bring to life all the tropes we love and cherish. Aliens, superpowers, epic romances of the story have now found an update with a new diverse social representation. Come chat with us about why the brand new Roswell update deserves a watch.
Title: Conference Condition: A Murderbot Panel
Fandom: The Murderbot Diaries
Description: This ping invites you to a panel about advanced robotics, the definition of personhood, media as a coping mechanism for loss of agency and bodily autonomy, and everyone’s favorite Murderbot. Come prepared to learn why this series is amazing or to share your favorite scenes. Eye contact not required, and no corporates allowed!
Title: Don’t Trust the Bee: Bridgerton Season 2 and Forward
Fandom: Bridgerton
Description: With more seasons (and more changes from the books) on the way, what are you most excited about in future seasons of Bridgerton? For book fans, what would you most like to see changed and kept the same? For those who are not book people, the world’s your oyster, what do *you* want?
Title: Mo Dao Zu Shi: Everything But Wangxian Edition
Fandom: The Untamed/Modao Zushi
Description: Did you know the Untamed/MDZS has many other characters besides our main, understandably beloved OTP? Let’s give other characters and ships a chance to shine! We’ll talk both canon and fanon, from interesting character arcs you noticed on your fourth rewatch to your fave rarepairs. Discussion about all versions of canon accepted and encouraged.
Title: Planet of the Apes
Fandom: Planet of the Apes
Description: Have you seen Planet of the Apes? How about its sequels? Want to hear about how bonkers they are? Come to this panel!
Title: Puck you: Stick taps to Hockey fans
Fandom: Hockey
Description: From the Sin Bin to Free Agency. Trades that break your heart or shock you to the core. Let’s talk about all the wild things hockey has done since the world changed and paused the NHL.
Title: The Old Guard 2: Hopes and Hearsay
Fandom: The Old Guard
Description: What do we know about the sequel to The Old Guard? What do we want it to be like? Bring your hopes and dreams, your secret sources, your favorite plot points from the comics, all is fair game.
Title: The Witcher (All Media Types)
Fandom: The Witcher (TV, books, games, etc.)
Description: Let’s talk about all things The Witcher! Favorite characters, favorite moments from the canon, what you’re hoping to see in season 2 of the Netflix show now that we finally have a release date and an actual trailer, what you would hate to see in the show, and whatever else you can think of! Fans of the show, games, and books all welcome.
Title: With Storm and Fury: A Motherland Fort Salem panel
Fandom: Motherland: Fort Salem
Description: Come discuss your favorite witches, show surprises, and world building, or get a crash course on the show if you haven’t been watching!
Title: Word of Honor: Fashion, Feels, and the Power of A Good Color Palette
Fandom: Word of Honor
Description: Examining the styling of various characters in Word of Honor, from robes to makeup choices, and how imagery tells its own story
Multi-Fandom
Title: 3D BL: The Commodification of Real Person Slash
Fandom: RPS in Eastern BL (Boys’ Love) fandoms
Description: In recent years, Real Person Slash (RPS) has ascended from fandom’s “dirty little secret” to a money-making phenomenon in Eastern media fandoms. Learn about the history and practices of RPS and explore the debates spurred by its increased visibility.
Title: Age of the Geek, Baby: Gamer Edition
Fandom: Video Games
Description: Forget gamergate! Let’s focus on the real issue. The best game! Categories include: your favorite phone/tablet game, your favorite old school console game, your favorite single player game, your favorite “I’m going to murder all my friends tonight. Who’s in?” game, and more! Come rec your faves, and squee, critique, and bemoan yesterday’s and today’s video game landscape.
Title: Book Lover’s Paradise: Recommend Your Faves Edition!
Fandom: No specific fandoms
Description: So you read a lot or have a ‘to be read’ list a mile long. Let’s share our favorite books and maybe along the way we will all find new favorites. All genres welcome!
Title: Childhood Fever Dreams
Fandom: 90s childhood movies
Description: Do you have movies or TV shows from your childhood that either no one else remembers or believes exists? This is the panel for you!
Title: Classic Lit with a Modern Lens
Fandom: Classic Lit
Description: We will talk about three classic novels and how they hold up to reading with a modern interpretation.
Title: Family Affairs: Yes, This Is The Incest Panel
Fandom: Any and all!
Description: Let’s discuss the families who were a little too close in canon, the families we make too close in our fic, and why we like that so much. Bring your favorite incest ships to share or come to hear about something new.
Title: Fic & Romance, Fic vs Romance
Fandom: Published romance novels
Description: Lots of fanfiction falls under the romance genre, focusing on a romantic relationship between two characters. But there are big differences between the publishing genre of romance & the romances portrayed in fic. Let’s discuss what’s different—and what’s the same! From common tropes, to story structure, to character types, to how we find new material, to the kinds of authors who get lots of “press.” And what happens when fic writers—or romance writers—cross over?
Title: Get your Wolong Nuts off here!
Fandom: C-Dramas (with definite specific mentions of the Lost Tomb series, Word of Honor, Gank Your Heart, Lovely Writer, and Go! Princess Go!)
Description: Exploring the delightful world of product placement and advertising in c-dramas. Sometimes your characters just need to take a moment to talk about the importance of a good face mask. Other times nuts might go from a source of humor to your deeply needed emotional support nuts. Let’s talk about fun spottings of advertising, how you react to them, and has it ever affected your choices.
Title: Hanahaki Disease: The Illness of Flowers
Fandom: the panel is not fandom-specific because it’s Hanahaki-centric. However, our documentary refers to a range of fandoms including BTS, She-ra, The Witcher, Hannibal, From Eroica with Love…
Description: What would the BBC do if Hanahaki disease were a real illness? They would call David Attemborough and ask him to put together a documentary about it. What would fans do? They would put together a mockumentary about it. Which is what we did! In this panel, we will show highlights from our mockumentary “Hanahaki disease: the illness of flowers”, followed by a general discussion. We’ll cover the (bogus) science of Hanahaki; heartbreaking narratives from various fandoms; possible storylines around the trope. We welcome people to bring their own fandom to the debate: how popular is Hanahaki in your fandom? How would/could Hanahaki fit it? How could it be made to work? Should there be more?
Title: I Don’t Need Fic For That
Fandom: n/a
Description: We talk a lot about fandoms where we want more fic. But participating in a fandom can take a lot of time and energy that we may need for other things (or other fandoms). So let’s talk about things we love where canon is all you need! TV, movies, podcasts, books, sports–what’s your low-investment face?
Title: Introduction to the World of BL (Boys’ Love) Shows
Fandom: It covers BL shows, which some shows/couples have their own fandoms, but this is just a discussion of the genre as a whole
Description: Intro to the world of BL—discussion of the TV genre of BL (Boys’ love) and the BL shows from various countries: the differences and commonalities of the shows from these different countries, common themes/tropes that the BL genre uses, and highlight of shows that might try to subvert them. We’ll also cover resources on where to find BL shows you might be interested in and where to watch them. We’ll try to keep the topics broad as there’s a lot to cover and we could drill deeper by likely won’t have time. If you’ve never heard of BL or know all about it, we’d love to have you so we can discuss the world of boys’ love.
Title: No Hurt, Only Comfort!
Fandom: All fandoms welcome
Description: Have you felt lately that everyone has suffered enough, even your favorite characters? Please come talk about what makes comfort fic so appealing, why a layer of fluff makes the world more bearable, and of course, recommendations! Fic, podfic, profic—bring all the softest stories to keep us in our happy places.
Title: Our Sockpuppets, Ourselves: Dead Dove Enthusiasts Support Group
Fandom: Any/all
Description: Fandom is a place where anything goes! Well…maybe not *that* yikes. Are you into the kind of fic most people will only prompt/write on anon kink memes (if at all)? Do you have a huge stash of private bookmarks? Have you made a side/sockpuppet account for writing/reading dead dove garbage smut?
If you like to splash in the darker end of the fanfic pool, chances are you’re not exactly shouting it from the digital rooftops (but if you are, please come share your secrets with the rest of us). Let’s talk about how shame and judgment intersect with fandom identity/anonymity, and what draws us to “dead dove” stories even if we feel like we need to wear a weird hat and fake mustache to indulge.
Title: Pitfalls of Blanket Diversity on Screen
Fandom: This is about all fandoms
Description: A discussion about how the recent calls to increase diverse representation on screen has led to a rise of diverse antagonists, while protagonists have largely not changed. What drives this new trend and how can fandom respond.
Title: The Fourth Wall: PUT THAT THING BACK WHERE IT CAME FROM OR SO HELP ME
Fandom: RPF fandoms
Description: RPF fandom in the age of social media means lots of people knowing things you’d rather they didn’t…TELLING you things you’d rather they didn’t…and sometimes even REPLYING to you. Let’s talk it out.
Title: The Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase 4 and Beyond!
Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe (movies, D+ shows, Netflix/ABC shows, etc.)
Description: It’s your annual MCU panel! Let’s chat about the ridiculous amount of content we’ve gotten since last CONfab, and how good it all ended up being. Let’s talk faves, criticisms, and what you’re looking forward to over the next year. So many movies and shows! Every Spider-Man ever! Me being forced to watch a Doctor Strange movie because characters I love will be in it! And more.
Title: The Return of the Monsterfucking Panel!
Fandom: Multifandom
Description: THE MONSTER DEMANDS A MATE!
…And we volunteer as tribute! Come join us as we discuss our favorite furry, scaly, slimy, tentacle-y, tooth-y, and otherwise extremely sexy monsters, and why we love them so. (Please be advised that no silver, garlic, wolfsbane, lit torches, or pitchforks of any size will be permitted at the monsterfucking panel. Thank you for your cooperation!)
Title: To Binge or Not To Binge, the sequel
Fandom: Seasonal vs Movie/Binge Fandoms
Description: Last CONfab we talked about how it is the best of times and the worst of times to be a fanperson and how binge culture can be a blessing and a curse.
Then the media started talking about the same thing and now there’s more to talk about apparently.
Come discuss ways fandoms are taking back control of the viewing consuming experience.
Title: You Have Already Left Kudos Here: Adult ADHD in Fandom
Fandom: Multi-fandom discussion panel
Description: Has AO3 ever softly reprimanded you for leaving kudos on a fic you have no memory of reading? Do you have a shame folder for all the fanworks you started but lost interest in finishing? Do you routinely miss the sign-up window for all the cool events in your fandom? This panel is for you!
Adult ADHD can negatively impact work, personal, and fandom life. Join other adults with ADHD to discuss hardships, swap hacks, and give support.
Workshops
Title: “Let’s throw a dialogue panel!” they shouted.
Fandom: N/A
Description: Is dialogue your favorite thing to write or do you wish people had never learned to speak when it comes time for that part of your fic? We’ve got some tips and tricks and we can’t wait to hear yours, too!
Title: Built From the Sound Up
Fandom: Vidding
Description: Song editing for vidders. This workshop will demonstrate techniques to help you build a song edit when you have the perfect song but [that one verse doesn’t fit, it has curse words or slurs, it’s too long, the song is boring at the start but parties at the end, you like vidding in hard-mode]. The principles shared in this workshop are applicable to most audio and video editing software programs.
Title: CONfab Craft Lunch
Fandom: Multi-fandom
Description: Gather round during the midday break to show off your craft projects, demonstrate your craft, or chill out with like-minded crafters. This lunchtime event allows for crafting without missing any of that coveted programming! Plus the virtual environment lets us share crafted items not suitable for travel. Join us for some casual hanging out while scarfing down a quick meal – it’s as if you’re actually at con!
Title: The Lost Art of Collabs: A D&D Character Creation Workshop
Fandom: Dungeons and Dragons
Description: Do you wish you could weave magic? How about just beat your enemies – sometimes with a bloodthirsty literal mindedness? Do you miss elaborate collab fics? Hours creating AUs, thrilling adventures, harrowing experiences or indescribable in-joke laden crack fics – all featuring your favorite characters or OCs?
Great news. You are a D&D player and you don’t know it.
Come to the session with an OC or Fandom Character and Kat will show you how to make them a D&D Character.