Bronycon 2019: A Power Ballad in the Whiskey of Sleep Deprivation in Two Parts (Part 2 of 2) · 2:41am Aug 7th, 2019
It is three in the afternoon and I am wandering around with a coffee cup in hand and a robe on. If there’s one thing I can be assured of when it comes to pony conventions, it’s that they always end with my sleep schedule completely out of whack.
Part Two: Baltimore: or “How I Learned to Start Worrying and Loathe the Line."
This blog will probably be a disappointment. The previous blog post on the crazy tour that was Bronycon 2019 was very much step-by-step recollection, heavy on sleep deprivation-fueled rambling. Since that blog was written, I have gotten enough sleep that any rambling will lack that wit, no doubt because I’ll be second guessing myself more than just letting the words flow. This is notable. One of my biggest issues over the last few years of not producing much of anything can be linked to self-doubt. I tend to go over every sentence with a fine-tooth comb. In editing or proofing sessions, that would not be much of a problem; when done in the middle of actually attempting to write a chapter, it can kill the flow. It’s something I’m trying to be better about, but it is also something that I know for a fact will be hard to change. In short, however, this blog wound up very by-the-books and overlong rather than whatever stream of golly heck I posted this afternoon.
It’s fitting, I suppose that, while the journey around Washington DC pre-convention was a sillier tale, the convention itself would take a more serious and formulaic stance. After all, it is an ending. Not the ending—not for this fandom, not for conventions, not for my writing—but even the ending of a chapter can be as bittersweet as the end of a story itself. Likewise, there is the simple fact that I can’t remember the convention itself step-by-step, blow-by-blow as I was able to when it came to DC. The wacky shenanigans of two individuals are easy to remember while a bunch of coalescing meetings and moments shared with dozens of people blur together. Because of this, I will focus on the factors most people recount when talking about Bronycon: the experience itself (both in Baltimore and the Convention), the panels, the swag, the time spent with others.
Act One: The Experience
To go into detail on the convention, one needs to look at the city of Baltimore itself. I would not call myself a city-wise individual by any sort, but Baltimore is a location that I tend to get a little bit too confident about. After four previous experiences in the city (i.e. never leaving the Inner Harbor area), I was comfortable enough with the city to keep my head off a swivel. “Baltimore isn’t that bad,” I have found myself from time to time. “It just has a bad rep.” And, as I’ve grown, I have started to believe that more and more. While there are areas of the city Tayman and I wandered through that I would recommend people avoid. Pro tip: once you get a couple blocks north of the arena near the harbor (Royal Farms, I think is what it’s called) things get very rough, very fast. While shockingly we were not approached by a typical panhandler (in fact, thinking back, I managed to make it through the whole four day stay in Baltimore without being approached. A first for the convention!) the experience of a north of the harbor McDonald's was enough to assure I stayed as close to the Inner Harbor area as possible. Is it filled to the brim with overpriced restaurants, bad drivers, and an ever-decreasing personality? Sure, but it’s the perfect spot for a convention like this.
Side note: I feel like there is a rule put in place in some fine print that the light rail system has to be a clusterfuck during convention weekend. The line down from Penn Station was out, so we had to take a light rail down a stop, then hop on a shuttle bus. Doable, but far slower than it would have been if the light rail system had been in service.
As usual, Tayman and I stayed in the Holiday Inn at the Inner Harbor. While we have stayed at other hotels during Bronycon in the past, I find that I associate this hotel with the convention. Three of the five years I attended the convention, I also stayed there. Each experience was unique: the first time, we crammed five people into a single suite (I wound up sleeping on the couch that year); the second time, we were joined by Sunchaser and maskedferret (the convention as far as dinners and parties are concerned seemed to fall apart this year without those two, but more on that later); and this year, Tayman and I used a room share thread to find two new roommates we did not know at all prior to the convention. The two newcomers—neither of whom were writers or even (I think) that big into fanfic in general—were good people. I did not get to know them as much as I had expected, but that was because we spent most of the convention doing our own thing at the center. Compared to other years, I spent less time in the hotel and more time in the convention center.
It’s a shame a good chunk of that time was spent in line. I’m not complaining about the sheer number of people—a record setter—because, well, I think we all hoped that, once this was announced as the last Bronycon, it would go out in a bang. The lines and crowds that others have talked in far greater detail in other blogs were quite memeable (the event had been dubbed LineCon 2019 before pre-registration had even concluded) and a bit frustrating at times, but I feel that there was little else that could be done due to the convention being packed into such a tight space this year. Should they have tried to rent out the other half of the convention center on another weekend so that they had the whole space? Yes, but I cannot say with certainty that they did not. It made the experience slower, but I would not say the lines diluted the experience. In actuality, I would say they made the convention all the more memorable. The only panel I was not able to make it into due to crowds was one that I’d gone to with no intention of staying the whole time (Scripts from other films/tv shows read in pony voices). Speaking of panels, segue time.
Act Two: The Panels
Panels and I have had an interesting relationship throughout my years at Bronycon. While I don’t have anything against panels—I love going to them—but usually I found myself in Quills and Sofas talking with friends or attempting write horsewords or going out to eat with fellow writers. I am also ridiculously bad at remembering when panels are. Looking back through the convention guide, I saw several panels that I would have actually loved to go to but I had either not noticed them when looking through the guide or had made a note of them only to forget later. For the final Bronycon, I attended eight panels all the way through. Not a very high number, but higher than the last couple years when I spent nearly the entire convention cooped up in Quills.
The first panel I attended was Chaos and Cuddles: Writing About Children and Families. I thought this panel was actually quite good—one of my favorites from this year. Each of the panelist did a great job of relating their experiences with raising children to the act of actually writing children and family situations realistically. Additionally, as an individual working on a degree in special education, I appreciated that there was quite a bit of information provided about developmental psychology near the end of the panel. Each member was well prepared for the panel and I even took several notes for my own future attempts at writing fiction—both pony and otherwise.
History of Fan Conventions was a panel I attended on a whim. Despite being a member of the pony community for quite a while, I am very much not in the know as far as fandoms and conventions go. I have dabbled in some, but this was the first one I became actively involved in. Also, I’m a sucker for anything history related. The chair of this panel (the only member of it as well) either already had written a book on the history of fan conventions or is currently working on one. There were a few interesting tidbits of information I was unaware of until this panel. Sadly, much of it escapes me at the moment because silly me forgot to take notes, but I do remember it being a good panel. It was not the last time I came across this panelist
Speaking of repeating panelists, the next panel I attended--Original Characters IV: Beyond Equestria—was the first of several I would attend with GaPJaxie and Horizon involved. This panel was one I attended solely for the panelists. As the roman numeral implies, this is the fourth iteration of the Original Characters, and I believe the third I had attended. I hate to admit that, due in part to being a bit worn out at the time, I was unable to pay attention to the panel as close as I wish I had. The piece of advice I remember, taken from a quote by Kurt Vonnegut, is that every character should want something, even if that is just a glass of water. As a writer, this is advice I had already taken to heart (every character, no matter how minor, has a motivation) however, I liked the way the panel explained that famous piece of advice in a way that a beginning writer might easier understand. Likewise, this panel was full of individuals who excel at speaking so it was able to keep me engaged despite my caffeine withdrawal.
Let’s Create a Bad Fanfiction (Hall of Chaos). This panel had no right to be as good as it was. Being in the Hall of Chaos, this panel was 21+ so there were very few limits to what could and could not be used for ‘writing a bad fanfiction (in actuality, it was a game of Mad Libs with the audience filling in the blanks). Needless to say, the fics got very vulgar very, very fast. What made this work as well as it did was the commitment by the panel (various voice actors and narrators from the fandom) to the performance of these stories. What makes comedy is, in my opinion, around 40% the content itself and 60% delivery, and these panelists delivered the lines perfectly.
Brony Fandom History. Another panel by the individual who did the history of conventions panel. There is little to say about this panel. It was not a bad panel but forgettable. The splitting up of the fandom into phases of existence (the 4chan days, the EQD days, the podcast days) were interesting but near the end it felt like the panelist was stretching a bit to try to find a category to define the current state of the fandom in, and . . . it just seemed to be a bit forced to me (the drama stage. While, yes, we are in an age where discourse is more common, from my view the drama within the pony side of things seems no more intense than it has been in the past; in fact, it seems to have lessened. I will be the first to admit that I am not well-versed in much outside of the small subsets of fic writers I hang out with--not to mention I try to avoid drama as much as possible--so I don’t have a very wide-ranged view of the subject).
Ponyfic: There Can Be Only One. Ah, the contest that brought a million tears. RBDash47 asked for long-winded blog posts proclaiming why you think a fic you loved was snubbed either in its finishing position or lack of inclusion altogether, and right here, right now . . . you’re probably going to get none of that from me 
. No, but real talk, I feel that, for how the panel could have gone, I felt like it was a mostly fair process (led by fan vote and occasionally panelists) and the choices for the top 16 were either fics that I have read and loved or fics I have yet to read but have heard nothing but great things about. At the end of the day . . . I cannot say that I agree or disagree with the outcomes because I had only read around half of the stories included, but it was more a fun panel idea than an actual guaranteed statement on which fic was better than another. While there are certain fics that I wish I had seen go further (‘Yours Truly’ is, in my opinion, one of the best stories I have read for this fandom, but with its age and first round match-up the poor thing stood little chance of making it far at all). I also wound up adding a few stories to my read later list as well as making a purchase in the bookstore based off the 16 finalists. Unfortunately, this means I might have to wait awhile to finally read The Enchanted Library because I want to read it for enjoyment, not to “see if it really is the best story in the fandom” and the further from the result the clearer view I will be reading it through
Finally, we get to the one Tayman and I were booted from due to capacity issues. From Star Wars to Harry Potter: Pony Voices. Looking back at it, I’m so thankful we got booted from this one as I was about to leave anyway. Apparently, there was a similar panel in the Hall of Chaos that included the scenes from more mature movies like Silence of the Lambs. That probably would have been funnier than what we got in the brief part of this panel I saw. What killed it was that the narrator in charge of reading stage directions sounded very bored and rushed through the lines—mumbling them quite frequently. If the Bad Fanfiction panel was saved by great delivery, the potential for this panel was ruined by bad delivery.
Now we reach the final two panels. I’m going to combine “It’s in Our Hooves Now” and “Distant Worlds: Writing for Non-MLP Settings” into a single paragraph due to them being back-to-back in the same hall. It’s in Our Hooves Now was more of a motivational seminar to explain why it is important to keep fanfic going after the show has ended and more importantly how to. The panel was good. I didn’t receive much in the way of actual writing advice (that did not seem to be the point of the story, so I suppose that’s just fine) but it did give me a bit of an esteem boost as far as writing is concerned. I have been concerned about starting new stories or continuing old ones due to the proximity of the supposed ‘end’ but, as by the book as the message of this panel, it struck a chord. I’m no longer worried about not being able to finish a story before the show ends; I’m simply motivated to start up writing again. The panel following this one, “Distant Worlds” was well done, but it was not what I expected. I had expected it to be more about writing original fiction, world building within an original property and so on; instead, it was more of an advice seminar on how to write fanfiction for properties outside of MLP. Granted, the advice was great, but as someone who doesn’t have any other fandom affiliation that leaves me craving to write fanfic (for me, the closest to reaching the level of pony as far as writing desire are Zootopia and maybe She-Ra if I get into it as much as I feel I might, but the problem with that is that the means of posting said fanfics—fanfiction.net, Archive of Our Own—are just… not good compared to Fimfiction. Thank you, knighty for coming up with a web design for fanfic that isn’t crap)
Overall, a good group of panels this year. Not much else to say about that, especially considering how long-winded this blog is becoming.
Act Three: The Swag
For the sake of brevity, I’ll just say that I purchased very little from the merch hall. The big story of the merch hall was the bookstore, and I did what I could to support it. I bought Thousand Yard Stare (a collection of GaPJaxie one shots) and ordered a copy of 81 Days (also by Jaxie. What can I say, he writes great stories and this is one I have yet to read but heard nothing but great things about). There were other books I thought about ordering or trying to buy, but alas money is tight. Still, major props to Aquaman, RBDash47, and everyone else with an involvement in making the bookstore the success it was.
Outside of the books, I kept my purchases really simple. I bought two badges for my lanyard (Gallus and Smolder) because they were cute and I like the characters. If I go to a pony con in the future, I could easily transfer them to another lanyard. I also bought a shirt. I don’t own many pony shirts, but of course they had a Kerfuffle t-shirt and it was so adorbs that I had to buy it. Luckily for my wallet, that was the only impulsive buy I made. Only the never ending food purchases (curse you, Inner Harbor, and your wide range of options) made my bank account cry a little. I’m proud of that. Due to my major, I won’t be able to work much for the next year until I get a job as a teacher so saving as much money as I can is important.
Act Four: Quills
Originally, I had intended for this section to be about fellow authors that I met with at the convention, and they will get their due, but as I thought about it, I feel that the existence of Quills and Sofas itself deserves a tribute. Were it not for our little corner of the convention center, it is doubtful that nearly as many writers would be able to congregate and meet up; we’d be spread all over the hall. This year, due to Quills being shoved into a room with Pastel Pastures, the amount of folks hanging out in Quills was smaller than in the past. It was so tightly packed in there that many went their own way. I understand why—I don’t like tight spaces and large crowds much at all myself—but I feel that it did keep the final Bronycon from being the most memorable Bronycon. People seemed to split off into their own groups. There were various smaller dinners, but not the one large dinner we’d had in the past. While the lack of those 50+ parties at Tir Na Nog was briefly disappointing, I did enjoy the smaller dinner I had at Fogo de Chao. Good food and good people.
As with past Bronycons, Quills was a place to meet up with people I knew from past Bronycons as well as new folks. I was able to say hi to Skeeter and sign his book, awkwardly insert myself into conversations with familiar faces, spoil CSquared about the true ending of Not All Who Wander Are Lost ( side note: thanks to some of the panels I attended this year, I have decided to finally get back to work on that one. Instead of doing the huge rewrite I was originally planning on doing, I instead am just going to try to finish it with its original plan. Contradictions from canon after I began writing it be damned—though I will go back over it and clean up the prose a bit first) have a long discussion with Majin about the joys of working story moderation on Fimfiction, and so on. I also was able to meet some people whose stories I have greatly enjoyed in the past for the first time. I managed to say hi to Cold in Gardez and shake his hand without awkwardly stumbling over my words; my on a whim Gallus badge purchase paid dividends when it led to a handshake and hell from Miller Minus. I met RBDash47 and talked a little about Ponyfeather Publishing. If I get some fics finished and Aqua goes forward with doing the bookstore once again at Everfree, I might try and get something in there. Hell, I might try to do it regardless. It’s not the healthiest means of motivation, but if it works it works (also, great finally meeting you RBDash!)
I could go on and on about my fellow writers. I have nothing but respect and lover for everyone of you. Despite my longwindedness, I am very bad at properly expressing affection, so I will sum it up: for those of you that I have met in Bronycons, five years ago or just this past weekend, I want to say thank you. Thank you for helping make this fandom such a welcoming and pleasant community to be a part of. The experience these last seven years have helped me develop as I person. Thank you all so much. Hopefully I see some of y’all again at another convention down the road. Bronycon may be done, but the convention scene lives on!
Epilogue: So, What Now?
You know what the worst thing about the end of Bronycon is? I was finally getting good at using a typewriter thanks to their presence. In the past, I had been scared to even touch them; this year, I spent a good chunk of my time in Quills and Sofas typing away, working on various ideas that have been festering in my head over the past year or so. What was typed may one day wind up in a story. Either way, there was something about those typewriters this year—something about the convention as a whole—that lit a fire under my tail in regards to writing. For many people, this is closing in on the end of their writing career for MLP. For me, I’m hoping it’s a new beginning. I have the idea, I have the motivation. The main reason I wrote this two part blog was partially to keep the blood flowing as far as horsewords are concerned.
So, what’s in store from yours truly?
From a story standpoint, I have several ideas that have caught flight to varying degrees. Two notes: 1) Placement on list does not represent order of completion/posting only the order the stories came to mind; 2) the spoiler tags do not hide any actual plot details, just tags and/or genre warnings.
· After what feels like a lifetime, Not All Who Wander Are Lost will undergo a major editorial sweep (to clean up the prose) and push forward through the original outline. I’m going to be blunt with you all: that original outline was written by a 20 year old Razed with little to no writing experience. It’s not very good. However, I will do what I can to salvage it as best I can so it’s not too bad. Really, I just don’t want it incomplete forever—even if it’s already been forever. I'll be blunt in say that Reconstruction Site is in a much worse position as far as continuation.
· A comedic one-shot of sorts starring Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow. This story might be the first that I finish because a) it is flowing quite nicely and b) it is supposed to take place immediately after Frenemies so I’d rather not be contradicted by canon midway through writing it.
· A novella-to-novel length story about Sassy Saddles and Tempest Shadow (not shipping). It’s an odd grouping, but I have an idea I really love to go along with it. Last November, I actually completed over 20k words of this story, but scrapped it due to dissatisfaction. I’ll be cleaning up the original draft of it and tossing it up once it’s around halfway completed.
· Bedrock. Bedrock is not dead. I have written over 15k words in it since the start of the summer. Like the above idea, I’m hoping to get a good chunk of it done before I start uploading it again. I have chapters, but after what happened with Not All Who Wander Are Lost and Reconstruction Site, I am hesitant to start incomplete stories with the risk of them dying before completion.
· A one-shot (in three chapters) about an aged up Student Six (specifically Smolder, Gallus, and Ocellus). it will be a romance
· A one-shot about Kerfuffle and Rarity. This is the story I spent the most time typing on the typewriters at Quills and Sofas. also a romance
· A reimagining of the infamous Miracles(?!)
· Never count out more one-shots. Comedies, horrors, and every genre in between. Whenever inspiration strikes, I will rush to the keyboard and try and get something done
I know I have broken promises to write in the past, so my word counts for very little, but I promise I will try my best. With the stresses of school, writing might become therapeutic again. Besides writing, I will be reading like crazy. There might be blogs. I’m honestly not huge on blogging regularly, so while the stories will hopefully start up steady again after more than five years off, blogging will probably stay pretty inactive because… well, that’s just not me.
Until next time, have some more best pony!
And you have no clue how happy I am to have gotten your signature.
~Skeeter The Lurker
Wait
Hold on
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Hold on
There's like 80% fewer mentions of me in this blog post. Unbelievable.
But yeah, my con memory is pretty much a blur as well. That'll happen when you're walking down the same pastel merch-flooded hallways dozens of times. But I can pick out bits and pieces - always having to go into Quills and Sofas mentioning I wasn't there for whatever activity they were having that had reached cap, for instance. Or watching the Bronycon memorial grow from a meming tombstone in a corner to an outpouring of fan-placed tributes that threatened to spill into the walkway. Or something like the entire con lining up for the opening of the vendor hall opening on Thursday (and the vendor hall ended up being noticeably smaller than previous years! Great call.) These are just a couple moments that stood out in a weekend that certainly isn't retreating from my memory anytime soon.
It goes without saying that I had a great time with you - I realize conventions are all about making new friends, but there's something to be said about a person you can have on speed-dial, to see if they're up for a meal or a panel or whatever other shenanigans are going down at the convention hall. It's difficult - for me at least - to randomly stumble into meeting new people, so I'm glad I was able to spend time with you and the rest of the writers - shoutouts to Chryssalid on that note! Really hope the community is able to stay in touch with each other (especially considering I've been disconnected from pony for the past two years), though with you specifically, we'll be seeing plenty of each other, I'm sure.
Now, will I have any writing to show you? That's entirely an open question, but I have been thinking a lot about the kirin, so at the very least some brainstorming could be on the horizon.
Toodles for now.
5101167
You hear enough people say "just finish what you start" and it sinks in.
Also you helped
. The fact that someone still remembers that fic after all these years of inactivity goes to show that there are folks out there who probably want to see it finished. Motivation is motivation.
5101176
I am excite
5101174
Yeah, I missed several shoutouts and things of notes. There were just so many people I ran into that it blurred together, especially as the convention dragged on and I started getting a little conned out.
It was awesome hanging out with you once again this year. And now that you're down in Charlotte we can actually meet up outside of the convention halls. (And feel free to send anything you write. I'll gladly read it over)
Not all who wander takes me back!
Also if you wait a while it will be thoroughly edited for its publication!
You too!
See, why would it be the end for so many people? Unless the finale literally fucks off so hard we can’t comprehend it, it means that all of the canon is out there and we can fill in the gaps and not worry about being contradicted. Yes the fandom will slowly shrink, but it’s not going to come to full stop. Or even close. I mean all the Harry Potter stuff that’s out there...
Also, I’m here in any way you wish to help you write. I mean, you did get me into Rare/Dash. I owe you something.
Okay, now you have my attention!
Because her best-ness is supreme, and her triumph over all less-best pones is inevitable.