The Wonderful WonderCon 2018

C.T. Russell
Apr 21, 2018
6 min read

Hey guys and thank you for checking out my blog. Today I wanted to go into depth regarding my experience at WonderCon 2018. This was not my first Wondercon, but this is my first time blogging about my experiences. The video features short clips I took from all around the convention.

First off, I have to say how much I enjoyed this con. Wondercon has quickly become my favorite of the cons I attend. It is well managed. The staff tends to be well trained. There’s an abundance of cool panels. Amazing guests. No to mention world premiers.

For day one, I carpooled to the convention with my twin and a couple of her friends. It had been a while since we were in Anaheim so I got a little turned around. The parking was confusing. Yes there is a parking center at the convention, but the signs lead us pretty far away to the Honda Center. At least the parking was cheaper and there was a complementary shuttle service to the con that was running smoothly. It didn’t take us too long to get to the center.

Getting our badges was a snap. There was hardly a line at all. Plus it was all inside, which was nice. After badge pick up we were directed to wait in the exhibit center. Which was long. So instead we all went outside to the food trucks. My sister got some tater tots and I got ‘cheese’ fries. Which were not the best.

After giving the line a little bit of time to filter in, we decided to go into the exhibit hall. First we walked around artist alley. Which tends to be one of my favorite things to do. I’m not much of an artist, but I really admire the people that can draw and paint and such. Then we ran around the rest of the hall, I managed to spend way too much money on graphic novels. I picked up Giant Days Volume 1, Witch Boy, Capture Creatures, Steven Universe, and Catboy. (I didn’t buy too many books after day one haha).

My twin really wanted to go to the Game as a Pro panel so we did. I’m glad we did. It was interesting listening to the panelist talk about all the different ways to make it in the video game industry. For anyone interested in a job in video game production here are a couple of useful tips. 1. Learn a couple of different coding languages. 2. Become active in the modding community. Being able to make mods for a game shows skills that developers are looking for. 3. Work hard, even if it’s a video game class or a tester position. People remember hard working people that they would want to work with for the future.

After that panel we decided to go to the Fandom to Career: Make Your Wildest Dreams Come True. Which yeah, turning my fandom into a career is my wildest dream. The panelists were all sweet. The panel boiled down to two main pieces of advice: 1. Don’t stop working hard and 2. Network whenever you can.

One of the panelists, Britta Lundin informed us that she would be giving away ARCs of her upcoming novel after the panel. So three guesses as to where I ran off to next. Britta Lundin is a writer for the show Riverdale. One that I binged in a day. She seemed to appreciate when I told her that. I was excited to get the ARC of Ship It, especially because she was kind enough to sign it. It is my first ARC and I will treasure it. I’m excited to read it. I’ll let you all know when I do.

Getting home was a little difficult mostly because one of our friends got lost while we were heading towards the shuttle. We made friends with the shuttle attendant while we waited. Thankfully the shuttle back was just as efficient as the shuttle to the con. It only took a few minutes for it to get loaded up before we were on our way. We ended up getting McDonalds on the way back home since it was way cheaper than anything at the convention.

Day two was just my sister and I. We got there early and jammed so much into the day I think it was our most productive day at a convention ever. Thankfully we got there early enough to park at the convention, though it was slightly more expensive.

We started at The Avatar’s Narrative: Writing for Video Games. A dream job of mine. There were a few different things that stuck out, but the main one to me was a quote from Chris Avallone, “If you are always in the right place, it will at one point be the right time.” It’s something that rang true to me. People talk about getting the job they want like it is always a matter of just luck. But it’s not. It’s a combination of hard work and positioning yourself in the right place. If you are constantly knocking on the door to success, someone has to answer at some point.

Even though I haven’t read any of Victoria Schwab’s works, I decided to go to the spotlight on V.E. Schwab. She won me over immediately when I saw she was wearing a Calcifer t-shirt with my favorite quote from any Miyazaki film, “May all your bacon burn.” Her panel was inspiring. It did sadden me to hear that she is still told things like, “I’m glad I didn’t know you were a woman or I wouldn’t have read your book.” She was very open and honest about the hardships of being an author and I really appreciated that. I went out and picked up the collectors edition of a Darker Shade of Magic after that. I look forward to reading it and I’ll let you guys know my thoughts.

After a food truck and exhibit hall break we were back in for the All-Female Show Runner’s Panel. What I loved about that panel is that it was more about being a show runner then the fact that it was all females. To be completely honest, I didn’t really know what a show runner was before attending the panel. Despite how difficult it is to be a show runner I could tell how much all of the women enjoyed it. Directly after that panel in the same room was the Final Space screening and panel. My sister loves the show, so we stayed. That was my first time watching it and I loved it as well. It’s hilarious, if you get a chance to watch it I recommend it.

Keeping up with the TV theme we ran to the Intro to TV Writing: From First Draft to Getting Started. The panelist gave some great advice. Such as writing a spec script about a current show that you love and enjoy. Because a fan of the show is more likely to know the characters and keep the details consistent. One suggestion was to break down an episode of the show to learn the normal rhythm of the show. Supernatural for example starts off with someone getting killed by some strange force.

Despite day 3 being a shorter day, my sister and I were still able to attend three panels and indulge in amazing ice cream and popcorn. The convention center actually had really tasty popcorn, just the right amount of saltiness. The ice cream was from a food truck and was tasty, but a bad idea for me since I’m technically lactose intolerant. I survived though, and it was still worth it.

The first panel of the day was the Writer’s Coffeehouse at Wondercon. Sure enough there wasn’t a whole lot of talking at first. It took a little while for people to feel comfortable enough to speak, but I never got the names of the woman around me. Which, I kicked myself for at the end of the panel. The majority of the panel was a lecture given by Peter Cline. He shared a lot of insights into the business of writing. One of his suggestions was to join a writing group, which is something I want to do in the future. I might even attend the one he suggested held monthly at dark delicacies.

Career Paths into Game Development really hit home how important it is to learn coding languages like C++ and to join the modding community to help build a good resume for a job in the video game industry. Last was Full-time Creative Work on a Part-time Schedule. The panel was kind enough to create a cute post card with some tips. I still have the card. The tips are pretty good, such as how disconnecting from the internet can help with productivity. I’m sure the tips will be especially useful to me for the next few weeks since my schedule will be packed.

We decided to leave after that last panel, since we were all spent out at that point and there were no other panels to go too. I had so much fun at WonderCon that the post con blues hit me particularly hard. I’ll be sure to let you guys know when I go to my next convention. If you attended Wondercon, I’d love to hear what your favorite parts were. Let me know if you have any suggestions for possible conventions. Below I am adding some of my favorite photos.