The Idolmance Is Over
In what I think will be a surprise for maybe three people on the internet, now that I'm out, I'm officially announcing that alleyalligator was, in fact, theafaye. I thought it would be obvious to most people mainly because whenever I've done fiction under Thea, it's always been exactly the same as Alley's stuff, but in case anyone out there didn't know and was surprised, well, SURPRISE!!!!
Anyone on Alley's f-list is very welcome to add Thea. I never read Alley's f-list but I know there are some good folk here, so do please come on over to my main journal.
Although I'll confess to a little bit of disappointment, my main feelings are of no surprise at all and relief - it was always a gamble suddenly doing non-horror but although I had plans for a magickal element to the story, it didn't come out that way and I was happy with it as is. For a number of reasons, I just wasn't in the zone to do horror last week, although I had some great ideas for possibilities this week and it would have been gory as heck.
Idol's a time suck and has been diverting me away from things I should be doing instead for months now, especially when I was doing two IDs up until top 50. I only really set up Alley as a bit of a dare and intended to drop out almost immediately but then Alley started doing so much better than I ever did. No one knew about her except Gary to begin with (one other person knew I had an alt but literally didn't figure out who until last night). In my first season, I was always middle of the pack; Alley topped her poll, not once but multiple times. Further, I wasn't promoting her. At all. No one knew she existed. She was, to all intents and purposes, a newbie and one who didn't self promote (what was the point? The only people on the f-list were Idolers I'd added randomly in the early stages).
As time wore on and Alley continued to do well, I predicted she'd go out in the top 30. I would have loved to have hit top 30 with both IDs and then had to choose (Alley would have been my pick since she always did so much better), but after a while, doing two entries a week was a chore and my husband was starting to REALLY resent any time spent on writing an Idol entry, which is why pretty much all of them were thrown together in about an hour. Now that I can spend time crafting them, I'm really looking forward to seeing how good my stories can be with a bit of effort behind them.
So when Thea looked like she was going out at top 50, I didn't push to keep her in, since my partner didn't mind leaving, and I didn't accept the offer to come back because although I don't feel it was reflective of my writing abilities, ultimately, this is Idol. It's a game. In the grand scheme of things, it isn't a reflection of how good your writing is - there's a whole heap of self promotion thrown into the mix.
After top 50 came and went, I knew I was on borrowed time. When you can't win, it makes the game a very different experience. It's hard to get emotionally invested in your own progress because at any point, Gary could turn around and tell me it's time to go and I'm gone. So whilst it's nice to stay in as long as possible for ego's sake, it's also taking up the space of someone who can potentially win and I know from previous seasons that once strategies start to really come into play, I just can't compete.
And that's what's happened over the past couple of weeks. Anyone who thinks that strategies aren't important to win Idol is kidding themselves. Do really, really well without them? Absolutely. I'll confess to some private pimping last week, but I achieved top 50 and top 25 without doing anything other than write what I thought were good entries and now I've got over 30 stories to polish and do cool things with. And in those 30 entries are at least 10 that have the potential to be more (although given that there's a story from season 6 I want to turn into a novel and haven't begun yet, it might be a while before that happens). Certainly I'm going to be setting up a zombie blog, using the two most recent zombie stories as the beginning of an ongoing saga that will be updated weekly, so that's something to look forward to (and also why I won't be home gaming, unless the prompts lend themselves to the next chapter).
But every single winner of Idol has been highly strategical. Their strategies have varied (I remember chite writing an excellent guide to what she did to win, many of her tactics being used by subsequent competitors), but they've had them, and my prediction for the win this season has for a long time been n3m3sis42 for a number of reasons, not least of which because she reminds me a lot of boxsofrain.
I'm going to put the cat among the pigeons now, mainly to throw some food for thought out there. Not everyone has the time or inclination to poll watch closely, but if you do, there are patterns that sometimes emerge and when the same five people jump by the same amount at the same time, it doesn't take much to call shenanigans. Personally, I think it was about saving certain people rather than targeting certain people, but this is why I'm stunned I survived as long as I did - beyond my husband, I don't have the hordes to call upon in the same way. It's only going to get nastier from now on and to be honest, seeing that there are two topics this weekend just makes me relieved I don't have to write them or worry about how I can drum up an extra 30 voters because, you know, I can't.
So good luck to those of you left in the bloodbath. There are a couple of you I'd love to win, so do me a favour and take the crown for me, all right?
Anyone on Alley's f-list is very welcome to add Thea. I never read Alley's f-list but I know there are some good folk here, so do please come on over to my main journal.
Although I'll confess to a little bit of disappointment, my main feelings are of no surprise at all and relief - it was always a gamble suddenly doing non-horror but although I had plans for a magickal element to the story, it didn't come out that way and I was happy with it as is. For a number of reasons, I just wasn't in the zone to do horror last week, although I had some great ideas for possibilities this week and it would have been gory as heck.
Idol's a time suck and has been diverting me away from things I should be doing instead for months now, especially when I was doing two IDs up until top 50. I only really set up Alley as a bit of a dare and intended to drop out almost immediately but then Alley started doing so much better than I ever did. No one knew about her except Gary to begin with (one other person knew I had an alt but literally didn't figure out who until last night). In my first season, I was always middle of the pack; Alley topped her poll, not once but multiple times. Further, I wasn't promoting her. At all. No one knew she existed. She was, to all intents and purposes, a newbie and one who didn't self promote (what was the point? The only people on the f-list were Idolers I'd added randomly in the early stages).
As time wore on and Alley continued to do well, I predicted she'd go out in the top 30. I would have loved to have hit top 30 with both IDs and then had to choose (Alley would have been my pick since she always did so much better), but after a while, doing two entries a week was a chore and my husband was starting to REALLY resent any time spent on writing an Idol entry, which is why pretty much all of them were thrown together in about an hour. Now that I can spend time crafting them, I'm really looking forward to seeing how good my stories can be with a bit of effort behind them.
So when Thea looked like she was going out at top 50, I didn't push to keep her in, since my partner didn't mind leaving, and I didn't accept the offer to come back because although I don't feel it was reflective of my writing abilities, ultimately, this is Idol. It's a game. In the grand scheme of things, it isn't a reflection of how good your writing is - there's a whole heap of self promotion thrown into the mix.
After top 50 came and went, I knew I was on borrowed time. When you can't win, it makes the game a very different experience. It's hard to get emotionally invested in your own progress because at any point, Gary could turn around and tell me it's time to go and I'm gone. So whilst it's nice to stay in as long as possible for ego's sake, it's also taking up the space of someone who can potentially win and I know from previous seasons that once strategies start to really come into play, I just can't compete.
And that's what's happened over the past couple of weeks. Anyone who thinks that strategies aren't important to win Idol is kidding themselves. Do really, really well without them? Absolutely. I'll confess to some private pimping last week, but I achieved top 50 and top 25 without doing anything other than write what I thought were good entries and now I've got over 30 stories to polish and do cool things with. And in those 30 entries are at least 10 that have the potential to be more (although given that there's a story from season 6 I want to turn into a novel and haven't begun yet, it might be a while before that happens). Certainly I'm going to be setting up a zombie blog, using the two most recent zombie stories as the beginning of an ongoing saga that will be updated weekly, so that's something to look forward to (and also why I won't be home gaming, unless the prompts lend themselves to the next chapter).
But every single winner of Idol has been highly strategical. Their strategies have varied (I remember chite writing an excellent guide to what she did to win, many of her tactics being used by subsequent competitors), but they've had them, and my prediction for the win this season has for a long time been n3m3sis42 for a number of reasons, not least of which because she reminds me a lot of boxsofrain.
I'm going to put the cat among the pigeons now, mainly to throw some food for thought out there. Not everyone has the time or inclination to poll watch closely, but if you do, there are patterns that sometimes emerge and when the same five people jump by the same amount at the same time, it doesn't take much to call shenanigans. Personally, I think it was about saving certain people rather than targeting certain people, but this is why I'm stunned I survived as long as I did - beyond my husband, I don't have the hordes to call upon in the same way. It's only going to get nastier from now on and to be honest, seeing that there are two topics this weekend just makes me relieved I don't have to write them or worry about how I can drum up an extra 30 voters because, you know, I can't.
So good luck to those of you left in the bloodbath. There are a couple of you I'd love to win, so do me a favour and take the crown for me, all right?