Fanfic awards
Just been browsing the post by, and replies to, thamiris on the subject of fiction awards (waves). Made me kinda glad I wasn't writing Smallville stuff, to be honest. Only joking. Or well, only partly joking. And judging by what I've heard about Stargate awards, that's a minefield too. Took a peek at the CBFFA stuff and it's not exactly a bowl of cherries thataways either.
See, whoever organises one of these things will be slammed whatever they do (although yes, quoting one's mates as examples in the case of SV was really rather daft). And whoever fails to win stuff will have 'friends' pat them on the shoulder and swear they should have won and XXX really shouldn't and it was obviously all biased / fixed. Some winners will play all blasé, or if they're nice might say lots of other people deserved to win too. Others, however, I've seen trashing awards once they have won them if they've got an axe to grind (i.e. they've saved the negative stuff until after the votes). Then there are a few jealous types who fail to win and can't resist a few jibes that sound very much like sour grapes.
And really, it's all One Big Mess. Not that I think the Oscars and Caesars, etc. are probably any better *g*.
So much, of course, hangs on various things about a story and not all of them related to its content. Did it have a snappy title and was it posted at a moment when people were greedy for fiction and none was happening? Did it appear among a whole lot of other stories and was swamped by them? Did somebody send online praise that led others to make the effort to read it? Did it get a good rec (or a bad one?) if the fandom has rec lists? Was it unusual enough to stand out but not offbeat enough to put people off? Lots of stuff matters, some that a writer can influence and some she can't. Sure, you can make it look pretty - nice html, legible font - and maybe market it with enthusiasm, but beyond that, your baby's out on its own. I think in some fandoms with vicious pack mentalities it doesn't take much to demolish a writer, and thus her stories, or at least among a good percentage of likely voters. And, of course, I'm sure there is some highly strategic voting in some fandoms too... i.e. let's vote for / promote an anonymous, mediocre newbie rather than letting X win. Or let's bring in the sock puppets to boost votes for Y.
Yes, this is the cynic in me speaking.
We have our own Cowley awards in Pros gen. I won some in 2000 and in 2002, some jointly both times. Only wrote one very peculiar Pros story in 2001 (obviously to give the others a chance (*vbg*). But yeah, I was pleased. Really pleased just to have people vote for my stories. Surprised at some of the other winners, less surprised at others. But basically thrilled to bits.
BUT...
Did I breeze through the whole process without an evil thought or two about 'cliques' and 'bet some people might vote for their mates'? Nope. Did I refrain from whinging to a few people that my own favourite among my stories wasn't nominated? Also nope (although not exactly in public).
On the whole, though, it was pretty smooth going, perhaps partly because ALL stories on the list posted that year could be nominated before the top five in each category were put up on the list as polls. And yes, the two organisers had stories in the running and each won something, but in my opinion they deserved to anyway.
All in all, it was simply a popularity vote for stories, and although the categories were 'Best....' whatever, it was made quite clear that you should vote for what you liked not for any other reason. Whether people did vote for their mates I have no idea. Whether people voted for themselves (which was possible) I have no idea either although one person said she felt it was completely acceptable. For me, that's a no-no, although I confess that in a couple of categories I honestly thought mine were better than those of the other 'finalists' so I didn't vote at all... and I know I'm not alone in doing that - a mate did the same in 2001, as she admitted when we were having a bitching session. Is this a pompous attitude? Yeah, maybe. In my defence I thought that in other categories where I was in the running, some were way better than mine, and voted accordingly.
I do hope my halo is showing...*g*
I suppose the last bit could even be seen as a wank. Fine. So be it if it is. And a cheery wave to anyone who decides to home in on one of my rare public posts and start pointing and mocking. I don't particularly care, see and am genuinely grateful for past experiences that have done wonders for my rhino hide. See, I'm all through with tippy-toeing around people who take out their personal ssues and frustrations on me because they've nothing better to do. Or who take pleasure in misinterpreting stuff or twisting it. I ignore them and continue to do what I enjoy as a hobby: write. As in fiction and the odd rambly LJ post (or website rant if I feel like it). Sure, most of my posts are friends only, because I'm not that keen on sharing most of my journal-type thoughts with people I don't know or don't trust. It's as simple as that.
The only sad thing about the awards in question, to conclude after that slight digression, was that not many people out of a list of 200 people at the time voted at all in the final polls. Mostly writers, from what I heard. But heck, in a way that's flattering when you're rewarded by your peers even if it's a shame the majority, i.e. the readers, couldn't be arsed to click a few buttons and making the vote less representative than it might have been. But hell, it was - after all - an online award and hardly of major importance in the Great Scheme of Things, however much it did wonders for my ego!
So endeth a mini-rant on awards :)
See, whoever organises one of these things will be slammed whatever they do (although yes, quoting one's mates as examples in the case of SV was really rather daft). And whoever fails to win stuff will have 'friends' pat them on the shoulder and swear they should have won and XXX really shouldn't and it was obviously all biased / fixed. Some winners will play all blasé, or if they're nice might say lots of other people deserved to win too. Others, however, I've seen trashing awards once they have won them if they've got an axe to grind (i.e. they've saved the negative stuff until after the votes). Then there are a few jealous types who fail to win and can't resist a few jibes that sound very much like sour grapes.
And really, it's all One Big Mess. Not that I think the Oscars and Caesars, etc. are probably any better *g*.
So much, of course, hangs on various things about a story and not all of them related to its content. Did it have a snappy title and was it posted at a moment when people were greedy for fiction and none was happening? Did it appear among a whole lot of other stories and was swamped by them? Did somebody send online praise that led others to make the effort to read it? Did it get a good rec (or a bad one?) if the fandom has rec lists? Was it unusual enough to stand out but not offbeat enough to put people off? Lots of stuff matters, some that a writer can influence and some she can't. Sure, you can make it look pretty - nice html, legible font - and maybe market it with enthusiasm, but beyond that, your baby's out on its own. I think in some fandoms with vicious pack mentalities it doesn't take much to demolish a writer, and thus her stories, or at least among a good percentage of likely voters. And, of course, I'm sure there is some highly strategic voting in some fandoms too... i.e. let's vote for / promote an anonymous, mediocre newbie rather than letting X win. Or let's bring in the sock puppets to boost votes for Y.
Yes, this is the cynic in me speaking.
We have our own Cowley awards in Pros gen. I won some in 2000 and in 2002, some jointly both times. Only wrote one very peculiar Pros story in 2001 (obviously to give the others a chance (*vbg*). But yeah, I was pleased. Really pleased just to have people vote for my stories. Surprised at some of the other winners, less surprised at others. But basically thrilled to bits.
BUT...
Did I breeze through the whole process without an evil thought or two about 'cliques' and 'bet some people might vote for their mates'? Nope. Did I refrain from whinging to a few people that my own favourite among my stories wasn't nominated? Also nope (although not exactly in public).
On the whole, though, it was pretty smooth going, perhaps partly because ALL stories on the list posted that year could be nominated before the top five in each category were put up on the list as polls. And yes, the two organisers had stories in the running and each won something, but in my opinion they deserved to anyway.
All in all, it was simply a popularity vote for stories, and although the categories were 'Best....' whatever, it was made quite clear that you should vote for what you liked not for any other reason. Whether people did vote for their mates I have no idea. Whether people voted for themselves (which was possible) I have no idea either although one person said she felt it was completely acceptable. For me, that's a no-no, although I confess that in a couple of categories I honestly thought mine were better than those of the other 'finalists' so I didn't vote at all... and I know I'm not alone in doing that - a mate did the same in 2001, as she admitted when we were having a bitching session. Is this a pompous attitude? Yeah, maybe. In my defence I thought that in other categories where I was in the running, some were way better than mine, and voted accordingly.
I do hope my halo is showing...*g*
I suppose the last bit could even be seen as a wank. Fine. So be it if it is. And a cheery wave to anyone who decides to home in on one of my rare public posts and start pointing and mocking. I don't particularly care, see and am genuinely grateful for past experiences that have done wonders for my rhino hide. See, I'm all through with tippy-toeing around people who take out their personal ssues and frustrations on me because they've nothing better to do. Or who take pleasure in misinterpreting stuff or twisting it. I ignore them and continue to do what I enjoy as a hobby: write. As in fiction and the odd rambly LJ post (or website rant if I feel like it). Sure, most of my posts are friends only, because I'm not that keen on sharing most of my journal-type thoughts with people I don't know or don't trust. It's as simple as that.
The only sad thing about the awards in question, to conclude after that slight digression, was that not many people out of a list of 200 people at the time voted at all in the final polls. Mostly writers, from what I heard. But heck, in a way that's flattering when you're rewarded by your peers even if it's a shame the majority, i.e. the readers, couldn't be arsed to click a few buttons and making the vote less representative than it might have been. But hell, it was - after all - an online award and hardly of major importance in the Great Scheme of Things, however much it did wonders for my ego!
So endeth a mini-rant on awards :)