My Thoughts Go A-Drabbling
I recently signed up for the hp_humpdrabbles "Hump Madness 2014" drabble fest. It's one of those "last drabble writer standing" (LDWS) contests, where each week, people write drabbles, readers vote for their favorites, a certain number of writers gets eliminated each week, and in the end, one Cheese Stands Alone. I've always thought these fests sounded like fun, but this is the first time I took the plunge and signed up. (Although the traditional drabble is a story of exactly 100 words, the term is used more loosely in this fest -- it means a story of no more than 500 words.)
I like drabble-writing as a rule. Drabbles are the sonnets of fanfic; the condensed form forces you to consider each word carefully and to let imagery carry the meaning. Yet within the constraints, there's a lot of flexibility.
The hp_humpdrabbles fest is particularly appealing to me because it's open to any pairing. So I can indulge in OLSB-love if I want, or I can take on the challenge of pairings and characters I don't normally write. (Like with this first drabble -- my first Severus/Lucius.)
So the first round is over, and I'm relieved to say that I survived to move into Round 2. I had stiff competition in Round One from the excellent iselima, who was kind enough to step in as an alternate when seven of the original participants, including my original opponent, failed to submit their drabbles. (Aside -- some apparently dropped out without bothering to inform the mods, a piece of rudeness that always disturbs me. Yes, sometimes RL gets in the way of our fannish fun, and we have to drop out, but it would have to be a pretty serious RL crisis to justify someone simply disappearing without a word.)
I'll post my Round One drabble separately, but meanwhile, here are some drabble- and voting-related thinky thoughts:
About Fest Voting
I realize that not everyone would enjoy a LDWS fest. Not everyone likes competition, especially when it comes to art/fic, and even some people who don't mind contests might not like the subjective nature of the voting or might not want to add an element of judgment to their fandom pleasures. For myself, I do enjoy a spot of occasional of competition and have been a happy reader/voter in other LDWS fests.
This time, I found myself thinking more deeply about my specific voting criteria and wondering what standards others use. I tend to assume (though without any real evidence) that a lot of people vote based on their favorite characters or pairs or genres rather than on that slippery and elusive notion of literary or stylistic merit. If that's true, then I'm not going to last very long in this fest, because it's inevitable that I'll write about my "old ladies" sooner or later, and the majority of the Hump Madness drabbles so far have featured Trio-era characters. (But I might be quite mistaken about how much effect personal preference has.)
And beyond character, there's the issue of genre. With literary and film awards, drama almost always fares better than comedy, and that pattern seems to hold in drabble judging. Plus, some genres are hard to compare. How do you choose between, say, a light-hearted piece of romantic fluff and an angsty tragedy of war and death? It's a contest between our old friends the apples and the oranges.
I've tried to solve the dilemma of apples-and-oranges by setting up a few of rules for myself. First of all, when it comes to judging, I have no squicks and no character preferences. Anything goes, as long it's done well. Trio-era? Next-gen? Mpreg? Water sports? Chan? Crack? Not my usual preferences, but for this fest, it doesn't matter. Bring it on, whatever "it" is. If it's well-written and well-characterized, I'll give it its due.
And therein lie my major requirements: a) I want a sense of literary style and artistry, an awareness of words and how they work, and b) I want characterization. Even in a story of 100 words, you need to do something to identify the characters. And I don't just mean by calling them an HP name. I've read many stories where the only thing that tells me I'm reading about HP characters is that they are called "Hermione" or "Ron" or "Remus" or "Luna." Otherwise, they could be virtually anyone; there's nothing distinctive or individualized about them. Nor is it enough just to graft on a physical detail -- "Luna put on her radish earrings" or "Draco lifted his blond head." I want the actions and thoughts of the characters to show us something about who and why they are.
What are or would be your standards of judging, flist?
Brilliant and/or Crazy Idea! -- The Poll
All this talk about LDWS fests has suddenly made me want to run one. But I'd hate to give a fest and have no one come. So -- how about a poll? Should it be a Minerva fest? An OLSB fest? Something else? Speak up, Flist!
ETA -- I must have done something wrong in creating this poll, because it won't seem to let anyone (even me) vote or see the results. Yet in making it, I clicked "results visible to all." So I dunno. Technology and I, we're not always the best of friends. I'll try to make a new one, but in the meantime, feel free to leave your answers in the comments.
ETA 2 -- Damn. Now I can't get the poll to even show up in this post. So I have made a totally new post. Try the poll here.
Grrr. Technology.
I like drabble-writing as a rule. Drabbles are the sonnets of fanfic; the condensed form forces you to consider each word carefully and to let imagery carry the meaning. Yet within the constraints, there's a lot of flexibility.
The hp_humpdrabbles fest is particularly appealing to me because it's open to any pairing. So I can indulge in OLSB-love if I want, or I can take on the challenge of pairings and characters I don't normally write. (Like with this first drabble -- my first Severus/Lucius.)
So the first round is over, and I'm relieved to say that I survived to move into Round 2. I had stiff competition in Round One from the excellent iselima, who was kind enough to step in as an alternate when seven of the original participants, including my original opponent, failed to submit their drabbles. (Aside -- some apparently dropped out without bothering to inform the mods, a piece of rudeness that always disturbs me. Yes, sometimes RL gets in the way of our fannish fun, and we have to drop out, but it would have to be a pretty serious RL crisis to justify someone simply disappearing without a word.)
I'll post my Round One drabble separately, but meanwhile, here are some drabble- and voting-related thinky thoughts:
About Fest Voting
I realize that not everyone would enjoy a LDWS fest. Not everyone likes competition, especially when it comes to art/fic, and even some people who don't mind contests might not like the subjective nature of the voting or might not want to add an element of judgment to their fandom pleasures. For myself, I do enjoy a spot of occasional of competition and have been a happy reader/voter in other LDWS fests.
This time, I found myself thinking more deeply about my specific voting criteria and wondering what standards others use. I tend to assume (though without any real evidence) that a lot of people vote based on their favorite characters or pairs or genres rather than on that slippery and elusive notion of literary or stylistic merit. If that's true, then I'm not going to last very long in this fest, because it's inevitable that I'll write about my "old ladies" sooner or later, and the majority of the Hump Madness drabbles so far have featured Trio-era characters. (But I might be quite mistaken about how much effect personal preference has.)
And beyond character, there's the issue of genre. With literary and film awards, drama almost always fares better than comedy, and that pattern seems to hold in drabble judging. Plus, some genres are hard to compare. How do you choose between, say, a light-hearted piece of romantic fluff and an angsty tragedy of war and death? It's a contest between our old friends the apples and the oranges.
I've tried to solve the dilemma of apples-and-oranges by setting up a few of rules for myself. First of all, when it comes to judging, I have no squicks and no character preferences. Anything goes, as long it's done well. Trio-era? Next-gen? Mpreg? Water sports? Chan? Crack? Not my usual preferences, but for this fest, it doesn't matter. Bring it on, whatever "it" is. If it's well-written and well-characterized, I'll give it its due.
And therein lie my major requirements: a) I want a sense of literary style and artistry, an awareness of words and how they work, and b) I want characterization. Even in a story of 100 words, you need to do something to identify the characters. And I don't just mean by calling them an HP name. I've read many stories where the only thing that tells me I'm reading about HP characters is that they are called "Hermione" or "Ron" or "Remus" or "Luna." Otherwise, they could be virtually anyone; there's nothing distinctive or individualized about them. Nor is it enough just to graft on a physical detail -- "Luna put on her radish earrings" or "Draco lifted his blond head." I want the actions and thoughts of the characters to show us something about who and why they are.
What are or would be your standards of judging, flist?
Brilliant and/or Crazy Idea! -- The Poll
All this talk about LDWS fests has suddenly made me want to run one. But I'd hate to give a fest and have no one come. So -- how about a poll? Should it be a Minerva fest? An OLSB fest? Something else? Speak up, Flist!
ETA -- I must have done something wrong in creating this poll, because it won't seem to let anyone (even me) vote or see the results. Yet in making it, I clicked "results visible to all." So I dunno. Technology and I, we're not always the best of friends. I'll try to make a new one, but in the meantime, feel free to leave your answers in the comments.
ETA 2 -- Damn. Now I can't get the poll to even show up in this post. So I have made a totally new post. Try the poll here.
Grrr. Technology.