Voting Sucks~
No, I'm not talking about the right and responsibility Americans have of voting for our leaders and laws . . . I'm talking about voting for fanfic. It's time to choose the 'Best Written' and 'Worst Written' of the Twilight challenge.
I've always sucked at this fanfic contest thing, the few times I've tried it.
There was the time I voted for myself and didn't realize it was wrong. That really sucked, even if I was being honest, hehe.
There was the time I protested the concept altogether and got pretty much blacklisted from the fandom itself, hehe.
Well, actually I've rarely been in a fanfic 'contest.' I mostly avoid them like the plague, because they're usually political and pointless. And I hate the whole winner/loser thing when it comes to writing. It's just so subjective. (See above, and remember, "She hates it because she never wins." Feel free to insert, "Bullshit" as a response.)
Even in the worst story (or my 'least favorite' is how I might better describe it), there's usually something to like. And I'm used to looking for the positive. After all, I run a writers' group, and I almost never say anything that's more than mildly critical. I believe in stressing what someone does right to encourage them to improve. So, voting for the 'best' story is far easier than voting for the 'worst.'
We're not supposed to consider the length of the story. Or the pairings. The idea of the contest is to look at the writing itself, something I'm pretty convinced nobody who reads really does . . . well, let's say very few do. How else could we explain the popularity of some of the stuff that actually gets published.? (And, no, I'm not talking about The Source of this whole Twilight phenomenon, because she's a good story-teller, even if she doesn't seem to have much love for the language. You can't have much of the world passionately involved with your characters and be a hack. Not possible.)
Anyway, I've found at least one of the stories that needs some help in the punctuation department. Maybe I'll go with that as 'worst.' And even though reading through nearly 30 Twilight stories in one setting can start to get old (especially with all that Bella angst or vampire angst or Jacob angst), I don't want similarities or actual redundancies to reflect on the stories themselves. It's like the opposite of skating first at the Olympics, I guess.
Best is far easier. There are two that really stood out for me, and it will be hard to choose between them. (No, folks, mine isn't one of them. This time the rules are CLEAR, thank God!) One is just well done and entertaining, and the other is HAWT and intriguing. Hmmm . . . how to choose?
I'm being careful what I say here, because I want to follow the rules and keep everything completely anonymous. Anyone interested in reading and voting (you can do both, community member or not), is free to ask for the link.
So, my hope is to last long enough in the challenge to write a few stories in this genre. (The story voted 'worst' gets the writer eliminated from the contest . . . thus the "Last Author Standing" thing.) And being in the contest also forces me to sit and read and be critical, which is helpful for leading my own writing group (which has been on hold for several months). There's always something good to take away from every experience. That's what I'm telling myself this time!
I'm sure this isn't the last we'll hear about this . . .
I've always sucked at this fanfic contest thing, the few times I've tried it.
There was the time I voted for myself and didn't realize it was wrong. That really sucked, even if I was being honest, hehe.
There was the time I protested the concept altogether and got pretty much blacklisted from the fandom itself, hehe.
Well, actually I've rarely been in a fanfic 'contest.' I mostly avoid them like the plague, because they're usually political and pointless. And I hate the whole winner/loser thing when it comes to writing. It's just so subjective. (See above, and remember, "She hates it because she never wins." Feel free to insert, "Bullshit" as a response.)
Even in the worst story (or my 'least favorite' is how I might better describe it), there's usually something to like. And I'm used to looking for the positive. After all, I run a writers' group, and I almost never say anything that's more than mildly critical. I believe in stressing what someone does right to encourage them to improve. So, voting for the 'best' story is far easier than voting for the 'worst.'
We're not supposed to consider the length of the story. Or the pairings. The idea of the contest is to look at the writing itself, something I'm pretty convinced nobody who reads really does . . . well, let's say very few do. How else could we explain the popularity of some of the stuff that actually gets published.? (And, no, I'm not talking about The Source of this whole Twilight phenomenon, because she's a good story-teller, even if she doesn't seem to have much love for the language. You can't have much of the world passionately involved with your characters and be a hack. Not possible.)
Anyway, I've found at least one of the stories that needs some help in the punctuation department. Maybe I'll go with that as 'worst.' And even though reading through nearly 30 Twilight stories in one setting can start to get old (especially with all that Bella angst or vampire angst or Jacob angst), I don't want similarities or actual redundancies to reflect on the stories themselves. It's like the opposite of skating first at the Olympics, I guess.
Best is far easier. There are two that really stood out for me, and it will be hard to choose between them. (No, folks, mine isn't one of them. This time the rules are CLEAR, thank God!) One is just well done and entertaining, and the other is HAWT and intriguing. Hmmm . . . how to choose?
I'm being careful what I say here, because I want to follow the rules and keep everything completely anonymous. Anyone interested in reading and voting (you can do both, community member or not), is free to ask for the link.
So, my hope is to last long enough in the challenge to write a few stories in this genre. (The story voted 'worst' gets the writer eliminated from the contest . . . thus the "Last Author Standing" thing.) And being in the contest also forces me to sit and read and be critical, which is helpful for leading my own writing group (which has been on hold for several months). There's always something good to take away from every experience. That's what I'm telling myself this time!
I'm sure this isn't the last we'll hear about this . . .