Awards Debriefing: The Post-Awards Discussion

Mely: Shackled Past was voted Best Romance - it wasn't couple based as far as I can remember.

I want to say Kudos to all those who put together the awards and counted the ballets. It's time consuming and often thankless, so I want to thank them all.

I like the awards - they are a fun way to find out about other stories. I usually just read Saga and Beyond Saga, but I don't think we should separate the awards. That would make everything more divisive than it already is.

the exerpts were the best addition. It gives voters something to make a good decision on and perk interest in a story that someone may not read otherwise. My major problem is I don't have the time to participate. to do a good job means reading all the exerpts and there are just too many for a working mother to get to. I'd like to see a few less categories and maybe a once a year election. Just a thought.

Again, wonderful job ladies and gents. I missed the ceremony once again, but c'est la vie.

 

Personally I'd prefer to see the whole awards thing taken less seriously. It seems a shame that a fun leisure activity can create unpleasantness and bad feeling. As a writer it's certainly nice to get kudos for doing a good job, but is it worth all the nasty stuff. It happens in the real world of publishing - we had a recent example here in NZ with the National Book Awards - so it would be nice if we could avoid it. Somehow - I don't know how - but the message needs to get through that this is just FUN.

One idea for making it more fun is making the whole thing less onerous for the voters. They don't want to be confronted with a lot of dos and don'ts.

Certainly the PM idea would put less pressure on people to vote for their friends or their clique rather than a writer that they genuinely think needs a pat on the back. However, as a writer - and a relatively new one at that - I agree with those here who said they got a kick out of seeing their stories nominated. I'd probably go along with keeping the option of PMing or posting therefore. Another consideration is how much work is this for the poor organisers. Is one method easier than another - and does having both create problems?

I quite like PLJ's revised list of categories a page or so back, as they look like they'll allow voters a few more options. But the fewer rules the better. Quite a few people last time and the time before said they started to read the rules and then gave up - and this was not anything to do with reading ability, this was to do with time and also the fear that they'd do the wrong thing and invalidate their vote.

I think, as a fanfic community, we should be encouraging readers to read widely and be willing to try new stories. As a teacher, I agree, but as a reader I don't. Again, I think this is a sign of things being taken too seriously. Most of us read and write for pleasure and leisure. I'd hate to think that people's leisure has to be directed in the same way that their education is. It's like knowing too much chocolate is bad, but eating it just for the buzz anyway. It feels good.

Having had my say I'm now going to bake a banana cake - anyone want a piece?

 

I've just thought of another category you guys might like to consider for an award - Best development of a minor EU or film character. By minor film character I mean one that has not been previously developed by an EU author - so Wedge and Wes would be out of the question. By minor EU character I mean one that has appeared in no more than two or three books, or maybe has been a few more but has played a very minor role.

 

I like that idea, although sometimes minor film characters are developed in the EU and you're not aware of it, because it's a children's book or a comic or something you just don't ordinarily read. I think there's a comic about Jedi Councilmember Shaak Ti, for instance, but I only know about it because I sometimes lurk over in Literature.

Still, just in case this idea is adopted by the next Awards Committee, I shall get on with my Kit Fisto fic.