Holy Wank on a Cracker, Batman!
Apr. 12th, 2004 11:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vulgarweedFull disclosure: Yours truly is helping out with the Mithril Awards this year. Not a primary organizer, no, but part of the general mob of people pitching in as screeners, judges, etc., yes.
And I feel bad for the people closer to the center of the wank storm than I am. Even so, I found whitish goo under the eave of my upper ear when I came home tonight and thought for just a second that a little spooge must have clung to me after all. Then I realized I had just showered in a godawful hurry this morning and left some hair conditioner still stuck in my ear all day.
Once more into the breach!
Last year when some people started talking about Tolkien fanfiction awards, I thought it was a pretty good idea. Every other ginormous fandom has them, after all--and though wank surrounds them every one, it hasn't destroyed any of the fandoms yet. I even joined the planning list for a while, until I realized that geez, this sounds like an awful lot of bloody work, and quietly unsubbed myself.
Little did I know that fate had it in for me to WIN one.
Now, certain bits of wank floating around have given me an understanding of the kind of writer most likely to expect to win an award. It ain't the kind of writer I am: not very prolific and hopelessly attracted to less popular characters. I also tend to write shorter things, and so don't build a big readership over many chapters of something. But I can remember by username pretty much all of the people who've told me they loved "The Ring and the Crown"--which is set in the friggin' Second Age, is dark and creepy, stylistically weird, NC-17 in an icky way, and utterly lacks hobbits, Elves, or likable characters of any sort; it is definitely not for everyone--I wouldn't push it on anybody if it's not their thing!--and so is unlikely to win much that's popularity-based. That some of the people who loved it happened to be Mithril Award judges was NOT a windfall I expected! No, I don't have the sense of entitlement that for some people comes with hundreds of reviews on ff.net: I don't even post on ff.net!
There's a place for awards by mass vote, for sure. But from my point of view, I'm awfully glad that there's a place for more out-of-the-way stuff to get consideration on something like an equal footing, too.
So yes, I am pitching in this year out of gratitude, because it was REALLY FUCKING COOL. It was a very nice boost for this writer who's not really obscure exactly but certainly not a BNF either. I hope I can pass that pleasure on to others.
Bitchy bit:
I can't believe somebody brought up this mythical anti-hobbit-slash bias again. So why were the Winner and Runner-Up of the Best Slash category last year both hobbit stories, then? For that matter, one other finalist was hobbit slash, and another was a Man/hobbit piece. Only two of the finalists lacked a hobbit in the main pairing.
Best Lord of the Rings story? Oh, look, more hobbits (and a story that could be taken as slashy though it's not explicitly stated--knowing Teasel's other work, I do tend to read it that way). And the winner of Best Story about Other Races? Gorgeous Entwife story, with the main secondary characters being...hobbits. Hm. Did there need to have been hobbit slash story in the Best Silmarillion category too? [Dammit, you know, that's a good idea! I want to read a good ur-hobbits story someday. If there's one out there, especially if it features the Adam and Steve of hobbitkind, please tell me!]
You know who really has a case when it comes to 'discrimination'? Orc and Dwarf fans, that's who. And don't even get me started on the rarity of Ent fics. No, I'm not being snarky now, I'm quite serious. (though I don't know if it's an awards thang, or a just not-being-written-enough thang.)
ngh. I have a headache. Off to go ask one of the Nine Muses for a temple-massage. Spiky gauntlets off, please.
And I feel bad for the people closer to the center of the wank storm than I am. Even so, I found whitish goo under the eave of my upper ear when I came home tonight and thought for just a second that a little spooge must have clung to me after all. Then I realized I had just showered in a godawful hurry this morning and left some hair conditioner still stuck in my ear all day.
Once more into the breach!
Last year when some people started talking about Tolkien fanfiction awards, I thought it was a pretty good idea. Every other ginormous fandom has them, after all--and though wank surrounds them every one, it hasn't destroyed any of the fandoms yet. I even joined the planning list for a while, until I realized that geez, this sounds like an awful lot of bloody work, and quietly unsubbed myself.
Little did I know that fate had it in for me to WIN one.
Now, certain bits of wank floating around have given me an understanding of the kind of writer most likely to expect to win an award. It ain't the kind of writer I am: not very prolific and hopelessly attracted to less popular characters. I also tend to write shorter things, and so don't build a big readership over many chapters of something. But I can remember by username pretty much all of the people who've told me they loved "The Ring and the Crown"--which is set in the friggin' Second Age, is dark and creepy, stylistically weird, NC-17 in an icky way, and utterly lacks hobbits, Elves, or likable characters of any sort; it is definitely not for everyone--I wouldn't push it on anybody if it's not their thing!--and so is unlikely to win much that's popularity-based. That some of the people who loved it happened to be Mithril Award judges was NOT a windfall I expected! No, I don't have the sense of entitlement that for some people comes with hundreds of reviews on ff.net: I don't even post on ff.net!
There's a place for awards by mass vote, for sure. But from my point of view, I'm awfully glad that there's a place for more out-of-the-way stuff to get consideration on something like an equal footing, too.
So yes, I am pitching in this year out of gratitude, because it was REALLY FUCKING COOL. It was a very nice boost for this writer who's not really obscure exactly but certainly not a BNF either. I hope I can pass that pleasure on to others.
Bitchy bit:
I can't believe somebody brought up this mythical anti-hobbit-slash bias again. So why were the Winner and Runner-Up of the Best Slash category last year both hobbit stories, then? For that matter, one other finalist was hobbit slash, and another was a Man/hobbit piece. Only two of the finalists lacked a hobbit in the main pairing.
Best Lord of the Rings story? Oh, look, more hobbits (and a story that could be taken as slashy though it's not explicitly stated--knowing Teasel's other work, I do tend to read it that way). And the winner of Best Story about Other Races? Gorgeous Entwife story, with the main secondary characters being...hobbits. Hm. Did there need to have been hobbit slash story in the Best Silmarillion category too? [Dammit, you know, that's a good idea! I want to read a good ur-hobbits story someday. If there's one out there, especially if it features the Adam and Steve of hobbitkind, please tell me!]
You know who really has a case when it comes to 'discrimination'? Orc and Dwarf fans, that's who. And don't even get me started on the rarity of Ent fics. No, I'm not being snarky now, I'm quite serious. (though I don't know if it's an awards thang, or a just not-being-written-enough thang.)
ngh. I have a headache. Off to go ask one of the Nine Muses for a temple-massage. Spiky gauntlets off, please.
