2011 Fanfiction Awards - Suggestions & Planning Thread

[Griff4815]

I've always been a bit confused as to why short stories got their own characterization award. Is it so they get more recognition?

 

[Dragonfree]

It's because characterization in a short story works a bit differently from characterization in a longer work. In a long fic, it's going to be pretty integrally about how the characters grow and change over the course of the story; in a short story, it's about making a quick, strong impression on the reader. (Hence why the equivalent award for longer fics is called "Best Character Development".)

 

[Griff4815]

It's because characterization in a short story works a bit differently from characterization in a longer work. In a long fic, it's going to be pretty integrally about how the characters grow and change over the course of the story; in a short story, it's about making a quick, strong impression on the reader. (Hence why the equivalent award for longer fics is called "Best Character Development".)

Right. That makes sense. Follow up question: What exactly classifies as "short stories"? Is it just one-shots? For example I have a non-pokemon story called Scars which was only supposed to be several "parts" long. It'll end up being about ten or so parts long and it was intended to be a "short story". Just as an example, would something like that be considered a short story or a chaptered fic?

 

[The Great Butler]

Not quite. Only "Best Trainer Fic" was present in last year's awards. "Best Journey Fic" was suggested by Feralninja on page three of this thread.

Oh shoot. That's what I get for being lazy and then doing this late at night :\

Journey fics more or less are a subset of trainer fics, so having both seems rather iffy to me. Rather than debate about what the words mean, we'd do better to discuss exactly what sorts of fics we want to be eligible for this particular genre award and then pick the word that best describes it.

Could you elaborate more on what you mean, exactly? I understand what you are saying about journey fics being a subset of trainer fics. I mean what exactly you mean by the rest of it.

I think phoopes has the right idea though.

Right. That makes sense. Follow up question: What exactly classifies as "short stories"? Is it just one-shots? For example I have a non-pokemon story called Scars which was only supposed to be several "parts" long. It'll end up being about ten or so parts long and it was intended to be a "short story". Just as an example, would something like that be considered a short story or a chaptered fic?

It depends. Above I detailed that it has been suggested for the Short Story category to cover one-shots, two-shots and drabbles, with everything else going in the wider category. In your case, it would depend if the "parts" were chapters or just the number of posts it was broken into.

 

[menametlg]

I love tragedy and heart-breaking stories so I'll suggest:

Most Heartbreaking Story

 

[The Great Butler]

I love tragedy and heart-breaking stories so I'll suggest:

Most Heartbreaking Story

Fair proposal. Anyone got thoughts on this one?

 

[Phoopes]

Fair proposal. Anyone got thoughts on this one?

I don't see why not. If there's a best Horror and a best Comedy, why not a best Tragedy?

 

[catzeye]

Fair proposal. Anyone got thoughts on this one?

I think Most Heartbreaking Story sounds like a good idea. That way desreving stories which are tragic won't get left out of the awards.

 

[Dragonfree]

I'm in favor of Most Heartbreaking Story, though I still think that would fit better with Most Frightening Story and Funniest Story as opposed to Best Horror and Best Comedy.

 

[The Great Butler]

I'm in favor of Most Heartbreaking Story, though I still think that would fit better with Most Frightening Story and Funniest Story as opposed to Best Horror and Best Comedy.

Wait, I'm not seeing where those two are? I was going to put it in since we have a consensus, but I'm a little lost.

Forgive me if I'm really out of it tonight though...

 

[Dragonfree]

They aren't; I just happen to think there's a difference between awarding the best of a genre and awarding the best at its genre, and while "Most heartbreaking" is the latter, "Best horror" and "Best comedy" are the former, which creates something of an inconsistency.

Though we have "Most suspenseful" anyway, so eh.

 

[The Great Butler]

What, exactly, do you suggest to do then?

I'm sorry if I'm coming off as clueless right now. I'm sure the answer is staring me right in the face, but it's not clicking for me.

 

[Dragonfree]

That it would make more sense to either have "Best Comedy", "Best Horror", "Best Tragedy" and "Best Suspense" or "Funniest", "Most Frightening", "Most Heartbreaking" and "Most Suspenseful". My personal preference is the latter so that these categories are less likely to overlap with Best Overall, but that's me.

 

[The Great Butler]

That it would make more sense to either have "Best Comedy", "Best Horror", "Best Tragedy" and "Best Suspense" or "Funniest", "Most Frightening", "Most Heartbreaking" and "Most Suspenseful". My personal preference is the latter so that these categories are less likely to overlap with Best Overall, but that's me.

I think I see what you mean, but I'm not sure I agree with you. I'm not seeing the overlap between those and Best Overall, really. I see the others as pretty clearly saying best at what they name.

 

[Draco Malfoy]

Personally, I would place "Most Heartbreaking" with "Most Suspenseful", not in the genres. That way, we would be broadening the scope of the award. If you put the award with Best Comedy, you'd be essentially consigning the category only to fics of the "tragic genre". However, what if there is an epic black comedy which has extremely well-written moments of tragedy? The story cannot be formally categorised as a Tragedy, yet surely it deserves to be considered as well?

 

[purple_drake]

Personally, I would place "Most Heartbreaking" with "Most Suspenseful", not in the genres. That way, we would be broadening the scope of the award. If you put the award with Best Comedy, you'd be essentially consigning the category only to fics of the "tragic genre". However, what if there is an epic black comedy which has extremely well-written moments of tragedy? The story cannot be formally categorised as a Tragedy, yet surely it deserves to be considered as well?

I think you just defined it yourself. If it's a black comedy, it's a comedy. If it has moments of tragedy, that would classify under the 'Most Heartbreaking Moment' award.

Also, I may be missing something because it's late, but I'm not sure what your suggestion has to do with the Comedy award given you suggested combining Heartbreaking and Suspenseful. If you mean that placing 'Most Heartbreaking' under the same heading separates the fics ... well, yes, isn't that the point? Conflating it with Most Suspenseful still won't avoid the fact it's separate from Comedy. And Heartbreaking and Suspenseful are two different things anyway; one is tragic, one keeps you biting your nails. They're not mutually exclusive, but they're not mutually inclusive, either.

 

[Draco Malfoy]

I think you just defined it yourself. If it's a black comedy, it's a comedy. If it has moments of tragedy, that would classify under the 'Most Heartbreaking Moment' award.

Also, I may be missing something because it's late, but I'm not sure what your suggestion has to do with the Comedy award given you suggested combining Heartbreaking and Suspenseful. If you mean that placing 'Most Heartbreaking' under the same heading separates the fics ... well, yes, isn't that the point? Conflating it with Most Suspenseful still won't avoid the fact it's separate from Comedy. And Heartbreaking and Suspenseful are two different things anyway; one is tragic, one keeps you biting your nails. They're not mutually exclusive, but they're not mutually inclusive, either.

You don't seem to understand me. What I meant by placing it with Most Suspenseful is placing it alongside it, instead of alongside the genre awards. I didn't mean conflating and combining the two categories.

What I meant in the quoted part was that Most Heartbreaking shouldn't be placed among the genres, because if it was placed there, people might assume that only stories whose genre is "tragedy" might qualify.

 

[The Great Butler]

After so much hand-wringing, here's what I think is the preliminary final category list.

<<<
Overall Fiction Awards
Best Pokemon Chaptered Fic
Best Pokemon One-Shot
Best Non-Pokemon Chaptered Fic
Best Non-Pokemon One-Shot

Other Fic Awards
Best Plot
Most Original Overall
Best Writing Style
Best Description
Best Setting
Best Expansion of Canon
Best Character Development*
Best Characterization in a Short Story**
Best Romantic Relationship
Best Non-Romantic Relationship/Interaction
Best Original Species
Most Suspenseful Fic
Most Heartbreaking Fic*

Pokemon Genre Awards
Best Trainer Fic
Best Horror Fic
Best Comedy Fic
Best Fantasy/Sci-Fi Fic[
Best Pokemon-Centric
Best Canon Character-Centric

Character Awards
Best Human Main Character
Best Non-Human Main Character
Best Human Supporting Character
Best Non-Human Supporting Character
Best Human Villain
Best Non-Human Villain
Best Minor Character
Funniest Character

Fic Moments Awards
Funniest Scene
Most Frightening Scene
Most Heartbreaking Scene
Most Heartwarming Scene
Best Action Scene
Best Cliffhanger
Most Memorable Quote

Author Awards
Best Established Writer
Best New Writer
Most Dedicated Writer
Most Improved Writer

Reviewer Awards
Most Helpful Reviewer
Most Dedicated Reviewer
>>>

I've listened to all the opinions on both sides and I feel placing Most Heartbreaking Fic as its own award within the same group as Most Suspenseful Fic is the best way to go.

 

[Dramatic Melody]

Pop this question to the shippers on FFNet, and they'll say, "Everything." *shot repeatedly*

Seriously, this is a good question, and I think it's just that canon characters and the canon in general tend to be mutually exclusive. You can expand on canon without actually focusing on canon characters by, for example, writing a fic based on and explaining a Pokédex entry pulled straight from the games. Alternatively, you could explore the mechanics of battling as presented by the anime or maybe write a fic about an in-game event (a random trainer who's not necessarily the game protagonists during Team Rocket's siege on Goldenrod City, for example), and all of these would be expansions of canon on one level or another.

Meanwhile, you can write a fic about a canon character (i.e., canon character-centric fic) and pretty much violate everything canon has to say about them and still make it work. (I'd hate to give Pokemon MASTER as an example because I personally think it's a terrible fic, but its actual fans would say otherwise. So there's that.)

Jax already did a good job answering this, but I think I'd like to add that settings, events, devices and plots can also be expanded on from canon. The Team Rocket attack on the Goldenrod Radio Tower, which Jax cited, is an excellent example.

See, this is why I thought I was interrupting something XD. Glad to see the distinction, and while I was about to ask why "Best Canon Character-Centric" should be distinct from "Best Expansion of Canon" I think the answer's pretty obvious. Haha.

That's pretty much the difference, yep.

On the subject of your suggestion, hmm. Maybe "best background character" would be good?

I was also thinking of that, but it didn't really sound better than "Best Minor Character". XD

Dedicated writers aren't necessarily established. If you just joined this year, post a lot of well-written chapters in a short amount of time, and respond quickly to reviewers, that would mean you're dedicated to your work, right? Meanwhile, you might have an author who's established in the community but only posts occasionally to their own fic, so that would mean that they may or may not be called dedicated writers.

Point taken.

Best Trainer Fic- This is simply about stories with an original trainer in it as the main character. Not all trainer fics involve the trainer journeying. Some are at academies, others are already champions, etc. But of course a lot of them are journeying throughout a region.

Best Journey Fic- About stories where the journey is the main focus of the plot. It could be an OC or a player character.


From what I understand though, is that when most people think of Trainer fics they automatically assume it is a journey fic as well. I personally think we should just have Best Trainer Fic category since it already covers journey fics as well as others. If we had both categories then the trainer fics that have a journey could be nominated for both while the rest are left out.

If this really was the distinction, then I agree with the retaining of "Best Trainer Fic" if it already encompasses "Best Journey Fic".

You raise some good points, and I can see where they come from, but I think I am inclined to disagree.

It appears to me your primary concern is that Best Writing Style already covers Best Description. I would disagree with that. While it is true that "style" would certainly include description as a factor, that award actually covers more how the fic reads as a whole, if it is well-constructed and structured. Description may be a factor in that, but it is a major enough factor that I think an award for it can still be sufficiently separate. After all, a fic could have perfect description, just right between Purple Alert and bare bones, but be structured horribly elsewhere and not fulfill Best Writing Style.

I see your point in branching out "Best Description" from "Best Writing Style", but I just find it weird that there would be a need to divide the awards under "Best Writing Style" then slap on another award for overall "Best Writing Style", considering that award itself is beneath "Best [Pokemon/Non-Pokemon Chaptered/One-Shot] Fic". It's like, if there was a hierarchy of general awards to specific awards, it would be like this:

> Overall Fic Awards
>> "Best Writing Style" / Genre Awards
>>> Best Plot / Character / Description / Setting / Most Original / etc.
>>>> Character Awards / Fic Moments

...and I find it weird that "Best Writing Style" is all alone in that second level, seeing as the Genre Awards are a branch of its own and that there isn't really an award for "Best Fic with a Genre" or something. Does that make any sense at all? XD

 

[Phoopes]

I know that the categories aren't completely finalized yet, but I'll ask this question anyway. When does the nominating process start?