Fanfiction of the Year Discussion Committee 2010

[FONT=&quot]To those who have haphazardly stumbled upon this thread, let me be the first to welcome you to Pokecommunity's Fanfiction of the Year Discussion Committee for 2010. Technically, this is actually a revival of the Fanfiction Awards that were once proposed, and a deviation from the Fanfiction of the Month(FFOTM). This thread, is for the sole purpose of the discussion, review, and implementation of the proposed Fanfiction of the Year 2010(FFOTY 2010) and is actually a sneaky attempt to avoid cluttering the FFL with the discussion of awards when it clearly does not belong there.[/FONT][FONT=&quot] Again, I repeat, this is a general discussion thread as in anyone can post here to propose something they'd like to see in the FFOTY.

Thread Rules
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Frequently Asked Questions(FAQ)

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[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Why is this a yearly award?[/FONT]
Well, because, unless everyone in the world is a speed reader, not many people can actually read enough Fanfiction in a month to be able to vote fairly on their favourite fanfic. Plus, with all these categories, you'd be hard pressed to search for fiction that meet the criteria each month. Plus, this goves time for reviewers to actually do proper reviews if this may be relevant...

Who are you, and why are you making this thread?
I'm M12an, a regular member who just happens to be a Fanfiction Lounge regular, and this thread was made with the permission of Astinus, the current moderator of the Fanfiction and Writing Forums of the Pokecommunity. This thread was made to separate regular Lounge conversation with FFOTY discussions.

Profit??
Yes, a meme. Anyway, the FFOTY is also a clever ploy to get people to read nominated fanfics that have been deemed awesome by the nominators. If you're lucky or just plain skilled, you might end up getting your fanfic read and or displayed (as in stickied. That's yet to be determined though).

Nominators?
Work in Progress

Voters?
Work in Progress[FONT=&quot]


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Categories Open for Discussion

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[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Mechanics[/FONT]

• Basically the rules to be discussed and so forth.
• Rules on Nomination Mechanics go here.
• Rules on Voting Mechanics go here.
• Benefits from winning are discussed in this category.
• Voting Method to be discussed here.

The Situation so far:


[FONT=&quot]Categories[/FONT]
Concluded discussions regarding Categories go here. As in what categories make it through to nomination.

The Situation so far:


[FONT=&quot]Aesthetics of the Contest[/FONT]
Uhm, since it's a yearly thing. I thought we might have a logo for it to be posted in the voting thread. Like the Olympics lol. Feel free to ignore this random suggestion. Emblem design is up to Moderator discretion unless stated otherwise.

The Situation so far:
Nothing

[FONT=&quot]Miscellanious Stuff[/FONT]
Feel free to add topics to discuss.

The Situation so far:
Nothing

As you can see, I'm opening the contest mechanics up to the general public, as in, you get to have a say in how the contests is run to avoid unfairness and such. This is a discussion thread after all. If no one wants to say anything, I'll just set up the rules myself…
Umm yeah, so post away…

I'll just steal a topic from Serebii for lack of anything better to talk about: how do we determine which fics are eligible? Like, should only stories updated since January 1st be eligible or what?

Basically any fic that hasn't won anything yet I suppose. Anything that hasn't been nominated for FFOTM by Astinus, hasn't won the SWC or contests of the such can be ommited from nomination. Anything since PC's creation.

Still, the main reason for this thread's existence is for you guys to help determine what you'd like to see. Come on, don't be shy, post away people. :D

Wouldn't that result and a heck of a lot of needing to dig up old threads then? There's been an awful lot of fics over the years I'm sure - IMO it'd be better to make it a yearly thing, and hence include fics that have had an update (created, had a new chapter, etc) this year. My two cents. =P

The problem here is that some notable fics haven't been updated this year. I'd like to name a few, but then I'd be labelled as bias. Also, notable one-shots that don't usually get updates just sink to the bottom of the pile.

With the nomination system, nominators could just nominate fics that they read and thought were good. Of course, nominators would have to be trustworthy(but that's another issue.)

bobandbill said:

There's been an awful lot of fics over the years I'm sure

Click to expand...

220 pages worth, with twenty threads per page. So around 4,400 fics, I'll wager with my quick math. But that's with the SWC fics included, along with all the closed/deleted threads.

I'd still say to make this a yearly thing, with all fics updated/created in the year 2010 to be eligible (so long as they haven't already won another contest on PC). One reason because that greatly reduces the amount of fics that could be read from all fics since 2003 down to just one year. Another reason is because how many people from 2003 (or even not that early) are still around to receive the rewards? Heck, from my join year of 2006, there aren't a lot of people around here that I used to see any more.

So I feel that it's better to reward the people who are actually here during the year. I know it seems rather mean (?) since there are many good fics that were created/updated earlier than 2010 that do deserve some recognition, but well, they aren't the fanfic of the year if they weren't actually posted in any way this year. It's kind of like other yearly reward shows. The movies/music/books that were released in that year are eligible.

I just feel that Fanfic of the Year should actually be from the year. idk.

I agree with Astinus' point. Spreading the judging over such a large number of potential Fan Fictions might prove to be a little overwhelming and/or be an inefficient way of doing it. As she said above, not every author is still active and it might not be fair to the people still here if their Fan Fictions don't really have much of a shot because there is such a huge number of stories to look over (not being biased as I haven't posted anything this year xD).

But if it does end up judging all Fan Fictions, I think that it should only be done for the first year and then do the rest for the actual year it is set in.

This is just my opinion, of course ^.~

Sorry, quick question. Does it have to be a specific length? Also, do non-pokemon Fanfics count?

I think we should get the 3 people who are active, and do the most posting on the F&W threads. Or perhaps somebody who's won an award.

Oh, I'm so excited that this is going to be a reality.
Okay now for my two since:

I fully agree that this should be for fics that were posted on in 2010. I suggest that Fictional authors must have been logged in at least once during the last four months of the year, even if the fic was not updated. Hopefully that way the winner will be an active member.

Now for nominations: obliviously there are two ways to accept them: throughout the year, and for a cretin period of time.
Taking them throughout the year allows the judges to go over the fics at a much less hectic pace. If they wait till the last two months of the year and there are 50 stories that need to be read by each member that is a lot of reading.

Categories: (all suggestions of course)

• FForY (Obviously)
• Most improvement
• Most original
• Best plot
• Best Male Author
• Best Female Author
• Best Cross over (not a whole lot of them around may have to remove)
• Best OT
• Best Romance
• Best (other genre)

I volunteer myself for any position that needs filled.

Dagzar said:

I like this, though I question Best Female / Male Author since not every member uses a gender on the forum, and some could even be lying about it (not that it really matters). Though, I'd like to maybe add Best Main Character and Best Villain since characters are important too.

Click to expand...

Those sound good too, I added the male and female categories because I was thinking of the Grammys when they give one away for best female artist, and best male artist.

Also, I am guessing that awards would be handed out in January 2011?

157 said:

Categories: (all suggestions of course)

• FForY (Obviously)
• Most improvement
• Most original
• Best plot
• Best Male Author
• Best Female Author
• Best Cross over (not a whole lot of them around may have to remove)
• Best OT
• Best Romance
• Best (other genre)

Click to expand...

Dagzar said:

I like this, though I question Best Female / Male Author since not every member uses a gender on the forum, and some could even be lying about it (not that it really matters). Though, I'd like to maybe add Best Main Character and Best Villain since characters are important too.

Click to expand...

I too think we shouldn't have Best Male / Female Author. There should just be one for Best Overall Author, or something. Also, the Best Main Character and Best Villian are good idea's too. Might I add a few of my own suggestions?

Best Supporting Character
Best Pokemon Character
Best Non-Human Character (for non-Pokemon stories)

As well as a few more specific categories...

Most Heartwarming Scene
Most Heartbreaking Scene
Most Frightening Scene
Most Suspenseful Scene
Most Exciting Scene
Funniest Scene
Best Cliffhanger
Best Plot Twist

Those are just a few.

157 said:

Those sound good too, I added the male and female categories because I was thinking of the Grammys when they give one away for best female artist, and best male artist.

Click to expand...

But male and female voices have different pitches. (I'm so not musically inclined.) There's a difference between a song sung by a female and a song sung by a male.

I really don't know what I'm talking about here. All I can say is that there's a reason to have a different award for female and male artists.

There's no way to tell the difference between a female's writing and a male's writing. (One of the big reasons gender pronouns can be wrongly used on the Internet.) For example, J.K. Rowling simply used her first initial instead of her full name, and people couldn't tell if she was male or female when all they had to go on was her writing.

Out of all the book awards that I know of (see: quickly Googled), I can't think of any that base recipients by their sex.

I don't know. I just don't really like having males and females be judged on separate terms if they can be judged on equal terms. With writing, there's no difference that I can see, so I prefer having just one "Best Overall Author" award.

Also, I am guessing that awards would be handed out in January 2011?

Click to expand...

Pretty much whenever all the votes get tallied, I'll assume.

Okay, so no female/male author awards, and isn't best author, basically FFotY ? :/

So: current categories:

• FForY
• Most improvement
• Most original
• Best plot
• Best Cross over (not a whole lot of them around may have to remove)
• Best OT
• Best Romance
• Best (other genre)
• Most Heartwarming Scene
• Most Heartbreaking Scene
• Most Frightening Scene
• Most Suspenseful Scene
• Most Exciting Scene
• Funniest Scene
• Best Cliffhanger
• Best Plot Twist
• Best Main Character
• Best Villain
• Best Supporting Character
• Best Pokemon Character
• Best Non-Human Character (for non-Pokemon stories)

Wow, that's a lot, anymore?

157 said:

Okay, so no female/male author awards, and isn't best author, basically FFotY ? :/

Click to expand...

Not necessarily. Someone may REALLY like a particular fan fic but think another author is a better author overall. That best author nominee may not have the most action-packed, engrossing stories in the forum, but you just feel that their writing makes up for that, whether be it because they are amazing at detail, their vocabulary just amazes you, or they have a knack for pulling off the most outrageous plot twists.

Oh, and when I think of anything to contribute to the actual topic, I'll post. ^^;

- Kat

I know you want to make this a yearly thing but I think for this first one, allowing entries from 2009 and maybe even 08 would be a good idea. Yes, allowing everything would sort of derail it, but expanding it to include some recent years that we did not have the awards would allow some recent fics that are still fresh in people's minds but can't/won't be updated to be included.

I surely have no personal reason for wanting this.

As for categories, I think the ones Serebii is using for their current awards are pretty good however it could be cut down some for here. Hell, it needs cut down there too.

Nominations I feel should be open to everyone, but perhaps with some initial judging criteria that they have to pass. Just something like a judge giving it a quick skim to see if it's actually quality. Alternatively or perhaps simultaneously, maybe require a certain number or percentage of nominations to qualify.

And for judging, if you want to avoid the whole community popularity thing with just allowing votes like Serebii, a system like from the SWC where you have three or more judges who award each fic a certain number of points (possibly in different judging categories) that are tallied up would work. Perhaps have different groups of judges for different groups of categories, allowing specific judges to better focus on what they're, well, judging.

157 said:

• FFotY
• Most improvement(Improvement is relative. Unless you want to show your old fiction and compare it to your current one.)
  
• Most original
• Best plot
• Best Cross over (not a whole lot of them around may have to remove)(Not many, may have to remove agreed.)
  
• Best OT
• Best Romance
• Best (other genre)(Change to best non-pokemon fic.)
  
• Most Heartwarming Scene
• Most Heartbreaking Scene
• Most Frightening Scene
• Most Suspenseful Scene
• Most Exciting Scene
• Funniest Scene
• Best Cliffhanger
• Best Plot Twist
• Best Main Character(Change to protagonist to make it sound proffesional.)
  
• Best Villain(Change to Antagonist because the villain can also be the main.)
  
• Best Supporting Character
• Best Pokemon Character
• Best Non-Human Character (for non-Pokemon stories)

Wow, that's a lot, anymore?

Click to expand...

My thoughts on them.

ChrisTom said:

Sorry, quick question. Does it have to be a specific length? Also, do non-pokemon Fanfics count?

I think we should get the 3 people who are active, and do the most posting on the F&W threads. Or perhaps somebody who's won an award.

Click to expand...

Well, even drabbles are allowed so no, it doesn't have to be a specific length. Only above a specific quality. But, the judging system would nullify the voting system, that's actually my main problem. We can have a nomination system by trustworthy members(picked the same way as judges are or chosen because they fulfill certain criteria) and a voting system where everyone can vote.

Phantom Kat said:

Not necessarily. Someone may REALLY like a particular fan fic but think another author is a better author overall. That best author nominee may not have the most action-packed, engrossing stories in the forum, but you just feel that their writing makes up for that, whether be it because they are amazing at detail, their vocabulary just amazes you, or they have a knack for pulling off the most outrageous plot twists.

Oh, and when I think of anything to contribute to the actual topic, I'll post. ^^;

- Kat

Click to expand...

Well, that's why I'm thinking of having a favourite author(no gender) category.

Shrike Flamestar said:

I know you want to make this a yearly thing but I think for this first one, allowing entries from 2009 and maybe even 08 would be a good idea. Yes, allowing everything would sort of derail it, but expanding it to include some recent years that we did not have the awards would allow some recent fics that are still fresh in people's minds but can't/won't be updated to be included.

Click to expand...

That's why I wanted the FFOTY to be open to every year, but I think your idea is better… Why not we have each year's FFOTY cover the past three years to accommodate recently published fiction and give the previous year's contenders (nominees) a chance to re-enter.

I surely have no personal reason for wanting this.

Click to expand...

Sure…

Nominations I feel should be open to everyone, but perhaps with some initial judging criteria that they have to pass. Just something like a judge giving it a quick skim to see if it's actually quality. Alternatively or perhaps simultaneously, maybe require a certain number or percentage of nominations to qualify.

Click to expand...

The problem here is that quality is relative. I actually advocate the idea of nominators to be a select few and voters to encompass any registered member. Of course, regular members may approach nominators to suggest fics to nominate. This way, nominators can check to see if those fics have that certain quality.

And for judging, if you want to avoid the whole community popularity thing with just allowing votes like Serebii, a system like from the SWC where you have three or more judges who award each fic a certain number of points (possibly in different judging categories) that are tallied up would work. Perhaps have different groups of judges for different groups of categories, allowing specific judges to better focus on what they're, well, judging.

Click to expand...

This however restricts voters, which is actually the whole point of FFOTY, to be an open to all contest, to a certain degree of freedom.

Also, please bold future suggestions. It makes it easier for me to add it to the first post and easier for anyone else to catch the actual suggestion when going through the records. Do not bold why you think it should be implemented because we can read that ourselves.
This is just a suggestion though, but it would be greatly appreciated.

157 said:

• FForY
• Most improvement
• Most original
• Best plot
• Best Cross over (not a whole lot of them around may have to remove)
• Best OT
• Best Romance
• Best (other genre)
• Most Heartwarming Scene
• Most Heartbreaking Scene
• Most Frightening Scene
• Most Suspenseful Scene
• Most Exciting Scene
• Funniest Scene
• Best Cliffhanger
• Best Plot Twist
• Best Main Character
• Best Villain
• Best Supporting Character
• Best Pokemon Character
• Best Non-Human Character (for non-Pokemon stories)

Click to expand...

I know I was the one who suggested it, but maybe 'Most Exciting Scene' should be changed to 'Most Action Packed Scene'. That's what I had in mind when I came up with that category, but I didn't know what to call it until now.

I have a few:

• Most Well-Portrayed Canon Character [Basically, how the writer used their canons and kept them in character, used them well, really seems to know the character, etc. I know there are lots of authors - like me - who use canons and OCs, so I felt this should be included.]
• Best New Setting [Be it an entire region or a corner store.]

Shrike Flamestar said:

I surely have no personal reason for wanting this.

Click to expand...

That wouldn't happen if you updated more >.> lol j/k

Mizan de la Plume Kuro said:

My thoughts on them.

• FFotY
• Most improvement(Improvement is relative. Unless you want to show your old fiction and compare it to your current one.) No, it would kind of like be best new author, someone who started out typing horrible paragraphs, but then showed progress
  
• Most original
• Best plot
• Best OT
• Best Romance
• Most Heartwarming Scene
• Most Heartbreaking Scene
• Most Frightening Scene
• Most Suspenseful Scene
• Best Action Packed Scene
• Funniest Scene
• Best Cliffhanger
• Best Plot Twist
• Best Protagonist
• Best Antagonist
• Best Supporting Character
• Best Pokemon Character

Awards for Non-Pokemon stories

• Best Non-Pokemon Fictional
• Best Non-Human Character (for non-Pokemon stories)

Click to expand...

Why not we have each year's FFOTY cover the past three years to accommodate recently published fiction and give the previous year's contenders (nominees) a chance to re-enter.

Click to expand...

Are you staying that we should have a FFotY '08,'09,'10 at all the same time, Once we hammer out these rules, we could begin on '08 and '09 immediately.

List updated as well

The problem here is that quality is relative. I actually advocate the idea of nominators to be a select few and voters to encompass any registered member. Of course, regular members may approach nominators to suggest fics to nominate. This way, nominators can check to see if those fics have that certain quality.

Click to expand...

Why do we lead nominations open to everyone, but we have one or two people who look over each nomination and decided whether it goes to round two, kind of like preliminaries.

Now, should my above paragraph be bolded as it is just replying to your suggestion, or just when a totally new suggestion is brought up?