Contest Crunch Time
Dec. 29th, 2004 10:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccastareyesSo, I'm the Romance Judge on Mediaminer's Annual Big-Ass Ficiton Contest, something which I am never doing again. And I read through the first nine (of over forty) excepts today...
Dear Yami Malik/Yami Yuugi author,
You are a sweet person, and a fellow judge. However, if you are going to send me Yugioh fic that not only contradicts canon as currently known so badly that me, who just listens to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sabonasi rant on her LJ (which I am willing to forigve if you were 'jossed'*), but throws in a numebr of relationships between characters that just seem to be there for no reason -- they most certainly not canon, and I have no clue how they would even happen. Now, I realize that you only sent me an except, but would it kill you to include a note like 'This is what happened thus far' or 'this is an AU'? Next year, I'm asking Psy (guy in charge of the contest) to make it clear that whatever non-Romance category I run, a 'Story Thus Far' paragraph is a required part of the entry to me. Which only means people will forget it -- you have no idea how many people I had to harass for incomplete entry forms.
* piece of fan terminology I picked up from Buffy fandom -- 'to be jossed' is to have future canon events contradict your fanfic.
Dear Miroku/Kagome author,
Having a female character infatuated wiht a male character that is different from her canon/traditional pairing is all wella nd good. I even like the way you handled her feelings for both -- could be off, but you didn't try to ignore the canon, and that I like. However... the plot of having her slip something into his food for an insta-Lemon? Creepy at best and borderline-rape at worse. Not romantic.
P. S. Giving me an acceptance speech (we have authors sumbit a statment to be used if they win with the entry because finding them later can be a bitch) that bashes a certain pairing is a sure way to make me want to make sure you don't get to give it.
Dear Evangeleon Author,
Get a frickin beta-reader! I could watch your gramamr fall into the toilet.
Dear at Leats 1/3 of the Authors I have Reviewed Thus Far,
Yes, anime characters speak Japanese, what with the original release of the anime in Japan. Yes, some anime characters actually speak Japanese, what with them being from Japan in canon. That does not mean that you can translate everything into English for the benefit of the English-speaking reader but expressiosn that even a first-year student could get. And the fact that 'everyone' knows what hai means isn't an excuse -- evryone knows what bonjour and oui mean, but that does not mean Allen Schezar will suddenly start speaking French in my fanfic (when we all know the Gaeans speak Portugese ^_^).
And Author's Notes do not belong in the middle of a paragraph. Especially not when they are telling the reader you were too lazy to research Ancient Egyptian names.
Dear Yami Malik/Yami Yuugi author,
You are a sweet person, and a fellow judge. However, if you are going to send me Yugioh fic that not only contradicts canon as currently known so badly that me, who just listens to
sabonasi rant on her LJ (which I am willing to forigve if you were 'jossed'*), but throws in a numebr of relationships between characters that just seem to be there for no reason -- they most certainly not canon, and I have no clue how they would even happen. Now, I realize that you only sent me an except, but would it kill you to include a note like 'This is what happened thus far' or 'this is an AU'? Next year, I'm asking Psy (guy in charge of the contest) to make it clear that whatever non-Romance category I run, a 'Story Thus Far' paragraph is a required part of the entry to me. Which only means people will forget it -- you have no idea how many people I had to harass for incomplete entry forms. * piece of fan terminology I picked up from Buffy fandom -- 'to be jossed' is to have future canon events contradict your fanfic.
Dear Miroku/Kagome author,
Having a female character infatuated wiht a male character that is different from her canon/traditional pairing is all wella nd good. I even like the way you handled her feelings for both -- could be off, but you didn't try to ignore the canon, and that I like. However... the plot of having her slip something into his food for an insta-Lemon? Creepy at best and borderline-rape at worse. Not romantic.
P. S. Giving me an acceptance speech (we have authors sumbit a statment to be used if they win with the entry because finding them later can be a bitch) that bashes a certain pairing is a sure way to make me want to make sure you don't get to give it.
Dear Evangeleon Author,
Get a frickin beta-reader! I could watch your gramamr fall into the toilet.
Dear at Leats 1/3 of the Authors I have Reviewed Thus Far,
Yes, anime characters speak Japanese, what with the original release of the anime in Japan. Yes, some anime characters actually speak Japanese, what with them being from Japan in canon. That does not mean that you can translate everything into English for the benefit of the English-speaking reader but expressiosn that even a first-year student could get. And the fact that 'everyone' knows what hai means isn't an excuse -- evryone knows what bonjour and oui mean, but that does not mean Allen Schezar will suddenly start speaking French in my fanfic (when we all know the Gaeans speak Portugese ^_^).
And Author's Notes do not belong in the middle of a paragraph. Especially not when they are telling the reader you were too lazy to research Ancient Egyptian names.
