Yahoo Forum Archive

----- Original Message -----
From: "Anthony Holder" <aaholder@swbell.net>
To: <MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2006 11:47 PM
Subject: [MEFAwards] Author Award changes


> (By the way, I passed the PE exam, and am now a Licensed Professional
> Engineer in the State of Texas! I did very well on the exam, not that
> it really matters, because my license and the guy/gal that just
> squeaked by look exactly the same.)

Congratulations! That is a lot of work, and *you* know how well you did.
(And there are always *ways* to get info of that sort into a resume.)
Dreamflower

>
> I really like the suggestions on how to change the author awards, but...
>
> It does mean that I have a lot more work to do, if it is going to get
> done, and I'm not sure I have time to do that.

> I have MEFA2006 and another group (LLL of Texas) to support with
> websites this year, and you all are asking for quite a few changes.
> Hopefully, the LLL folks won't need too much, but I know that I have
> quite a bit to do for them as well, and a similar deadline. On top of
> that, I have a late February RL work deadline that may involve
> overtime.
>
> (By the way, I passed the PE exam, and am now a Licensed Professional
> Engineer in the State of Texas! I did very well on the exam, not that
> it really matters, because my license and the guy/gal that just
> squeaked by look exactly the same.)

>
> As far as point counting goes, you all have lots of good ideas, and as
> long as it's all based on math and simple if-then statements, I'm OK
> with it.
>
> For honorable mention, again it needs to be a specific mathematical
> formula, with some conditionals, and I can make it work.
>
> I guess I would say that you should get done soon, so I can tell you
> what is possible.

> I'll start looking at my list for other issues and compiling them into
> a more succinct to-do list for myself, and just leave specifics of
> Author awards off the list for now.

>>> I like your idea, Dwim, though I think we would definitely want

> suggested...in addition to characterization, perhaps descriptive >

>Exactly--think of all the technical skills that go into writing.

>
> (By the way, I passed the PE exam, and am now a Licensed

>
>

>
> (By the way, I passed the PE exam, and am now a Licensed

>
>

>
> I really like the suggestions on how to change the author awards,
> but...It does mean that I have a lot more work to do, if it is going
> to get done, and I'm not sure I have time to do that.

> (By the way, I passed the PE exam, and am now a Licensed Professional
> Engineer in the State of Texas!

> I guess I would say that you should get done soon, so I can tell you
> what is possible.

>
> I'm thinking a couple of things, and I know this is an area where
> I've put my foot in it in the past, so please read this as I'm
> treading lightly and mean NO OFFENSE to *anyone*.
>
> I do believe that writing demands a combination of skills, both
> emotional and technical, and author awards are the natural place to
> reward those. I would, personally, be happy to go nuts thinking up
> good ways to award authors technical and creative achievement
> buttons, - and would strongly support Inkling's and Dwim's
> suggestions above. - but also we need to remember that this is
> specifically a hobbyist fandom and love and professional excellence
> don't always go hand in hand. - that, often, striving for technical
> correctness simply causes stress rather than an improved story.

> I have a couple of suggestions to throw on the table - first with
> the comment that I'm not sure how much work any of this would be
> for Anthony.
>
> 1. my suggestion would be to have the authors automatically go
> into the forms categories when their story's nomination was
> accepted. epic, novel, novella, short story, vignette, drabble,
> poetry. These will be big categories, what about awarding more
> than three places -
> or like the story awards, award HMs to a percent of the overall
> category.

>
> 2. my other and/or semi-related suggestion is to have author
> nominations separate from the story nominations. This is where you
> could have categories on active dialogue, true-to-canon
> characterization, engaging original characterizations, style, plots
> & well-woven subplot, brilliant first line, satisfying ending, most
> surprising yet logical plot twist. - all of those sorts of
> things.
> plot act, character growth, most terrifying use of conflict. (#2
> would of course be limited to authors who had stories in the MEFAs)
>
> - so instead of having my #1 and #2 as cate and subcates of each
> other, they would all be main cates.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com
> [mailto:MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Anthony Holder
> Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2006 11:47 PM
> To: MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [MEFAwards] Author Award changes
>
> I really like the suggestions on how to change the author
> awards, but...
>
> It does mean that I have a lot more work to do, if it is
> going to get done, and I'm not sure I have time to do that.
>
> In some ways, the suggestions make the process simpler (in
> many ways), but it's different, and that means changing
> things around, which means more work.
>
> I have MEFA2006 and another group (LLL of Texas) to support
> with websites this year, and you all are asking for quite a
> few changes.
> Hopefully, the LLL folks won't need too much, but I know that
> I have quite a bit to do for them as well, and a similar
> deadline. On top of that, I have a late February RL work
> deadline that may involve overtime.
>
> (By the way, I passed the PE exam, and am now a Licensed
> Professional Engineer in the State of Texas! I did very well
> on the exam, not that it really matters, because my license
> and the guy/gal that just squeaked by look exactly the same.)
>
> I haven't even started working on things, because you're
> still discussing it (and I haven't wanted to work on it yet).
> I have been taking notes, and my note list is pretty long.
> Once the PM is done, I'll look through my list and I'll see
> what's important, what can wait, and what can be left out,
> and I'll summarize it all for you.
>
> As far as point counting goes, you all have lots of good
> ideas, and as long as it's all based on math and simple
> if-then statements, I'm OK with it.
>
> For honorable mention, again it needs to be a specific
> mathematical formula, with some conditionals, and I can make it work.
>
> I guess I would say that you should get done soon, so I can
> tell you what is possible.
>
> I'll start looking at my list for other issues and compiling
> them into a more succinct to-do list for myself, and just
> leave specifics of Author awards off the list for now.
>
> Later,
> Anthony
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>

> Yeah, guess we'd better shut up soon...what is it, two months
> before MEFA 2006 kicks off???
>

> -----Original Message-----
> From: MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com
> [mailto:MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of sulriel
> Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2006 2:28 PM
> To: MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [MEFAwards] Re: Author Award changes
>

> ***
>
> I'm thinking a couple of things, and I know this is an area
> where I've put my foot in it in the past, so please read this
> as I'm treading lightly and mean NO OFFENSE to *anyone*.
>
> I do believe that writing demands a combination of skills,
> both emotional and technical, and author awards are the
> natural place to reward those. I would, personally, be happy
> to go nuts thinking up good ways to award authors technical
> and creative achievement buttons, - and would strongly
> support Inkling's and Dwim's suggestions above. - but also we
> need to remember that this is specifically a hobbyist fandom
> and love and professional excellence don't always go hand in
> hand. - that, often, striving for technical correctness
> simply causes stress rather than an improved story.
>
> Speaking from personal experience, it seems that whenever
> I've been part of discussions in this fandom regarding the
> technical aspects of writing (as opposed to the emotional
> and/or creative aspects) is when I've seen the most hurt and
> the most vicious backlashings and I'd like to see these
> awards stay away from that.

> I have a couple of suggestions to throw on the table - first
> with the comment that I'm not sure how much work any of this
> would be for Anthony.
>
> 1. my suggestion would be to have the authors automatically go into
> the forms categories when their story's nomination was accepted.
> epic, novel, novella, short story, vignette, drabble, poetry.
> These will be big categories, what about awarding more than
> three places - or like the story awards, award HMs to a
> percent of the overall category.
>
> 2. my other and/or semi-related suggestion is to have author
> nominations separate from the story nominations. This is
> where you could have categories on active dialogue,
> true-to-canon characterization, engaging original
> characterizations, style, plots & well-woven subplot,
> brilliant first line, satisfying ending, most surprising yet
> logical plot twist. - all of those sorts of things.
> plot act, character growth, most terrifying use of conflict.
> (#2 would of course be limited to authors who had stories in
> the MEFAs)

> - so instead of having my #1 and #2 as cate and subcates of
> each other, they would all be main cates.