Gold stars for me!

[jedibuttercup]

Huzzah! I won an award for my fic Harry Potter and the Book of Amun Ra at the Crossover Awards this month. I already knew I had a small circle of fans, and I'm quite aware that most fic awards don't mean all that much any more, but it's still very, very cheering to get this sort of seal of approval.

I was also nominated for an award at the Walk With Heroes site for my story They Also Serve. Voting there ends the day after tomorrow. Now, that one took me off guard; I haven't promoted that story anywhere at all in the last year or more.

If the title of that fic sounds unfamiliar to you, it's because I never posted it here -- TAS is third in a series of novel-length fics that I never quite got to the end of, and the writing is not quite up to my current standards. The first in the series, "Lesser Men", was the very first fan fiction I ever wrote, more than two years ago now. One day, perhaps, I'll go back and rewrite the series and finally tie up the loose ends ... but I wrote something like 200,000 words between the four extant novels (the fourth is WIP) and the interludes sandwiched between them. That's just the tiniest bit intimidating, y'know?

Honestly, while I love the epics, I think my skills are more suited to the shorter types of fic. The longest thing I've written since I abandoned the "Lesser Men" series was The Five Stages of Grief, which clocks in at just under 15,000 words. Hm. Doesn't speak well for my imaginary future career as a novelist. *grin*

Comments

You are the winner! (*Mario's Nintendo voice*)

[spk1121.livejournal.com]

I won an award... I was also nominated for an award
Wow, congrats! That's very cool. You know, you are currently the only person that I have on my flist that I have never met in person. I think a big part of this is that I can tell the quality of your writing, and you convey impressions well. So many "random" looks at journals seem poor, and you know how to engage the reader. Granted, I was biased in your favor in that you were a friend of sh1mm3r, but I still think it's telling. Kudos to you! :)

The Five Stages of Grief, which clocks in at just under 15,000 words.
Now I'm wondering how long my Honors Thesis is. I know it's 30 pages, but what does that make up in terms of number of words? Hmm... Hey, there's nothing wrong with writing engaging academic material instead of a novel. I wish there was more of it out there!

Addendum

[spk1121.livejournal.com]

Whoops. Now I click on the link and see The Five Stages of Grief is also fanfic! Silly me. It sounded like a research paper for class or something, so I made a dumb assumption. Rather than delete my comment and repost it, I choose to publicly acknowledge my tomfoolery. Woe, woe! :)

Re: Addendum

[jedibuttercup]

Heh. I just thought you were still talking about your thesis. Though I did do research for "The Five Stages of Grief"; I wanted to keep it as close to my title theme as possible, and in-character. That was the first story I ever got requests for, other people asking if they could post it on their sites, so the extra time spent on the details paid off!

Re: You are the winner! (*Mario's Nintendo voice*)

[jedibuttercup]

I think a big part of this is that I can tell the quality of your writing, and you convey impressions well. So many "random" looks at journals seem poor, and you know how to engage the reader.

*blushing* Thank you for saying so. I've dreamt of being a writer professionally since I was very young, but I recieved very little encouragement for it until I started doing fan fiction in 2002; I was always told that it was good for a hobby but that I'd never make any money at it. That's left me poorly equipped to judge my own skill level, I'm afraid. Compliments like yours really mean a lot to me.

Now I'm wondering how long my Honors Thesis is. I know it's 30 pages, but what does that make up in terms of number of words?

Easy way to tell? Open it in MS Word. Go to the menu bar where it says "Tools". Pick the line that says "Word Count..." and a box will pop up. And trust me, word count means a lot more in an academic piece than a fiction piece; you have to be so much more careful of your facts than if you're making stuff up from a TV show. *grin*