Abaddon just asked a great question: what are my criteria for the duelling fic?

[icarus]

1 - They write Harry Potter fanfiction.
That means not artists or archive masters, and no other fandoms. I read other fandoms, but this is a strictly Harry Potter thing. Why no artists? Art stirs feelings that are too intense and doesn't lend itself to this kind of contest. Archives... that's a sticky wicket, and would likely degenerate into complaints about this or that archive. Concrit BNFs would pose a similar problem.

2 - They have a large body of work so there're enough popular stories to choose from.
I don't have a minimum, but so far it's been people with at least ten stories or more.

3 - They appear on most or many of the BNF lists, meaning many people are familiar with their work.
Otherwise I get a collective 'huh?' instead of votes. ;)

4 - I've read at least two of their stories and liked them.
That's where I'm starting, with work I'm familiar with. That means a lot of them are on my friendslist because I friend people whose work I'm following. They don't necessarily friend me back, and many of them have no clue who I am. :)

5 - They have a LiveJournal.
This is not necessary, but I'm starting with those who do so that people have a way to track updates and new stories.

6 - They have at least two well-known and popular stories of near weight in the fandom.
You see, if someone has one runaway hit there's not much of a contest. A good example is A. J. Hall. Lust Over Pendle is fantastic, but it would easily trump anything else she's written. That's no fun, so I'm probably not going to do her.

7 - Are the 'best' writers first?
The order is according to who I happen to think of at the moment. It's completely arbitrary. I'm trying to vary it though , go from Snape writers to Draco writers to Darkfic to Humourfic. Y'know, mix it up a little. So that determines who I do when.

8 - What makes you pick those first few stories?
Oh, I just put up the ones I hear the most about. Sometimes they're not my favourites, and some of them I haven't even read. That's the reason I leave the write-in option open, in case I miss a 'big' story.

ETA: This is just for fun, guys. I reserve the right to whimsically change the rules.

Comments

[nothingbutfic.livejournal.com]

:D It's Abaddon...sorry, pet peeve. People used to spell it wrong, and then ask if I was Scandanavian. -.-

[tinderblast.livejournal.com]

I like the write-in feature, it lets the authors know that a wide range of their work is appreciated.

I don't have a minimum, but so far it's been people with at least ten stories or more.

Three drink minimum, I guess. Just to make it interesting.

I have a tiny problem with #6, though - I just don't think that any stories have an equal value and status in fandom, as people respond to them so differently. Even where they come in a writer's oeuvre influences their reception - a funny story by an angstmeister, for example, might be such a change of pace that it's preferred.

Or if someone's known for dark!fic their later work, even though it's better, might be *less* widely read because they've established their preferences and the reader has stereotyped their work and pre-emptively judges it.

-brodie

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I have a tiny problem with #6.

Oh pooh. It's just a game, not the winter Olympics. I'm not measuring best work, I'm just saying "So. Whaddaya like?"

It's very informal.

If it ever gets sticky, I'll just drop the whole thing because it's really not that important. I hadn't even thought it through this much until Abaddon asked. I reserve the right to arbitrarily change any and all of these rules, for no particular beyond my whim.

Icarus

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Ok. I corrected it.

Looking over the rest of what we discussed... I have a list of about 100 people, minus artists/archivists/essayists. When that list runs out - if interest in the game survives that long - I'll look at a new way to find candidates. I'm doing one a day at this point, so that's a three-month supply.

Icarus

[tinderblast.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know - I'm just saying that it's hard to measure what's classic to one person and unknown to another. I find that the HP fandom is so big that people tend to ghettoise themselves by their ship or favourite character and to be pretty unaware of other areas. Of course, this is a horrible generalisation and doesn't account for the people who read by genre or writer ... but most people do define themselves in terms of ships, and so what's a RL/SP staple isn't always well-known outside of that circle.