Hugo question

[james_davis_nicoll]

Are novellas and novelettes distinct enough that there has to be two categories?

[added later]

If you are here because of "James Nicoll questions whether there should be four written-fiction Hugos. Comments over there, please." note that is inaccurate. In theory we could another written category to make up for the loss of one. Best YA novel, for example.

Comments

[sanskritabelt.livejournal.com]

Why is the short form split up so much but once a book hits 40k words it's just "yeah, whatever"?

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure that is because when the current definitions solidified in the early 1970s, novels were, generally speaking, much shorter than they are now. 40K was a lot of words.

I've heard suggestions for creating a super-novel category for very long novels, although I'm not sure where you'd do the length cut-off. In keeping with the longer-work/shorter-name, I've heard suggested that this new category be named "Best Tome".

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

There is many a time when those Big Novels have come out, I think they should be labeled "Best Door Stop", but we are getting so many of them in eBook form now, and they no longer serve the function.
I do remember talking to several Scientologists who were surprised the Battlefield Earth wasn't happily received by the rest of the SF Community as the Best Thing Ever. *sigh*
At this point, if the writers are happy with the current set up, I see no reason to change it. Even if Short Story gets so divided that only 3 meet the 5% rule. And frankly, if we do find that there were a LOT Of nominees, just spread very thin, I don't think expanding the category will help it, in fact it would make things WORSE, giving everyone MORE places to split the vote.

[scott-sanford.livejournal.com]

This. (I said earlier that I wouldn't be surprised to see the current novel category split.) There was a time when 45k words was a lot, and as much as anyone expected an author to write. For example, the Illuminatus trilogy appeared in three quite modestly sized paperbacks, and had to be mercilessly cut. In the 80s I was astonished to see the sheer size of Battlefield Earth; this is no longer the most surprising thing about that book.

I'd happily talk about ideas for a "Best Tome" Hugo, too, but I haven't encountered a formal proposal.