Should there be

[james_davis_nicoll]

A best fanfic Hugo?

Comments

[sasha_feather]

No.

[kaffy_r]

Huh. I'd never thought about that. Beyond the obvious legal questions, though, it might be very interesting to see what kinds of stories might get nominated.

[emceeaich]

I don't see any reason not to nominate transformative/fanfic writers for the Best Fan Writer category.

It avoids the issue of nominating a particular work and the copyright issues that may come with that action.

Also, nominating fanwriters will set off the Corflu/Twilltone/Roscoe/TruFann crowd, which will provide thousands of hours of entertaining drama. Sorry, that was my inside voice, wasn't it?

But editing again, because I forgot the pseudonymity issue. Pseudonymity allows that space to exist, and handing out a Hugo to someone would require naming, which, between the current queer-phobic and litigation-eager environments, would not be a good idea.

[tx-cronopio.livejournal.com]

God, no.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Already eligible in the written-fiction category based on length. Nothing says written fiction has to be "professionally published." Heck, one of the nominees this year was self-published.

[abigail-n.livejournal.com]

Once you get past the kneejerk reaction, my main objection to this idea is the same as my objection to the best graphic story category (and, for that matter, the idea of a YA hugo): I am not at all convinced that Hugo voters are sufficiently well-read in this category to make interesting, worthwhile nominations.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

No.

[(Anonymous)]

Wasn't that what Redshirts won this year?

-- Paul Clarke

A Study in Emerald

[jcfiala.livejournal.com]

Far as I can tell, 'A Study in Emerald' won the Hugo in 2004, and that's fanfic, isn't it?

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Peter Watts's "The Things" was nominated in 2011 and is clear and open fanfic.

[celestialweasel.livejournal.com]

The Crossover Slash Hugo... at every year's Worldcon there is a vote for the precise nature of the pairing in the manner of the site selection ballot (or better still people can vote for characters and the two highest are paired providing they aren't from the same universe (*)) The Hugo is then awarded at the next year's Worldcon based on stories written for that pairing.

(*) Arbitration on what constitutes a universe for this purpose to fall to the WSFS Mark Protection Committee (along with their new role of 'Fannish Truth and Reconciliation Commission)

[harvey-rrit.livejournal.com]

Oh what a good idea!

Since it was your suggestion, you have the honor of arbitrating any argument that arises on the topic of where to draw the line between homage and piracy.

Food will be poked to you and the disputants with a stick.

[quotidian-c.livejournal.com]

Are fanfic writers eligible for Best Fan Writer? It doesn't fit with the way that category is used (and I assume intended), but you could interpret fan writings to include fanfic and I can't see anything in the (sparse) award description that would exclude it.

[eliezer yudkowsky (from livejournal.com)]

When _Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality_ is finally done, I intend to try to get it nominated for Best Novel; I previously asked that it not be nominated for Best Fan Writer so it could have a fresh run at Best Novel. With that said, maybe I'm anchoring too hard on my favorite Hugo-winners rather than the average Hugo winner - but even though there's some really good fanfic out there, it's hard to see there being a truly worthy competitor _every year_. But maybe I'm being too picky. There's fanfic which rises to the level of _A Study in Emerald_ written every year. Just not, you know, _The Vor Game_ or _Speaker for the Dead_.

[bruce munro (from livejournal.com)]

Too many authors are against the notion of fanfic in the first place, no?

[azarias.livejournal.com]

Oh god no. And I say that as a dedicated fanficcer.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Will MST3Kings be eligible?

[carbonel]

No.

And I say that as someone who reads way too much of the stuff.

[jcfiala.livejournal.com]

If we have a best fanfic hugo, we should also institute a 'best novel not a sequel, prequel, expansion of that short story from last year, movie or other work adaptation'... :) They probably make the same amount of sense.

Other way around

[seth ellis (from livejournal.com)]

Don't add a Best Fanfic, add a Best Pro Writer. That way, as someone suggested in a previous thread, the long-form editor could be included in the credits of the Best Novel (like the producer in the Best Movie Oscar), and the addition of the writer category might help alleviate the suspicion in the Best Novel category that people are voting for (for instance) Scalzi rather than Redshirts. And writers could be rewarded for having a good year with no one standout story.

Or it might foreground the alleged popularity-contest nature of the awards, which could be illuminating.

ETA: I realize this doesn't address the question, but I think the answer to the question is probably just no. A formal recognition of a folk-art genre is just weird.

[dbdatvic.livejournal.com]

I just want to see the Hugo voters' reactions to blatant open slash of characters they know and wuv. It would come up nearly immediately, because the year after HP&tMoR won, or possibly the year before if it's not finished yet, scifigrl47's Toasterverse would walk off with the award, and that's Tony Stark/Steve Rogers and Clint Barton/Phil Coulson in among the hilarity.

(Or else a massive wave of Teen Wolf fanfic would drown the voting process, leading almost everyone else to say "Where did THAT come from?".)

--Dave

PS: ... okay, LJ, I'm logged in up top, WHY did my comment default to Anonymous? At least it has an option to add username/password right there instead of going through the three pages forward/two pages back dance...