Monster's Ball

Well, my new LJ community is taking off, and writers of note have already signed up for it. This should lead to more entries for the monthly writing contest, which is why I set it up. There is a cloud on the AOE horizon, though. Certain individuals seem to think I'm some sort of e-catamite or something. I'm not. Anyone who behaves badly, whether it's to me or not, is banned on principle. 

This is because, after a hard day's trolling and cyberbullying, monsters like to toddle off to respectable websites and pose as decent people. The website owners often appear to connive at this, which helps to isolate the victims. When pressed, the website owners say it's not their problem, and they won't deal with it until it is. Oh, and it's not conniving -- it's simply not their problem. It's even more complicated when the mods are matey with the trolls. To be fair, the ones I know don't encourage it, but they do allow their troll associates to create a veneer of respectability, win friends and influence people.

I'm not like that. If a victim can prove that they are being cyberbullied anywhere, I will ban the abuser so that, if they want to pretend to be respectable, they can't do it on my e-spaces. Therefore, the victim has at least one troll-free place to post where they won't see their trolls being welcomed. I never get matey with trolls.

Flaming isn't something I'd consider trolling, provided it's a one-off hit and run thing, and the flamer gives a reason for it, such as lousy writing or something. If a flamer repeatedly targets someone, that's trolling and that gets them banned from my e-spaces.

I don't do that thing of letting it slide and letting them stroll back into my e-spaces acting like they did nothing wrong. Once banned, always banned. The only exceptions I've ever made to that rule were for PWNage purposes, which have been achieved. I can prove that troll apologies have a best before date, and that they do this as standard. Who wants to associate with someone like that? Not me.

I shouldn't have to put it in the rules that a writer must have personal integrity to get posting privileges on my e-spaces -- that's a prerequisite for getting time of day off me. If that's too high a standard, people need better standards. Just sayin'.

Contests and Challenges

The fun of writing scenarios for your favourite movie or other characters to deal with is one thing, but better than that is the opportunity to have it rated by your peers. The thought of winning a prize - even a virtual one - is very appealing considering the validation and kudos that go with it.

Many of the fanfiction contests I know of are fandom-specific, and some are restrictive even in the fandom, restricted to a small group, or even one of the fandom characters. The Golden Quill Awards stands out from these because it offers the opportunity to be a winner to a multitude of writers for a multitude of fandoms. Anything is acceptable, from kids' cartoons to serious cop shows and everything in between.

Stories are entered by genre and voted for in an anonymous poll. Stories rated up to R are welcome, and the prize is not just a pretty icon: winners also get a profile on the Archives of Excellence if they haven't got one already. Find out more about it here. Voting begins on 1st March.

Great Google!

I'm very impressed with Google at the moment.

As a fanfiction writer, sometimes I produce stories of 20,000 words or more, which is a bit much for a single post on my other blog. 

Worry not, they have Google Documents, which allows me to upload my stories onto a web page, then add a link to the relevant post. I could even post each chapter in a separate document for the longer stories if I wanted to - which is looking increasingly attractive as an option.

The range of templates they have is massive, and I'm very keen on the ones that offer justified text options, as I don't like ragged edges. 

I intend to have a great deal of fun exploring the range they have, the better to display my stories to their best advantage. Nice one, Google!