MEFA 2010

[pandemonium]

And congrats to you, too, DW! Well-deserved awards there.

Yep, I haven't "seen" GA for a while either. I love The Sword of Elendil (which actually inspired me to write The Elendilmir) so I'm especially pleased to see it nabbed an award.

[Gandalfs apprentice]

Here I am!

I was rather disappointed that The Sword of Elendil didn't get a first--after all I worked on it for five years, so I was wanting a lot of stroking--but since it lost to a fellow Lizard, it's okay.

Congratulations to everyone! I feel especially proud of you, Pan, since I am partly responsible for having corrupted you into this madness.

I've been very busy with RL, but find the muse is still talking to me. Some day.....

[raksha]

Dec 19, 2010 13:23:45 GMT -6 oshun said:

Dec 18, 2010 11:35:48 GMT -6 pandemonium said:

From MEFA10 stats:



Holy freakin' moly. I don't know about the second statistic, but the first and the third? Those are for Flame of the Desert!

Who knew that drug-fueled elven road trips were such a popular genre?

Flame of the Desert was a really standout story!! I can see why it warranted so many reviews and so many words. I wrote a long review and could have gone on and on.

Be serious though: drug-fueled elven road trips is a perfect genre. Who could not get excited about that? And that one sort of combined the flavor of Lawrence of Arabia with Dude Who Stole My Car! Not to mention characters whose deeds are known to afficianados of every Age of Arda. It's a case study in generalized appeal. OK. Gotta admit, it might be a little much for the early-Fourth-Age happily-married-in-Gondor crowd or the rigid canon pharisee, but everyone else would have to love it.

Hey, I'm a dyed-in-the-wool sucker for the early-Fourth-Age happily-married-in-Gondor-crowd and a definite canon nitpicker, and I thoroughly enjoyed Flame of the Desert (and MEFA-reviewed it) . I like to think that there's room for many different types of stories in Tolkien fandom...It's also plausible that hundreds/thousands of years of bliss in Valinor might drive anyone to drugs....

[raksha]

Dec 22, 2010 0:24:44 GMT -6 Gandalfs apprentice said:

Here I am!

I was rather disappointed that The Sword of Elendil didn't get a first--after all I worked on it for five years, so I was wanting a lot of stroking--but since it lost to a fellow Lizard, it's okay.

Congratulations to everyone! I feel especially proud of you, Pan, since I am partly responsible for having corrupted you into this madness.

I've been very busy with RL, but find the muse is still talking to me. Some day.....

I recall myself wishing that Sword of Elendil and Truth Be Told were in different sub-cats; both were extremely well-written and deserving. It's like having to choose between carrot cake and chocolate cake; which is, at least for me, difficult. I think I gave both stories long reviews.

I had the dubious honor of one of my stories (The Battle of the Kitchen) being trounced by a story I'd nominated - Jael's The Courier (which easily won the sub-cat; it's a fantastic story).

Fifteen out of my 18 nominated stories placed:


First Place:
Hearts in Stone
Expectations
After the Hour of Doom

Second Place:
The Tower
Ranger's Dawn
Reach for the Stars
Fosterage
Small Victories
In the King's Shadow

Third Place:
Riding the Fire
Seasons of Gladness
Libation
Filling the Breach

Honorable Mention:
The Battle of the Kitchen
Looking for Dragons


I had a blast competing and reading/reviewing. I'll be lucky to come up with two or three quality entries next year; my muse is partying on the Cote d'Azur or heading for Rio, but for sure not here . Congratulations to all who placed in MEFA 2010 and kudos to all who competed and reviewed!

[DrummerWench]

Great to see you, G.A.! I figured RL was keeping you occupied; hope it's good busy, and that it will let up from time to time. Good to know the muse has something for you--can't wait to read it!

Raksha, your list looks really good! Congratulations! Hope your muse washes off the suntan lotion & heads home soon.

[virtuella]

I was rather disappointed that The Sword of Elendil didn't get a first--after all I worked on it for five years, so I was wanting a lot of stroking--but since it lost to a fellow Lizard, it's okay.

Thanks for taking it so gracefully. It was such a neck-to-neck race, right up till the last minute - five points difference in the end. I confess I've not read your story, but perhaps I will now.

[elfscribe]

Hey, I know I'm late, but still wanted to offer congratulations to all you wonderful MEFA winners!

And to thank all you Lizards who reviewed my stories as well. You guys are awesome!


Thanks to Russandol also for making banners for me, which I'm going to share because they look so nice. Here they are:

[vanime18431]

Pande,

Did you write Inner Light on Many Paths to Tread? I was so engrossed in the story that I didn't take a look at the author's name until the end! I LOVED IT! You have me so intriqued with the elf-smith, ( I won't even try to spell the name), that I wondered if you have a series of stories associated with that character. It would make for an interesting read. And yes! We ought to have a sequel to Flame of the Desert!

Elrond on drugs...LOL Too funny for words! Would that be the case of the "Healer heal thyself"? :PP

Hugs and Love,
Vanime

[pandemonium]

Dec 25, 2010 10:24:38 GMT -6 vanime18431 said:

Pande,

Did you write Inner Light on Many Paths to Tread? I was so engrossed in the story that I didn't take a look at the author's name until the end! I LOVED IT! You have me so intriqued with the elf-smith, ( I won't even try to spell the name), that I wondered if you have a series of stories associated with that character. It would make for an interesting read.

Re: Inner Light on MPTT. Yes, that's me! Thanks very much, Vanime. I'm glad that you enjoyed it. It was one of those spur of the moment fics, and surprising in that my Dark Muse was in one of his softer, more reflective moments.

Yes, indeed. The Istyanis (Mélamírë) has made appearances in several other stories, kind of in a piecemeal way, mostly because I have been engaged in other storylines of the Pandë!verse which I am building to (hopefully) make her very existence plausible.

Anyway, if you go to my profile on the Silmarillion Writers' Guild, there's a chronology of my fics, courtesy of a fellow Lizard, the intrepid Russandol. Most are on the SWG, but some link to my auxiliary LJ (lj user = ost-in-edhil). Some of those in the latter are on filters as I develop them further.

You might want to start with Risk Assessment, then there are a few chapters in The Elendilmir in which she makes an appearance in the protagonist's recollections (they were close friends), notably Ch 3, Matter of Song; Ch. 6 Beasts of Yavanna, Children of Ilúvatar; Ch 11 and 12; Eye of a Little God and Threads of Vairë, respectively; and Ch 28, A Shadow Dreaming. Let's see...The Jinn and The Man Who Grew Tomatoes (the latter more about another male canon character but Mél's present) give a nod to her exile in the East. She intersects quite a bit in Surgical Steel's 'verse, too, with her mortal friend Serindë (these two women are birds of a feather). See Examination and The Good Broideress for those. Also Transplants. She's appeared in Steel's 'verse, too.

Another hobbity bit is in The Token. And most recently, I went back to the Second Age in a fic from Celebrimbor's POV called A Fragile Chalice. He's the narrator there, but Mélamírë is his guest at a party of sorts. Now that story has significant spoilers if you're not aware of the earlier fics.

I'm glad to hear you find her intriguing! I'd like to think it's possible to write an OFC who is not a Mary Sue (a tired old chestnut if ever there was one) even if she might trigger a few points on the ludicrous Mary Sue Litmus Test,

And yes! We ought to have a sequel to Flame of the Desert!

Elrond on drugs...LOL Too funny for words! Would that be the case of the "Healer heal thyself"? :PP

Darth has fed me some fabulous ideas for the sequel. I'm sure there are folks who look at the notion of the kind as summer Elrond of The Lord of the Rings engaging in substance abuse, but heck...after living a long and eventful life in Middle-earth (plus that touch of mortal blood that might make him willing to be risky, i.e., you only live once) and then the long, long days of "paradise" in Tol Eressëa? I can only imagine that he might get bored.

Thanks again and happy holidays!

[vanime18431]

Kudos to your Dark Muse for having a soft moment then! Whoo hooo!

Thank you so much for the story titles! I can see that I have some serious readings to do! My only hope is that I don't get mixed up story-wise as to who wrote what. I find that when others borrow a character, it messes me up in wondering, "where did I see that character before"?

But I suppose it's all good. Cause then I get to go on a treasure seeking hunt of "finding outs" and then find more stories along the way, and of course, in doing so, forget the reason I started looking in the first place...sigh...it's a blissful way to peruse the internet and fanfiction on a bad day.

My only hope for Elrond is that he doesn't get addicted to substance abuse...that would be just too dreadful to swallow, regardless of "you only live once"....while I have no doubt that he would get bored, and definitely Glorfindel far quicker in getting bored than Elrond, I hope that he channels boredom in other ways. Maybe teaching a rock climbing school! LOL

Hugs and Love,
Vanime