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<blockquote data-quote="Sialia" data-source="post: 1521945" data-attributes="member: 1025"><p>Yes, it is much easier to hold forth on these thing immediately after reading--the gut response of "ooh" or "wow" still fresh in my mind and the reasons why. Being able to post directly in thread lets me give a Maldur-type response. Waiting a while to think things over gives me time to be more Arwink-like. By the time I get there, I'm usually too restrained to really hold forth with the deep analysis for fear of hurting someone's feelings.</p><p> </p><p>Except in this case.</p><p> </p><p>Macbeth wrote a fine piece, and I really enjoyed reading it and thought, well BSF sure has his work cut out for him.</p><p> </p><p>And then BSF posted, and any attempt at being disinterested flew out the window. It's a really good thing I'm not judging this round, because this is one of the few stories that have been posted where I absolutely could not make a judgment that wasn't 100% biased. I knew that was a risk when I started doing the illustrations, which is why I refused to judge--when my own work is involved, I'm not fair, and I'm not reasonable.</p><p> </p><p>Only, this wasn't about the illustrations. </p><p> </p><p>Consciously or not, BSF put together a story that showed me exactly the type of world I had envisioned for my winter Ceramic GM series, before the Fall of Men occurred, which predates my timeline by several thousand years. </p><p> </p><p>I knew it like it was a place I had been before, even though I never went there when I was writing the winter stuff. I knew what the rules of that world were the way an archaeologist knows what Ancient Egypt was like. But I had never really been there. BSF breathed life into it so I could walk around in it and see how it felt to be there. It felt exactly right.</p><p> </p><p>The rules of gametime were actually part of that experience. In the way that our world's technology controls that there are certain things a cell phone can and cannot do, the rules of game mechanics control that world. There is magic, but it's not completely free of constraints. They are familiar constraints to those of us that D20, and we can take them as given. </p><p> </p><p>It may be that the only audience for this set of stories is ENWorld (and related forums). So be it. We're not writing for Asimov's here--we're writing for us. The piece had an acute awareness of its intended audience, which made it very personal. That may limit its universal human truth appeal, but I think it brings us much closer to an intimate and personal human truth. To me, that's more appealing.</p><p> </p><p>I also liked the local flavor and culture. Rooting a fantasy story in a particular locale with it's particular weather and cuisine and clothing and philosophy is a great way to avoid the McDonald'sification (run <em>that</em> through your spellcheck!) of fantasy cultures--you know--the white bread, ren-faire mock medieval european thing we all like as our standard comfort fantasy fare. There's unbelievable richness to human cultures, and even New Jersey is different from Ohio. A world that gives me even a glimpse of the kind of local context that makes a place <em>live</em> feels good to me. So I'm biased because BSF wrote in a world that I wanted to create in--a world that I would like to game in or write about. (Although not <em>live</em> in <shudder>)</p><p> </p><p>Which is not to say that Macbeth did or didn't go there--only that after reading BSF's story, I got lost in my own thoughts about things for a while. </p><p> </p><p>And then I started writing again.</p><p> </p><p>So, I'm biased, because something in BSF's story made me want to get back to my world and start working there again.</p><p> </p><p>And this little bird is always surprised and delighted and biased and unreasonable when she finds that she has more songs in her than she expected.</p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size: 9px">(As a final note, though--to both Macbeth and BSF--if whichever of you wins does not take care to have somebody else proofread and <span style="color: darkorange">spellcheck</span> your round 4 entry before you post it, you are going to get clobbered. Leave yourself time to do the proofing!! In the absence of glaring typos, I see no reason why either of you should not do well in the final. Good luck!!)</span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Sialia, post: 1521945, member: 1025"] Yes, it is much easier to hold forth on these thing immediately after reading--the gut response of "ooh" or "wow" still fresh in my mind and the reasons why. Being able to post directly in thread lets me give a Maldur-type response. Waiting a while to think things over gives me time to be more Arwink-like. By the time I get there, I'm usually too restrained to really hold forth with the deep analysis for fear of hurting someone's feelings. Except in this case. Macbeth wrote a fine piece, and I really enjoyed reading it and thought, well BSF sure has his work cut out for him. And then BSF posted, and any attempt at being disinterested flew out the window. It's a really good thing I'm not judging this round, because this is one of the few stories that have been posted where I absolutely could not make a judgment that wasn't 100% biased. I knew that was a risk when I started doing the illustrations, which is why I refused to judge--when my own work is involved, I'm not fair, and I'm not reasonable. Only, this wasn't about the illustrations. Consciously or not, BSF put together a story that showed me exactly the type of world I had envisioned for my winter Ceramic GM series, before the Fall of Men occurred, which predates my timeline by several thousand years. I knew it like it was a place I had been before, even though I never went there when I was writing the winter stuff. I knew what the rules of that world were the way an archaeologist knows what Ancient Egypt was like. But I had never really been there. BSF breathed life into it so I could walk around in it and see how it felt to be there. It felt exactly right. The rules of gametime were actually part of that experience. In the way that our world's technology controls that there are certain things a cell phone can and cannot do, the rules of game mechanics control that world. There is magic, but it's not completely free of constraints. They are familiar constraints to those of us that D20, and we can take them as given. It may be that the only audience for this set of stories is ENWorld (and related forums). So be it. We're not writing for Asimov's here--we're writing for us. The piece had an acute awareness of its intended audience, which made it very personal. That may limit its universal human truth appeal, but I think it brings us much closer to an intimate and personal human truth. To me, that's more appealing. I also liked the local flavor and culture. Rooting a fantasy story in a particular locale with it's particular weather and cuisine and clothing and philosophy is a great way to avoid the McDonald'sification (run [i]that[/i] through your spellcheck!) of fantasy cultures--you know--the white bread, ren-faire mock medieval european thing we all like as our standard comfort fantasy fare. There's unbelievable richness to human cultures, and even New Jersey is different from Ohio. A world that gives me even a glimpse of the kind of local context that makes a place [i]live[/i] feels good to me. So I'm biased because BSF wrote in a world that I wanted to create in--a world that I would like to game in or write about. (Although not [i]live[/i] in <shudder>) Which is not to say that Macbeth did or didn't go there--only that after reading BSF's story, I got lost in my own thoughts about things for a while. And then I started writing again. So, I'm biased, because something in BSF's story made me want to get back to my world and start working there again. And this little bird is always surprised and delighted and biased and unreasonable when she finds that she has more songs in her than she expected. [size=1](As a final note, though--to both Macbeth and BSF--if whichever of you wins does not take care to have somebody else proofread and [color=darkorange]spellcheck[/color] your round 4 entry before you post it, you are going to get clobbered. Leave yourself time to do the proofing!! In the absence of glaring typos, I see no reason why either of you should not do well in the final. Good luck!!)[/size] [/QUOTE]
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