The Black WebLog Awards for 2007 were announced back in September. Much to their credit they had a category for Best Fictional Blog. Much to my chagrin the judges pick for the winner isn't really a fictional blog. It's a serialized fiction published on a blog. Don't get me wrong. It's an entertaining story and it has a solid following, but it's not really a fictional blog.
The story is written as a novel. The only online device used by the author is that in between each post some time passes. The author also participates in the comments as the author and not as the character.
Here's the criteria they used for the category:
This category is for blogs which have over 90% fictional content (as determined by post number). Mainly, these are blogs which are about fictional characters and must be stated as such somewhere on the blog. Think of it as a soap opera or a book, but in blog form.Based on this the only requirement really is a blog that has fictional content. If that's the only requirement then the winner does meet those requirements. I just disagree on the definition of a fictional blog. The problem is somehow differentiating between a real blog fiction and a blog that just has fictional content.
My usage is that fictional blog is an actual blog written like a blog that either tells a fictional story or is written by a fictional person. A Fiction Blog is a blog about or containing fiction. Just like a Business Blog is a blog about business. Or how a Humor Blog contains humorous content. That'll be my usage of the words and the ones that make the most grammatical sense to me.
4 comments:
hello. well as the winner if best fictional blog, i feel the need to comment.
i actually agree with you to a certain extent. when i first heard the term 'fictional blog', i thought it had to be either from a fictional character's perspective or about a fictional story. i emailed the necessary people and asked this very question. yes, my blog is fiction, but it is not necessarily written in blog form. my answer was that this is exactly what they meant. a story, or book, on a blog. which to me is exactly what yanni's block is, which is a story i enjoy a lot.
i was happy to win even though i think the term 'best fiction' blog would have been better.
who knows...anyhoo. hope all is well.
Thanks for stopping by and congrats on being the winner.
I'm glad you didn't take offence to my post. You do have a fun story and characters, just not what I'd call a "fictional blog".
Most pedantic post ever? I write a business blog and I have also recently started writing what you could call a fictional blog, (in that its written as from the point of view of a fictional person). I can see your point of view that there is fundamentally something different in approach to writing a blog as a fictional person and just using the blog as a publishing platform. BUT, the difference is more like the difference between method acting and just acting. One is slightly more immersive than the other but at the end of the day you have an actor performing.
The winner of the category wrote fiction: he took a blank piece of paper and using his (her?) brain turned it into a character and a story which didn't exist. Does it really matter than he/she answered comments as him/herself?
Personally I think it doesn't matter a whit. Congrat's to the winner.
@Neil
>>the difference is more like the difference between method acting and just acting
I disagree. I think it is the difference between live stage theatre, and showing a movie in a stage theatre. That is a big difference. No one would suggest that it is the same thing because both are seen on stage and have actors. The movie might be using the stage, but no one would suggest that it is just like a live show.
In blog fiction, The blog is the stage. A person creating a blog fiction is like live theatre. The person takes on a persona and sometimes must improvise. A person using it merely as a publishing platform is writing fiction, but it is a big difference from blog fiction, or a "fictional blog".
None of this is to say that the winner didn't have a great story. It also doesn't make her work and less relevant, but it DOES mean that it is not a fictional blog.
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