Have any of you ever wondered what goes into the Fan Words publication process? I mean, in that last thing I wrote I explained how Fan Words worked in general, true, but I didn't really go in-depth about the actual selection (screening?) process.
So, if anyone's interested, I'll give you an idea of how the submission process for Fan Words generally goes . . .
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First, the author submits the work for us:
"So what have you got for us today?" one of us will ask.
"Today I'm writing an essay on why Inuyasha should choose Kagome over Kikyo," this example author then tells us. Now sometimes by this point the one guy (I won't name names) on the far end sometimes rolls his eyes, but we try to ignore him; someone else then gives the go ahead for this writer.
"The question often comes up," this writer beings, "who should Inuyasha choose? The priestess he first fell in love with all those years ago, or the reincarnation of that very same priestess?" So we listen quietly... "I feel that what's most important is to remember that Kikyo almost literally has no soul. If Kagome is Kikyo's reincarnation, then by definition they are of the same soul, and that soul is currently in Kagome's body." Though she keeps her exclamations aside, we can all tell she's definitely starting to put a little more emphasis into her words...
Generally we quietly motion for the author to hurry up and finish up once we're in about a minute or so; usually, the authors submitting their writing listen. Usually, anyway. Luckily for this example, she did.
"...of course, I'm just one person. Who should Inuyasha choose? I've given you the facts... I leave that choice to you."
Well, we'll start cheering, clapping... two of us, anyway. The one guy on the end usually stays pretty poker-faced that this point. The author herself looks fairly happy, still a little nervous, but that's generally expected.
"Well, tell you what, dog..." will say the first of us, "I'll say right off the bat that you took a chance. I mean, a lot of people have come in with this essay and we've heard it a lot." The author'll usually nod along. "Now all in all I thought it was pretty good. It was a little pitchy in the middle, but you cleaned up most of that by the end. Still, I just don't know if this was the right essay choice for you today, dog."
The author usually takes that one in stride, still nodding, still listening attentively. Then the next one of us chimes in.
"...I really like you..." she says with a big warm smile. "You look fabulous, you have a good personality for this kind of writing and I loved what you did earlier before this piece... but this time, I'm just not feeling it, honey."
Usually by this point if the author (like this one) finds herself in this position she's kind of accepting her fate, so all she can really do is bite the bullet and take the last lash from that one guy on the end.
"You are an incredibly mediocre writer," he'll say flat out. Of course after that the other two'll jump in trying to ease the serious tone of the words, but he'll ignore them for the most part. "You're not a bad writer per se," he'll continue, "but your work is just very average. We've all heard this debate before, you've argued the same argument as a hundred others before you... this essay was just absolutely forgettable."
There'll be some more murmurs from our end after that bomb, the writer'll still smile but cringe a little inside...
"So it's a no?" the first'll say.
"No," says the one on the end.
"Sorry sweetie," says the one in the middle, "keep trying..."
"Maybe next year, dog," says the first one.
Author'll then say thank you and head back towards her World while we click the "keep as private" button.
Once she gets back to her World, another of us'll greet her.
"So how did it go in there?" he'll ask.
"Ahh, no dice this time," our author'll say as her subscribers come around and comfort her. "But still, ya know, it's not over yet... and I'll be back again..." Of course, they're not always so chill about it. But this one was, so I was relieved.
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So yeah. That's how Fan Word submissions go. Kinda.
Sorta.
