MEFA awards, plus "Threshold" update.....

[mechtild]

~ ‘The Goblin Market’, by D. G. Rossetti, cropped.


I am taking a break to post tonight because I wanted to publicly thank Ariel ( elasg ) for nominating Threshold for a MEFA award. It’s never been nominated for anything, so I am thrilled and touched.

Big SMOOCHES to you, Ariel! Here it is, in virtual black and white: the MEFA nomination blurb for Threshold, by Mechtild.

MEFA's....

Although I was vaguely familiar with the acronym, I did not actually know what the MEFA awards were. Since Ariel
told me she had nominated my story, I have looked up the site. I see that they sponsor popularly voted awards for stories based on any of Tolkien’s works (not just Hobbits -- imagine!).

Reading the submission rules, I was concerned that Threshold would be too highly-rated to be considered, whether it had been nominated or not. In terms of ratings, the cut-off was "R". (Which was why, I realised, a lot of my favourite fics weren't nominated!) I will not be surprised, therefore, if it is disqualified. I usually have rated Threshold's most explicit chapters “NC-17”. But, from what I read under "Ratings", it might squeak by as a “hard R.”

Here’s what was linked to show further discussion about whether MEFA would consider a submitted story NC-17 or R.

The excerpt below is taken from a discussion by rhapsody_the_bard (full text here):

As for what’s R and what’s NC17, this really is a grey area. I try to use the standard of what would be acceptable in either an R-rated movie or on a television show that you’d see before about midnight....
(…)
[S]ex: Explicit sex scenes are okay, but they should not be graphic. Meaning that the emphasis should be on what the characters are feeling/thinking, and less on what they’re doing. Tasteful and integral to the plot. I’m more willing to allow a sex scene that actually has a point beyond itself because it just feels less pornographic. Rape, child abuse, and “kinky” sex are by their nature more adult; I have no problem with their being discussed and the emotional consequences being dealt with, but portraying the actual sexual act would probably move it into NC17 for me.

The sex in Threshold is what I would call “tastefully done,” and “integral to the plot”. Although the story’s erotica is rather explicit, it is always written to develop the story and characterization. So, perhaps it will be acceptable.

*crosses fingers that it will not be booted out right off the bat for lascivious conduct*

Now!

Because I received this nomination and was inspired to look at the other nominations, I wanted to highlight the noms of people who are on my Friends List. If you look down the MEFA “authors” list, you will see many more names of writers we know and read, but, for the sake of space, I am only listing the writers who are on my list.

From names on my f-list, these are the authors whose stories were listed for MEFA nominations as of this morning....

I have provided links to each author’s MEFA blurb. The blurb lists the nominated stories, along with links to the stories where they can be read.

* * *

First, I want to cite the nominations for the writer who nominated my own story -- Ariel. She's a wonderful tale-teller, many times recognized for the quality of her work. I am HONOURED to have my story singled out by her.

These are elasg's (Ariel's) MEFA nominations for 2006: “Starlight at Eventide”, “Inspirare”, “Passing Regrets”, and “The End of All Things”.

To look at her nomination blurbs and find her stories, click here.

I looked through the MEFA awards archives and saw that Ariel has not gone undecorated. Her previous MEFA awards have been:

~ “Turnabout”: The Thain for the Great Smials Award, 2005 (Races/Places: Hobbits, Post-War of the Ring, First Place)

~ “The Mark of a … Warrior?”: The Legolas and Gimli Award, 2005 (Races/Places: Cross-Cultural Humour, First Place)

~ “Ashes and the Flame”: The Faramir, Son of Denethor Award, 2005 (Genre: Drama [including angst], Fourth Age, Third Place.

~ “A Little Night Music”: The Luthien and Beren Award, 2004, Romance: Hobbits, First Place

~ “The Gift of Iluvatar”: The Two Towers Award, 2004, LotR fanfiction, Second Place

~ “Fear”: The Thain of the Great Smials Award, 2004, Races/Places: Hobbits , Pre-War of the Ring, First Place


* * *


Now I want to post a note for everyone else on my f-list who have stories nominated this year (so far; nominations are not yet closed, I think):

annmarwalk (what a pile!!!):
“Aglarond”; “Benison”; “Elfwine”; “For the Moon to Lead, and the Stars to Follow”; “Heirlooms”; “History Becomes Legend,”; “It’s a Thought”; “A Length of Haradric Silk”; “Lobelia’s List”; “Today”; “Thus Are Legends Born”; “Too Few Words”

Her noms can be seen here.

She also co-wrote a fic with Edorlass that is nominated, “Diplomatic Relations”. Its nom and link can be seen here.

abby_normal's nomination for "Scattered Leaves" (writing as Aratlithiel) can be found here.

abby_normal's “Counterpoint” (writing as Daffodil Bolger) has been honoured, "Scherzo" being singled out. The nomination can be seen here.

belegcuthalion'S (aka Cuthalion) nominations can be seen here. Her nominated stories are “Breath of Winter” “Hands of Healing” “Tinúviel, Tinúviel” and “…And hear the song of salt and sea”.

mariole is represented, too. Look here. The stories nominated have been “An Army of Tooks”, “Bad Step” and “Merry’s Present”:

mews1945 is nominated for “In Frodo’s Hands”, and “Frodo Lad: First Yule”. Look here for her MEFA blurb.

shirebound is represented at MEFA by “Shelter”, “The Three Towers”, “Whispers of the Dragon”, and “Healed”. Look here for her nominated stories.

silvermoonlady is nominated for “Heralded By Storms” and "Cierre, Min Heorte” (‘Turn, My Heart’). See her nominations here.

white_gull has been nominated for “Unspeakable”. See the nomination here.

Note: White Gull, I have seen copies of emails saying you need to respond to this nomination. Just sayin’.


My best wishes to you all! If I have made errors or left out new nominations, please let me know.


~*~


P.S. News on Threshold: Scarlet, the story's lead beta, just sent back Ch. 13 littered with notes and corrections, all extremely helpful. I sent the revision back for her O.K. this morning. She’s still working on Ch. 14. Hopefully, it won’t be too much longer, Frodo/Rosamunda fans. I want to post these two chapters together, since they form a thematic unit....


P.P.S. I have finished creating a new LJ account for posting Threshold, complete with an image at the head of each chapter for mood, and very tasteful text formatting (although I am guessing all the formatting drops out if one is not an LJ user...?). The links between chapters are working, and the chapters are all listed in the side bar on the "Recent Entry" page, but the Main Chapter Listing is not yet in place. If you click the links so labelled, they don't yet work.

If you’d like to take a look at it, you can find the “Recent Entry” page HERE. (I’m keeping a link for it in this journals “Links” list, too.)

~ Mechtild

Comments

[mariole.livejournal.com]

Whahoo!!! Congratulations on "Threshold", sweetie! How fun! *pops open the bubbly*

Listen, if “Counterpoint” got listed, I would think "Threshold" would have no problems in terms of ratings! I do normally think of MEFA as a softer-rated audience, but there's always a place for love. :)

How kind of you to list all the folks on your flist who got noms. That's a lovely resource. Congratulations to everyone who was nommed. This is great fun. Cheers!

[mechtild.livejournal.com]

Thank you, Mariole!

Listen, if “Counterpoint” got listed, I would think "Threshold" would have no problems in terms of ratings."

You are right. Carole outdid me in hotness. Easily. :D But only "Scherzo" from Counterpoint submitted as a nomination, which is the charming 'interfolio' chapter about Pippin that is not highly rated at all.

[mariole.livejournal.com]

Oh, I see. Well, you might want to check with the mods in that case. You have plenty of "suitable" chapters to nominate, so you can warn about the ones to skip. The story itself has a very interesting setup, so you could nominate just the first part if you need to. Good luck!

[mechtild.livejournal.com]

You are a sweetie, Mariole! But I don't think I could pull a chapter that would work. It can work to pull "Scherzo" out of a story like "Counterpoint" because none of the characters needs any introducing. Carole has her own take on each character, but any reader recognizes Pippin, Merry and Frodo.

My story doesn't really get going until a certain degree of exposition is taken care of, to let the reader become acquainted with the original characters. The first chapters have their own leisurely charm, but only for those who find them charming. But the real meat of my story (so far) is also the part that is the most, well, meaty. And they wouldn't work the way they do if the reader hadn't got to know the characters and their situations first. There's an extremely good chapter sandwiched between some erotic-content chapters, which would only be PG-13 or a mild R (for adult themes, no sex scenes at all), but if the reader doesn't know anything about the characters other than Bilbo and Frodo (my OC and one who does practically nothing in canon), it's not as involving.

But thanks for the suggestion; I wish it would work. Annmarwalk noted in her comment that she thinks MEFA would accept Threshold as "R", anyway. She's more familiar with the community than I am (she was one of Threshold's first readers, even though she's pretty much 100% a reader and writer of stories about Men).

[estelanui.livejournal.com]

Congratulation, Mechtild! I'm happy for you.

[mechtild.livejournal.com]

You are gracious, Estelanui. :)

[lame-pegasus.livejournal.com]

Bravo, Mechtild! Threshold certainly deserves it, and I'm very glad for you.

Your list of my nominations made me grin, for I did all the nominating for the MEFA's by myself this year (except for Before I go to sleep, nominated by Ariel and inelligble because she already nominated it last year - bless her!). I don't think that I will win anything, but last year's MEFA's brought me many new readers, and that's a valuable, wonderful thing.

[lame-pegasus.livejournal.com]

Oh - and the link to your Threshold-journal doesn't work. I would like to friend it.

[mechtild.livejournal.com]

Gee! *smites brow* Thanks for noting it! *fixes* I checked all the links but not THAT one.

If you friend it, just note that none of the chapters are yet behind a cut. I was going to do that on chapters after I posted the "Main Chapter Listing," which I will do once I've posted chapters 13 and 14. That's just so you'll know that once you've friended it, the full "Ch. 12, Pt. II" will be scrolling down your f-list browser.

[mechtild.livejournal.com]

Are you sure it can't be nominated? When was it finished? I read the part about WIP's, of course, since that's what Threshold is, and it said that a WIP can be nominated while it is unfinished, and can be nomiinated once more once it has been completed, if it happens before the next eligibility year.

Time flies, I guess. I hadn't realized BIGTS was finished that long ago, I suppose because I have been dragging my feet so much on my own story. Besides, I was late getting to read it. It sure was a gem, though. You know how much people love it, I am sure, especially when they go around doing fanfics based on your fic! (((((Belegcuthalion)))))

[lame-pegasus.livejournal.com]

I finished BIGS when the MEFA's 2005 were still running, and I told them. Had I kept my mouth shut, it would have a second chance this year. *smiles*

[mechtild.livejournal.com]

That's a shame. There are so few "Frodo love epics" out there. Ones that are good are rarer still. It would be good to see it get more recognition.

[just-ann-now.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on your nomination! I'm looking forward to rereading Threshold and providing thoughtful commentary.

As a daily frequent occasional reader of kink smut NC-17 rated erotica, I can emphatically state that Threshold would not fall into that category; but if you have listed it at that rating any place that it is posted, you should probably go back and adjust the rating.

Thank you for your kind words concerning my nominated stories! Most of them are drabbles, so it just looks like a lot. And I did cheat and self-nominate Diplomatic Relations. (I'm in anguish, now, that it won't receive any reviews at all. What if nobody else loves it as much as EL and I do?)

I was reviewing our original correspondence, from August of 2004 -- it's hard to believe I've only been involved in the fandom (my first, and only) for two years. What did I do with my life before this?

[mechtild.livejournal.com]

[Hmmm... That didn't quite work; well, I may as well fix it.]

I was reviewing our original correspondence, from August of 2004 -- it's hard to believe I've only been involved in the fandom (my first, and only) for two years. What did I do with my life before this?

It feels as though we've been living in compressed time, doesn't it?

I look forward to this being a goad to read more of your stuff, Ann. I loved the first one I read, the fic from the POV of the Dwarvish woman who secretly carries the torch for Gimli. Then, other than a few drabbles which I commented on, I've read the Boromir/Haradric youth stories that were so wonderful. To read your B/T, I read the GORGEOUS short fics you directed me to by Scribendi, but then I went back to work on my fic and never did anymore fanfic reading. These links will be sitting there in my post saying, "read me! Read me!"

As for the ratings, thanks for the tip. I'll check. I believe I have been rating it using another system which I thought better:

E -- Explicit: "He jammed his cock inside his/her ass/slit, his balls tight and ready, ready to spurt".
A -- Adult: "He thrust his heated length inside him/her, drawn up tight, ready for his release".
M -- Mature: "He took him/her and soon was ready for his consummation".
U -- Universal: "They became lovers".

I found myself solidly in the "A" category when I wasn't "M".

It's somewhat unfair, but the distinction between E and A seems to have more to do with language choice than the detail of the description.

[just-ann-now.livejournal.com]

*finally responding to comment I could only peek at at work, then hastily delete, laughing*

Your rating system is right on the mark! It's all in the choice of words.

I'm sure my men of Gondor and Rohan will be happy to have a bit of a rest while I'm visiting with Frodo and Rosamunda.

[mechtild.livejournal.com]

What? That was funny? I was being so serious! ;)

So! The Men of Gondor will not be shakin' their big, bodacious thangs gettin' the good stuff down there on the lower level (really low) of M.T.?

(Love that icon!)

Boromir, lighting up a pipe of the Shire's best: "Damn, it's been months! But you're still the best. Must be all that Mearas-ridin'. So, Theo, you been gettin' any?"

Theodred: "Well, I been puttin' the blocks to a little squire from the Westmark, but he's wantin' to get a few acres and run himself some horses. I just can't see myself coolin' my heels that-a-way. So I cut loose and come back to Edoras. I can't be happy in no peacetime set-up."

Boromir: "That's mighty good to hear, Theo. I ain't no good in peacetime, neither. I like a good wrangle."

*scene deteriorates from M to E rating*

[shirebound]

Thank you, sweet one, and congratulations!!!

:D

[mechtild.livejournal.com]

My pleasure, Shirebound!

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

thank you, my dear, and congratulations on Threshhold's nomination.

[mechtild.livejournal.com]

You are welcome, Mews. :)

[taerie.livejournal.com]

Still working on my re-read and enjoying it again! I did skip over the chapters to have a look at the pictures. I thought they were all wonderful and well chosen. ( Many of them are heartbreakingly sweet.)
I never heard of MEFA before.. ( You know how out of touch I am habitually..) But congratulations! It sounds like if they do disqualify it for those reasons then it wouldn't be fair. Your story is hot as a two dollar pistol but not pornographic.. at least in my book. I hope very much that you win. I am certain your writing deserves it! I'm surprised that if they have prizes for fanfic that you haven't won something big before this. **Gets a pepsi and goes back to reading.**

[mechtild.livejournal.com]

Thank you, Taerie. *smooch* I had such pleasure shopping Google images and the art galleries for good "illustrations". I have loads saved for future chapters.

I had not heard of MEFA except vaguely, either. I knew it was some sort of award-giving body from having looked at the fic webpages for authors who had won them. "First Place, MEFA, 2005, hobbits/angst"; "Mithril Award, 2004, humour"; "Flame of Honour, Second Place, Romance"; "GMA - I'm Coming Too Award, 2005" - stuff like that. From cruising for stories at WotM, a site for only hobbit fics, I learned what GMA's were (Golden Mushroom Awards). Since I only read hobbit stories, really, I didn't bother hanging out at the sites that host stories based on the whole Tolkien canon. But I have learned about them since then.

I don't think the story will win anything, Taerie, but I'm happy to have been nominated by a writer I respect. The stories win by popular vote and I really can't imagine there being any rush to read it.

As for the rating thing, Annmarwalk, above (who is familiar with the MEFA's) said not to worry; Threshold would not be counted NC-17 there.

[just-ann-now.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I'm not an admin, though I was an author liaison last year and privy to any number of discussions on any number of topics. I was basing my comment and assessment on other (extremely naughty) fanfic I have read. Sorry!

[silvermoonlady.livejournal.com]

*feels humble and shiny to be in such fine company*

I've friended the fic-journal:)

*mad wuggles*

[mechtild.livejournal.com]

You did? Thank you. I haven't put anything behind a cut yet, or posted the "Main Chapter Listing," so don't bother clicking those links at the ends of chapters. When I post the Main Chapter Listing," those links will work,and I'll make a little announcement.

SilverMoonLady, I hope things are still manageable. I was reading about retirement opportunities (places to live) by Asheville, NC, by the way. Sounded goooooood.

[silvermoonlady.livejournal.com]

Shall wait for the announcement:)

Yes, things are chugging along here; I'm going to update my journal on the subject sometime today:) Yes, Asheville/Greensboro seems like a pretty neat area... :)

[mechtild.livejournal.com]

How far will you be from the mountains or foothills - or are you more towards the ocean?

[igraine1419.livejournal.com]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

I'm really thrilled for you! Very well deserved.

*HAPPY HUGS* :D

[mechtild.livejournal.com]

Thank you, Igraine!

Now, nothing is going to come of that nomination, but I do feel honoured. How could I not announce it!

When I do post my new chapters (still at the beta's, alas -- she's terribly busy with a renovating project at the moment), I will give you a heads up. You can come and repeat the nice things you said about the previous chapters, anyway. Cheer me on and all that.

Heavens! Ten months since the last chapter was posted! Really, Igraine, I worried that I would never post again, I was getting a little anxious and despairing over not being able to finish. I feel quite hopeful now, even if it still will take an age.

[pearlette.livejournal.com]

Congrats, Mechtildy! :)

I've bookmarked Threshold on LJ. Really like the illustrations.

Goodness, but Frodo/Rosa is just so HOT. :)

See, *points to icon*, it's got Faramir and Eowyn all fired up and raring to go. Can't keep their hands off each other!

[mechtild.livejournal.com]

Ah, those two Humans. Who'd guess they'd spend their honeymoon poring over copies of Threshold.

Eowyn, shyly: "You say you used to read it, but picturing us, instead?"

Faramir: "That's right, my little Rohirric wildflower, especially in Ch. 11."

Eowyn: "Ch. 11?"

Faramir: "Ahem. Yes ... the ... erm ... part before the fire, when she ... erm ..."

Eowyn: "I shall tell you what, my sweet steward-now-prince, we shall be writing our own chapters..."

P.S. I'm so glad you like the illos. Except for a few that were already faves, I spent for ever choosing them, but having such fun doing it.

[este-tangletoes.livejournal.com]

Joins the merry throng in congratulating you on your well deserved nomination.

I’ve had a shufti at your new LJ account and I love the way you have chosen to illustrate each chapter with appropriate art. I look forward to reading the new chapters.

Note:
shufti
n : a quick look around (originally military slang); "take a shufti while you're out there"

[mechtild.livejournal.com]

Note:
shufti
n : a quick look around (originally military slang); "take a shufti while you're out there"

I was just going to ask you that!

Thanks for the support, Este. Not just now, but after all this time. *sniffle*