Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Round 1 PvP Results

So, a little more than half chose the correct answer from yesterday's match, which was The Lark and the Wren (Bardic Voices: Book 1) by Mercedes Lackey.... and was Entry #2.

Now, as Anita Saxena commented last week, we can't really draw full-bodied conclusions by comparing two short snippets, but hopefully we can at least see that the difference in writing quality between pubbles and plebes might not be as discrepant as some might believe (or at least in this case). Let's go picket Random House just for fun :).

Now, since this is an experiment and our first run at it, we'd like to get feedback to improve our process. Any suggestions for improvement (e.g., expanding to 500 words, which would be roughly 2 pages worth) are greatly appreciated. Or, if you think this totally sux, we'd like to know that, too.

Also, we've got a couple more volunteers lined up, but the more the merrier. If you're interested, please email us at BaneOfAnubis@gmail.com

And, finally, many thanks to our first test subject for submitting his/her piece for comparison.


Small Print PS: regarding punctuation, please keep in mind that some transcription errors may occur (which we, of course, will try to spot, but once we go to post, we'll leave a piece as is) and, as a couple of people mentioned, punctuation usage varies among authors (heaven knows I wanted to put several more commas in The Hunger Games).

7 comments:

L. T. Host said...

This was really interesting. I'm curious to see what everyone else thinks of it!

Stephanie Thornton said...

This was definitely interesting. I can't wait to see more!

Susan Kaye Quinn said...

Punctuation varys with authors, but ALSO with publishers! Different Houses have different takes on what is "acceptable" house style.

Kudos to the volunteers for this experiment! Considering how few books get published by the mainstream press, I think it's rather silly to think those are the ONLY good books out there. There is so often a wild factor involved in what gets published, including having the "right" story at the "right" time.

Susan Kaye Quinn said...

Ugh. "varies" not "varys" <--that sounds like some kind of disease! :)

Joshua McCune said...

Varys -- a very interesting character in George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series.

Anita Saxena said...

Despite having qualms about this experiment at the get go, I must admit that this experiment has intrigued my writerly mind and I look forward to further research in the pub verses plebe area.

On a side note, I have thought of a second implication of said experiment. Yes, picketing outside Random House with our findings is one, but what about the psychological implications of the results on said pubbles or plebes.

Scenario #1
If I was the pubble author and people voted that I was the plebe...well...that would seriously damage my published self esteem and perhaps create writer block. I'd lose my publishing contract. My non existent children would starve and I'd lose my home.

Scenario #2
If I was the plebe and people voted me as the plebe. Well, then my manuscript must be rubbish. I'll never make it in this dog eat paper publishing world. I give up on writing. Boo.

"When you see something that is technically sweet, you go ahead and do it and you argue about what to do about it only after you have had your technical success. That is the way it was with the atomic bomb"- J. Robert Oppenheimer

I think somebody must have spiked my tea this afternoon. Sorry for the long comment. =)

Joshua McCune said...

Anita, yes, hopefully this will not damage the psyche of anybody out there... (and I like long comments and quotes. Keep up the strong work :)