Classifying blooks

Although I'm evidently at risk of getting brutally punched in the face for it, I'm going to talk a bit about blooks--specifically, how they are being classified. The Blooker gets awarded in three broad categories (fiction, non-fiction, and webcomics...but you all know that by now, right?), but the line that separates them is often fuzzy at best. For all you blauthors out there (I wonder if I'll get for that? A kick to the neck?) who have memoirs with fictionalized parts, stories based loosely on actual events, or even fiction based on a webcomic, I suggest you use your best judgment as to which Blooker category you submit your blook to. If the review committee feels that a particular blook should be considered for a category other than the one listed in the entry form, it will. (The entry will not be disqualified.)

Obviously, categorization isn't an exact science, and there are always going to be alternative schemes. In an article on the growing phenomenon of blooks, SpokesmanReview.com recently defined four primary categories (with examples) into which most blooks can be can be placed.

1. "High-concept nonfiction derived from quirky, humerus sites" (Julie & Julia by Julie Powell)
2. "Political broadsides" (How Would a Patriot Act? and Bush Agonistes, both by Glenn Greenwald)
3. "Novels inspired by blogs" (Anonymous Lawyer by Jeremy Blachman, Dog Days by Ana Marie Cox--the original Wonkette)
4. "Memoirs based on blogs" (Belle de Jour: The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl, Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog From Iraq by Riverbend, Abandoned: The True Story of Girl Who Didn't Belong by Anya Peters, New York Hack, and Waiter Rant)

It's good to see two of last year's entries included, as well as two that have been already been entered (but not yet submitted) for this year. Hopefully, we'll see all the rest of the blooks on this list (and a whole lot more) in the contest by January 15!

I know that all of this pigeonholing is merely an academic exercise, but I would also add at least two more major categories to the above list: novels serialized in blogs (Hackoff.com, Four and Twenty Blackbirds, Gus Openshaw's Whale-killing Journal--just to name a few), and books based on webcomics. Also, it is not entirely clear to me the difference between categories 1 and 4, but I suppose there's not much I can do but sit back, jaw clenched, and wait for the flurry of punches that are surely racing across the Atlantic at this very moment to deal out righteous judgment.

Comments

[Wanderingscribe]

Thanks for the mention.

Every bit of publicity helps the cause.

Great Big huggy hugsssss.......

ws