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Reply Subj: I might follow that lead if I have the time. Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2012 at 10:33:02 am EST (Viewed 918 times) | |||||||
Quote: If you do write it, I'll try to follow the lead if I have time, It's the least I can do - maybe the sudden increased volume of material will draw some people in. Maybe. I'm unlikely to write it any time soon. I've just finished a piece of work for Moonstone and I think I want to do something other than write for a while. Maybe proofread some things I've been meaning to polish? Quote: Quote: I've held for a long time that a shared community of this kind needs at least eight active posters who'll read and respond to everything. Without that feedback the unique selling points of such a place are lost. We've been below that number for quite some time and the momemuntum can't carry on forever.Quote: That viewpoint might have to change anyway, since these days unless a message board had a specialized purpose (such as for a specific game, or tech support) you're extremely lucky if you have 8 regulars. Each board at Comicboards has maybe 2 or 3.For a creative content website I think eight or ten is the minimum if it's to have something engaging and new on there every time folks log on. Otherwise daily habit becomes infrequent then nonexistent. Quote: Quote: I don't think you should feel to blame. People's lives change and they move on. Internet posting is a young man's game, or at least a single man's game. Many writers founder in their calling when they're overwhelmed with the more urgent demands of work and family. Communities like the PVB have their time and then folks move on.Quote: I don't know - I think there was a time when people get married and/or a job and give up the internet in exchange, but I don't think this is that time. Instead, I think we're losing to an exchange of time. Facebook and social networks like it are drawing more attention because of the promise of *daily* and centralized entertainment (most of the time here there's nothing to do), and because a lot of people have narcissistic tendencies. They can write something on Facebook or Blogger, and say this is *my* place and *my* audience, and I don't have to share it with anyone. And if people want to see my writing talent, they will have to come here and "friend" me so I can see exactly how many people read my stuff. I'm not very social so I don't do social media. My publishers keep encouraging me to go on Facebook or whatever to help sell my products, but frankly I prefer to keep my social life seperate from selling things - and private. Quote: I admit it's tempting as a writer, but I personally don't like it as much because the noise-to-signal ratio is high. You post a good story, and nobody cares because a distant relative got a promotion today, or one of your friends started a hotbutton political discussion.I write to relax and because I like telling stories. Other people reading and liking them is jam on top, but that's not my motivation to write. The interactivity of the PVB suits me well because there's a degree of creative collaboration. I don't need fans or followers. Quote: I think people know about the noise-to-signal thing, but don't care because if they have to struggle for attention, they believe it's better to struggle on their own territory. How many people have you seen posting here, or at other message boards, with nothing more than "I posted at my blog/facebook, come read it"?I admit that, creature of habit that I am, I rarely follow such links. That said, I do on occasion offer links to my writing offsite when I think there might be a later issue where a publisher asks that I remove that work from the internet prior to a commercial publication. Quote: Alao, ironically, I believe eventually Facebook will get greedy and either start premium subscriptions like Linkedin, and nag you all the time, or they'll use some obnoxious and invasive ads, and then we might see a slight resurgence in message boards. Maybe not this one, but some.The free-to-public model will always be challenged and threatened. Quote: Quote: That said, there's clearly a lot of affection for the old place from some alumni, and even a vague intention from some to return some day. I don't think it's time to sell up and walk away unless the costs of maintainance become prohibitive in time or cash. I'm always pleased to review whatever collaborators here present, however intermittently that might be. This site is still my homepage.Quote: It's hosted in the same space as Powermad Software, Eek! Studio, and a few others, so the cost of maintenance is incrementally small. The software I designed is a little out of date now, but proves to be strong and resilient, and doesn't really need maintenance.Jolly good. Quote: Quote: Regarding your work, I think you're right to shift the focus away from characters whose posters no longer have an active stake in shared stories, towards a Jason-verse of your own. Your natural tendencies to introduce shocking turnarounds and sudden changes is best suited to an environment and characters you can fully control. No-one can justifiably accuse you of abusing characters that you have created (except in a narrative sense, where they can be abused as dramatically as possible). I think your stories and style have matured; too much Parodyverse pandering would now water them down and weaken them.Quote: During the long absence of an "offical" path for the PV, I have actually been tempted to restructure the entire Lair Legion and secondary cast, several times, in order to accomodate people who have left and didn't want their names or characters to be used. I didn't complete it because it would have involved adding a lot of characters that need a back-story, and I never got that far. You have seen bits and pieces in alternate stories or similar. Quote: Here was one such crazy idea: Quote: The Lair Legion collapses because Hatman retires, Donar returns home, and CrazySugarFreakBoy has disappeared without explanation (and of course the Librarian is dead). The newer members are heartbroken that it's having to shut down, but they don't really want to give up. Unfortunately, none of them have either the funding nor the skill to take over. Yuki Shiro refuses the leadership role because she's angry about the collapse. Sir Mumphrey provides some counsel, but his age is catching up with him, and his mind is starting to go.Quote: Vinnie and Liu Xi prove themselves to be heroes here. They organize a new group that basically have an intervention at the Psychic Samurai's home and ask her to take over the leadership. They need someone who can find funding, and who is charismatic enough to argue with the authorities, etc.Quote: The new members would have been a strange group, too. A new alien member who's Shen Rae's sister and came just for the purpose of joining; an android similar to Anna, but this time designed specifically for the Lair Legion by Dr. Lia Anne Paul; Vinne and Liu Xi, Visionary, and Yuki as senior members; the entire cast of Juniors as full-time members; Dark Thugos, who lost both his cosmic office and his planet to revolution and democracy; Faite, who is still underage but provides cosmic direction for the team; and Samantha Wilton, who is also underage, but now the Keeper of the Chronometer, and already one of the world's greatest detectives. Lara Night joins the team as a part-time member, still trying to hold back from dedicating herself.Quote: I can turn that into a full writeup if you want. It's short a few more male characters I'd have to develop from scratch though, which is what I meant above about needing some new ones.I suspect that there are limits to what can credibly be done with PVB continuity without a PVB poster consensus. My general view has been to leave things pretty much status quo so as not to close the door on some currently absent friends. Any developments have been around characters I've created or whose creators have ceded me responsibility to develop. I'd be reluctant to sideline Hatman, or CSFB!, or Donar or whomever in any kind of permanent way. My experience of LL line-up changes are that they are always controversial, even when posters are no longer active on the board. One mechanism I did consider to accomodate change was a Hooded Hood storyline wherein he "divided" the PVB as part of his longer-term goals. One morning the world wakes up to find that 4/5th of its heroes are just gone. But in each of five worlds its a different fifth. Hence in one reality the Juniors find that they're now the Seniors; in another only the villains remain and some might have to reform to hold the line. In another, a few desperate heroes have to form a last defence against anarchy. And so on. That's a shortish-term opportunity for various very different scanarios to be played out without upsetting the current status that allows a possible eventual remerge where everyone gets to exchange experiences. But I'm loath to establish even this much of a change, being wary of both the time it would take me to pen and the difficulties it might create for posters simply wanting to dip back into a familiar old environment. | |||||||
