1. Writing in short story or episode form is an ideal way to hone your writing abilities. It allows you to use a whole range of styles, locations, dialogue patterns, plot structures, and raw ideas at different times. 2. Writing for an online audience that offers some level of response is a good way of gauging how close you’re coming to your intentions in writing. It’s not just whether people liked the story, it’s whether they understood it, whether you communicated your ideas, whether you conveyed the mood. It’s a useful writing barometer. 3. Writing in an interactive forum sparks your ideas in ways that solo writing doesn’t. Sometimes other people’s work inspires you to add something to the canon. Sometimes something you don’t feel is quite right in other people’s work prompts you to write something that helps get the context straight. Sometimes your work inspires others to write, which is usually a pleasant added dividend for your efforts. 4. Writing in an established shared continuity allows for you to get to the core of what you want to accomplish in your story without having to wade through lots of setup. You don’t need to spend five pages setting up a top-secret spy agency or a tough police commissioner. The shorthand is already there, and you can concentrate on the key thing you wanted to convey. 5. Your long-term works may be of greater and deeper significance and quality but they are long-term projects with long-term payoffs. Most writers are encouraged by a little bit of reader support, and short episodic offerings garner short but welcome feedback to keep you going for the long haul. 6. The Parodyverse is also an online community where posters interact with each other. Adding story content helps lubricate the social wheels, gives starting topics for conversation, and strengthens the raison d’etre that keeps pulling most contributors back. 7. Regular writing is an essential discipline for those who want to become good writers, and especially for those who aspire to be professional writers. Regular posting on the Parodyverse board is one way of ensuring you keep up that regimen – it’s kind of like Weight Watchers but for writers. 8. Being able to write a set piece on a set subject is also a useful writer’s discipline. Otherwise one just sits moodily in front of a blank word processor waiting for inspiration to strike. The Parodyverse is very good at provoking set subjects, through tie-ins, round robins, theme weeks, and so on. What use is your genius if you can’t harness it to write a short story about a particular situation when you need to? 9. There’s a critical mass above which the Parodyverse board works and below which it doesn’t. Posters need reasons to look in regularly to read and reply. If the board isn’t fed with quality stories then there’s a downward spiral with fewer replies because there are fewer folks looking in, which in turn discourages new stories. If you value the Parodyverse, feed it every now and then. 10. If you do not write, Dancer will Hunt You Down you will tend to feel disengaged with the board, and that’s another spiral that leads to feeling distanced and excluded. We want you to be part of the team. Replying is the minimum membership fee, but writing is what scores the goals.

At one point there were over twenty stories on the front page of the board this week, written by ten different authors. I'm willing to bet the highest number of replies was eight.

I admit, I don't often stop to examine the benefits involved in writing for the board... I mostly do it for the interaction. But I think there is no doubt that every writer who has participated regularly has improved their technique. Admittedly, things don't always progress in a direction that we intend... (I'd rather my comedy writing had improved, but I mostly feel like I've eventually run out of jokes.) I would say, however, that my abilities to handle a narrative overall have advanced, making the stories I do write a little meatier as a result.

I definitely agree that it's important to add to the universe we've created here from a social standpoint... Just as we can have discussions branching off from whatever Marvel is doing, or any other pop-culture property, a great deal of the non-story interaction here revolves around the Parodyverse properties. More to the point, it's not just impotent reaction... we are able to jump in and deal with the issues that we discuss. That's rather cathartic, really.

It strikes me as such a hobbling of the whole experience... If you don't read and reply, your missing out on the context and interaction of the place, and if you don't write, you're missing out on the creation and the opportunities to start the conversations that the rest of the board is having.

I admit, I'm a bit flattered by the idea of lurkers who are happy enough to have the stories to secretly read alone to entertain them, but I think any would have much more fun participating fully.

> > 1. Writing in short story or episode form is an ideal way to hone your writing abilities. It allows you to use a whole range of styles, locations, dialogue patterns, plot structures, and raw ideas at different times. > > > > 2. Writing for an online audience that offers some level of response is a good way of gauging how close you’re coming to your intentions in writing. It’s not just whether people liked the story, it’s whether they understood it, whether you communicated your ideas, whether you conveyed the mood. It’s a useful writing barometer. > > > > 3. Writing in an interactive forum sparks your ideas in ways that solo writing doesn’t. Sometimes other people’s work inspires you to add something to the canon. Sometimes something you don’t feel is quite right in other people’s work prompts you to write something that helps get the context straight. Sometimes your work inspires others to write, which is usually a pleasant added dividend for your efforts. > > > > 4. Writing in an established shared continuity allows for you to get to the core of what you want to accomplish in your story without having to wade through lots of setup. You don’t need to spend five pages setting up a top-secret spy agency or a tough police commissioner. The shorthand is already there, and you can concentrate on the key thing you wanted to convey. > > > > 5. Your long-term works may be of greater and deeper significance and quality but they are long-term projects with long-term payoffs. Most writers are encouraged by a little bit of reader support, and short episodic offerings garner short but welcome feedback to keep you going for the long haul. > > > > 6. The Parodyverse is also an online community where posters interact with each other. Adding story content helps lubricate the social wheels, gives starting topics for conversation, and strengthens the raison d’etre that keeps pulling most contributors back. > > > > 7. Regular writing is an essential discipline for those who want to become good writers, and especially for those who aspire to be professional writers. Regular posting on the Parodyverse board is one way of ensuring you keep up that regimen – it’s kind of like Weight Watchers but for writers. > > > > 8. Being able to write a set piece on a set subject is also a useful writer’s discipline. Otherwise one just sits moodily in front of a blank word processor waiting for inspiration to strike. The Parodyverse is very good at provoking set subjects, through tie-ins, round robins, theme weeks, and so on. What use is your genius if you can’t harness it to write a short story about a particular situation when you need to? > > > > 9. There’s a critical mass above which the Parodyverse board works and below which it doesn’t. Posters need reasons to look in regularly to read and reply. If the board isn’t fed with quality stories then there’s a downward spiral with fewer replies because there are fewer folks looking in, which in turn discourages new stories. If you value the Parodyverse, feed it every now and then. > > > > 10. If you do not write, Dancer will Hunt You Down you will tend to feel disengaged with the board, and that’s another spiral that leads to feeling distanced and excluded. We want you to be part of the team. Replying is the minimum membership fee, but writing is what scores the goals. > >

My knee is only deep when I'm in the pool or it snows.

Your = possession
you're = you are

I think you meant "You're knee deep IN Messenger's novel" instead of "Your knee deep is Messenger's novel".

Just a thought.

I'm writing a book, but make no mistake about it. I'm doing it because I've never attempted it before and I think I can, not because I think it will be published. In fact I'd be very surprised if it was. If not, oh well... some people missed out on a great story and I know I accomplished something I'm very proud of. When I wrote Messenger stories they hardly raked in the replies even under the busiest of times (7 replies was a good number for me). This bothered me in the beginning, but as time passed and I became more comfortable with my writing it didn't really, because I was just loving writing the character.

I don't think what you said is fair to L!. And I don't think what L! said is fair to AG. People should reply because hey, here's something they want to read and enjoy... not out of a sense of duty. Not because someone is giving them a guilt trip. It takes away a lot of the pleasure. I saw your post on the top of the board about only 7 replies to your latest story. (And like I said that was a good number for me) You should ask yourself whether you're writing PVB stories because you sincerely enjoy it or if its just for the immediate satisfaction and affirmation from someone complimenting you.

Apologies for the rant.

I think writing for the PV is different than writing just for yourself, if only because the Parodyverse is a shared universe with a shared continuity and characters. The social experience is a large part of this board, and I think it fair to say that some of us only write because we enjoy the interaction it generates here. I am one of those writers; I haven't written anything not for the PV in a long time, and if people weren't reading and replying quite honestly I wouldn't be writing.

I don't think there's anything wrong with writing for the PV and expecting a reply, as again this board is also a social experience. If we were writing strictly for ourselves then why would we post here?

If there were only 5 posters on this board and the other 4 replied to every story, then I don't think anyone would complain. It's not the fact that only 4 people replied; it's the percentage of readers that replied.

If you're writing stories to share with your friends, wouldn't you want your friends to say they read it?

I don't want to get into any comments made, I just wanted to try and explain where the frustration some members of the board feel about participation is coming from.

~Hat~

Not everyone feels the same way you do, nor should they. I certainly don't.

Ian called out L for the hypocrisy of his statement, and as he is one of the very few people on this board who responds to everyone, whether they're posting stories or just shooting the breeze, he's earned that right.


> I'm writing a book, but make no mistake about it. I'm doing it because I've never attempted it before and I think I can, not because I think it will be published. In fact I'd be very surprised if it was. If not, oh well... some people missed out on a great story and I know I accomplished something I'm very proud of. When I wrote Messenger stories they hardly raked in the replies even under the busiest of times (7 replies was a good number for me). This bothered me in the beginning, but as time passed and I became more comfortable with my writing it didn't really, because I was just loving writing the character.

True enough. But I never understood that about some writers, who prefer the end-result to the actual process and craft itself. It seems to defeat the whole purpose of writing.


There's a board heirarchy where some have earned the "right" to do that? I thought this was just a group of friendly writers who in between interacting, having fun and writing treated eachother as equals and peers.

Forget I said anything. I just think it hurts the mood of this place when people are constantly complaining about replies. It does drive some posters away. I know a few of them.

People aren't trying to be assholes by not replying to your work (and I don't mean you, Hat, I mean in general) . Some are very busy. Some have jobs, families, college, grad school, serious health problems or sick family members. Guilt trips don't always make them feel like sticking around and reading and replying, but rather some just leave.

I post here for the community. I'm not interested in honing my craft.



I pointed out that the man practices what he preaches. But honestly, yeah there is an unofficial hierarchy here, people who put more effort into keeping this place moving.

Also, if Ian was so wrong to call L out, why were you right to lecture him about it?

No, you have valid points as well. I just hope we can all discuss this without it turning into a big argument. That's the only reason I opened my big mouth.


To clarify, it's not the people who aren't here at all that some people are upset with, it's when people read regularly yet don't reply that some people get irked. A "Good Job *n/t*" doesn't take too long if you've already spent the time reading is the general viewpoint I think.

~Hat~

I'll match every story of people "driven away" because of expectations about them actually responding in a shared community with another of someone who gave up posting for lack of encouragement or a feeling that they weren't part of "the in-crowd who get replies".

Why else would anybody bother to write about a rather bizarre group of mostly derivative characters in a micro-genre such as the Parodyverse except for the fun of interacting with others?

In fact, the few times I've posted "serious" non-Parodyverse works here they've had consistently less response. People tend to go elsewhere to do their general fiction reading. They come here because they like the setting and know the characters, and because they like interaction with the posters - at leas that's my assumption.

> I don't think what you said is fair to L!. And I don't think what L! said is fair to AG. People should reply because hey, here's something they want to read and enjoy... not out of a sense of duty. Not because someone is giving them a guilt trip. It takes away a lot of the pleasure.

What pleasure is there in being part of a community of writers and not contributing? And how can such a community endure without that feedback?

I saw your post on the top of the board about only 7 replies to your latest story. (And like I said that was a good number for me) You should ask yourself whether you're writing PVB stories because you sincerely enjoy it or if its just for the immediate satisfaction and affirmation from someone complimenting you.

Well, perhaps I'm so selfish and fragile-egoed that I require the validation of a small number of regular correspondents to tell me that what I've written was of some value. Or perhaps I just expect the same courtesy that I give to others here if they have put time and effort into creating and sharing something, and find that feedback and discussion are part of the experience of posting.

I'm at least as busy as most people here. I have a demanding job, a two hour daily commute, a family, voluntary activities, public speaking engagements, board memberships and plenty of other things. Somehow I manage to find time to type a line of response to everything I find time to read.

But that also means I have to select carefully how I use my limited free time. And I have to be honest with other board participants when I'm not feeling happy about things. The alternative would be just to stop posting and find other ways of satisfying my writing bug, and then people would feel I'd been unfair in making such a decision without mentioning my concern.

I have a very clear idea by now of what levels of board activity are sufficient to retain my interest, in terms of the volume of stories available for me to read, the number of regular participants to interact with, and the amount of responses to my work that feel to me like the hours I've put into my writing have been well spent. A few times over the years one or more of those things has dropped below the threshold but things have picked up again. A couple of times I've expressed my views about low levels of contribution. I don't intend that as an attempt to "guilt" people so much as to be clear about where I draw my own lines. We're at one now.


As long as I'm allowed to rant back I'm fine with that.

I can understand the frustration. My first real story on this board was "Search for Yo" waaaaay back in early 1999. Granted, it was no masterpiece. The number of replies I consistently got for each chapter? Three! Jarvis, Lisa and Visionary, God bless 'em, replied as if on cue every time I posted a chapter, while everyone else ignored it. I don't know if they were doing it to be nice or if they really enjoyed it, but it was enough to keep me going. I would be lying if I said it didn't bug me that more people didn't reply, but it didn't bug me enough to stop me from writing a story I liked. The great thing was they read and replied to my stuff without ever expecting anything in return. They didn't make passive-aggressive remarks asking for replies in return. Eventually more and more posters read and replied to my work (during my peak I would get a whole 7 or 8!!), but I was never one of the heavy-hitters on this board, mostly because my work was serious in tone, aiming for a particular niche and mostly centered around a single character as opposed to the whole team. That was my style and I enjoyed it, even if it cost me replies. Back then I and other posters had the same problems with replies, and while there was occasional bitching and moaning, there wasn't nearly as much as is seen nowadays. Back then it seemed to be more about the fun of writing these stories and the diversity of them, then seeing who gets the most replies or chastising those who aren't replying.

My frustration lies with the fact that nowadays it seems reading and replying is based on a quid-pro-quid system ("I'll only read and reply to what you've written, once you read and reply to what I've written!"). How much validation do those extra replies represent if they're coerced out of people?

I have always made an effort to reply to every single story that gets posted on the board, a habit I picked up from Yo and Lisa. I read them all, with the possible exception of a few extra long submissions (to which I still reply and let the author know it was something I wasn't up to tackling at the time. The longer the story, the more intense interest I need to have in it to try and read it on a computer screen. Past a certain point, I doubt there's anything that could make me do it. I really dislike reading computer screens for long stretches that much.)

Bit of a tangent there. In any event, I firmly believe that everyone deserves a reply for their efforts on the board, and am disheartened when they do not receive them. When replies dropped to a low a while back, I made a conscious choice to give more detailed replies to the stories from those who put the most into the board, so as to increase the amount of interaction they received for their effort. There is a quid pro quo slant to this, yes... I give a subject line response to those who do not reply to my own work, and I engage in more detailed discussion on their stories with the people who do. I'm content that this is fair, and does not discourage anyone's participation.

I'm always happy to encourage others to participate, and I certainly think that replies are critical to doing so. I myself would have no desire to post stories to an indifferent forum.

Then what's the problem with me or others expressing it?


Poor responses demotivate me. It's the idea that I'm wasting my time trying to entertain people who either aren't reading what I've written or are reading it but can't be bothered even to acknowledge it.

I can and do write things for my own satisfaction, and things for wider audiences, and things just to get them out of my head. Mostly when I come to the Parodyverse I come for specific reasons, and I write for the Parodyverse.

> The great thing was they read and replied to my stuff without ever expecting anything in return. They didn't make passive-aggressive remarks asking for replies in return.

I think you're remembering through rose-tinted spectacles. Nor do I think you can compare a board's frenetic earliest months with an online community getting on towards a decade old, where both relationships and output have evolved.

And why is expressing concern "passive-agressive"? I'd call it "being honest".

Passive-agressive behaviour is defined as: "Passive, sometimes obstructionist resistance to following authoritative instructions in interpersonal or occupational situations. It can manifest itself as resentment, stubbornness, procrastination, sullenness, or repeated failure to accomplish requested tasks for which one is assumed, often explicitly, to be responsible. It is a defense mechanism and, more often than not, only partly conscious."


Well for me the fun was and is the lengthy banter between posters, the enthusiasm that comes from discussing stories and events (either by a reply thread or in chat), plotting out interesting new stuff by kibbutzing with other writers, and getting surprised by the occasional curve I don;t see coming from someone else's input.

All of that requires interaction. Without that the board is a mere showcase, and I don't need one of those.


With the exception of a couple of two or three month breaks from the board, one due to frustration with the PV and one due to heavy work commitments, I've replied to pretty much every substantive piece of work here since 1999, whether those people have ever read or commented on my work or not - including everything I've ever seen of yours. I see no evidence of a quid-pro-quo system at all. I certainly don't operate one.