wildcard Posted February 21, 2006 Posted February 21, 2006 (edited) A sneak preview of the first chapter is now up in "The Comicality Library" :ranger: The ‘Boss’ would love some feedback on this Edited February 21, 2006 by wildcard
JeffsFort Posted February 22, 2006 Posted February 22, 2006 Definately deserves feedback! This looks like quite a project you guys have going on here. My home forum is doing a similar project, written more for the comic value than to have a serious story line develop, I can't wait to see where yours goes I can toss my 2 cents in here, right? Cool I'm not sure how you guys have this planned but, I didn't see anything mentioned about participants being told who was going to do chapter # ??... The reason I bring this up is because we ended out electing our authors, and assigning them a chapter to just jump on once the previous one is posted. This eliminated a good amount of confusion as we didn't want three people writing chapter 2, not knowing that others were working on the same chapter. That could make deciding which version goes live a burden that will result in a few hurt feelings... Hope this helps you out some - Jeff -
Comicality Posted February 22, 2006 Posted February 22, 2006 Thanks a lot you guys for helping me to start off the conversation. It's ultimately going to help me keep things in order in the long run. So if any of you have ANY questions whatsoever, whether you're contributing a chapter, or are just excited about reading the series as it develops, please ask now! Because I guarantee you that there are things I'm overlooking here! To answer Jeff's question ::Waves at his buddy:: Hehehe...the plan was to begin taking names for any author who wanted to contribute a chapter once the full first episode is posted on the site on March 4th. So they can read the full set up for the series, decide whether or not they would like to add a section to the story, and sign up. I'd take the names in order, and display them proudly on the site. Every athor gets full credit for their chapter, and I'd love to post it on Nifty's Gay/Sci Fi section if authors gave permission. Nifty and the Shack would be the only places to find the series online, but every author is welcome to post links and info at the end of every chapter to advertise their own website and stories. I'd love to connect to a bunch of different writing styles and ideas, and I worked hard to make sure that the story was 'open' enough for writers to fill in the gaps with their own ideas. So I think it'll be cool once we get through the first few chapters. Now...things to think about... 1) What should the boundaries be in a series like this? Afterall, we want to have some kind of strong foundation that sets a certain level of limitations for the storyline. You know...just in case someone has the idea of suddenly getting abducted by aliens and sent to another planet where they become a sex slave for Regis Philbin. That's just a LITTLE bit 'off topic'! 2) How long should we give each author to work on their particular chapter? I believe that we agreed on a month the last time. One month to write and edit their own work, and two weeks for our three proofreaders to look it over. 3) What should some basic rules be about treatment of the characters involved? Involving adding new characters, killing off old characters, crossing over with any "GFD" or "GFD fanfic" characters, or anything else that might have a huge impact on the storyline? I have a list of characters from "GFD" that I would be happy to allow to crossover into the series, but no one from the lot. (Secondary characters. Like Jeremy the blood dealer, Diva the vampire gossip, Soren who runs the fighting arenas, etc.) 4) Length of the chapters. It would be unbalanced to have a 300K chapter followed up with a 15K chapter, you know? What do you guys think about chapter length? Should there be a minimum? A maximum? Both? Let me know. Like I said, I'm sure that I'm missing a ton of stuff here. Reapersharvest really helped me out by emailing me a ton of really good ideas when we first approached this idea! So if you're out there, I hope you'll drop in with more good info! Anyone got any ideas? We're officially holding a staff meeting here now! Hehehe, so let me know what you're thinking, cool? Thanks in advance!
JeffsFort Posted February 22, 2006 Posted February 22, 2006 (edited) Hehehe... **Waves Back** Maybe I'm pretending to be on-staff, sneaking into the meeting or trying to get rid of that "Newbie" title <<< But I'll toss in how ours went, or is going. "7 Authors - 8 Chapters - No plan - Just lots of fun!" It's been ongoing for almost a year as one of our designated writers fell off the net for quite some time. I guess haveing a couple of "Pinch-Hitters" would be a fair piece of advice. Putting size limits could put a strain on an author who can't seem to get it to stop. Hey we all have it happen. I personally think that if that ball get's rolling, see where it goes. Who knows what you may miss out on should they go say 100k over the limit and have to do some trimming. Howz bout a recomended size guideline, this gives you some bend in the limits so exceptions can be made? Hope that helps some, now I'm going next door to see what trouble I can start *HUGZ* Good luck Edited February 22, 2006 by JeffsFort
Comicality Posted February 23, 2006 Posted February 23, 2006 Hehehe, just having fun sounds like an awesome plan to me! I just want to make sure that folks know that the series is 'open', but not 'limitless'. (I hope I'm saying that right) I see what you mean about the limits on what an author writes. What if we just had a 'suggested' length between 30K and 100K, with a lot of flexibility involved. I definitely don't want to compact anybody's ideas into a space that doesn't fit. As for authors that accidently run into 'life' on the road towards finishing their chapter, I was thinking we could simply move on to the next author on the list. And that list would rotate depending on who signed on to the next chapter. I don't see any problem with an author doing more than one chapter. But I think it would be cool to have it so no author writes two chapters in a row. Me included. Like...maybe if you write a chapter, you hav to wait for at LEAST two more chapters to be written before you can sign on again. Sound good?
Dio Posted February 23, 2006 Posted February 23, 2006 Hehehe, just having fun sounds like an awesome plan to me! I just want to make sure that folks know that the series is 'open', but not 'limitless'. (I hope I'm saying that right) I see what you mean about the limits on what an author writes. What if we just had a 'suggested' length between 30K and 100K, with a lot of flexibility involved. I definitely don't want to compact anybody's ideas into a space that doesn't fit. As for authors that accidently run into 'life' on the road towards finishing their chapter, I was thinking we could simply move on to the next author on the list. And that list would rotate depending on who signed on to the next chapter. I don't see any problem with an author doing more than one chapter. But I think it would be cool to have it so no author writes two chapters in a row. Me included. Like...maybe if you write a chapter, you hav to wait for at LEAST two more chapters to be written before you can sign on again. Sound good? I think boundaries are essential for a good driving story, like you mentioned earlier. What made GFD so great was not only the development of unique characters and their relationships--but that they had some far-off goal of achieving thats in the back of every reader's mind. 'How is Justin going to deal with the vampire dawn', 'is that evil beast thinger going to kill him?'. Even from your sneak preview, I think that you've already established a good base for authors to build off without going on some crazy tangents. 1) Exile has lost his memory, this is obviously the main event that is the foundation of the story. There are so many possibilities by doing something like this, I kept asking myself: what sort of stuff in he going to remember? What is the real relationships he had with others characters? How did he end up working for this sketchy organisation in the first place? And what sort of extras is Exile gonna pull out of his freakin' hat when the shit starts pouring? 2)One of Comsie's characters mentions something about the 'Exile under the elder's protection' for the moment. Whoa now! What's the relationship between them? For that matter, how has this organisation of assassins escaped the counsel's eyes for so long. Shady backdoor dealings? humm!! Mafia princess wants him dead! Lots more possibilities there. 3)And then of course there's the love interest or lust interest as it were... hehehe There's more obviously, I was just trying to pick out examples of stuff I remember off the top of my head. I think that it shouldn't be too hard to build off what you've set up, as there's so much to explore. I think maybe it would make sense for a brief plot summ. to be sent off to you, Comsie, so you can clear it before they start to write. I don't mean something in depth, just a note that just lays out any major plot twists, so you can check to make sure the author/authors aren't digging the rest of their compadres into a hole, while leaving everyone else in drooling suspence. I think basically the point of this long-winded post is the 'what needs to be dealt with' should be regulated to a certain extent, not necessarily the 'how'. Like, sudden finding out Exile has two long lost children and his wife is on his case for alimony is definitely something this story doesn't need. So, be serious, but have fun doing it! And a list of acceptable cameos from GFD is also a must! hugz, -dio <<<excited for more exile
Comicality Posted February 24, 2006 Posted February 24, 2006 Ahhh, Dio has definitely done his homework! Hehehe, thanks! Actually, that gives me a few ideas, so I'm glad you posted this. I really do like the concept of each author sending a short summary (which will be kept private, of course) for their chapter before they start writing. That's an excellent idea! And it might prevent some mix ups further down the line. Also, maybe it would be cool, just at the end of the 'first' chapter, to mention possible questions that can be tackld throughout the rest of the series. Similar to the ones you asked, about what Exile is going to remember, what his ties are to this group of people, what his ties are to the teens in his memory, who he can trust, who he can't. They're all things that authors can think about while conjuring up ideas for the next chapter. Does anyone else think that there are any other 'pitfalls' that we should be looking out for? The process seems as thugh it should be pretty straightforward and simple, but that can be a pretty deceptive illusion sometimes when trying something new. Just wanna make sure all the bases are covered before we begin.
JeffsFort Posted February 25, 2006 Posted February 25, 2006 Looks like you have a great base to work with, a solid plan and some really cool content to work with. Only thing I can think of to mention would be the fact that it will be a "Work in Progress" from beginning to end. Every story is different and you may find some tripping hazzards along the way. The good thing though, is if you keep in contact with the working authors, alterations to the main plan are normally easy to do midstream in a situation like this. You'll no doubt find ways to make the flow between authors better in ways that probably wouldn't work for others. This project takes you down a path seldom traveled by most... I have no doubt it's gonna rock I'm just now into chapter 4 of GFD and quickly falling in love with the story. (My own work kinda made me fall seriously behind with my reading.) But if ya ever need someone to bounce ideas off of or whatever, I offer my brain to pick. (No, that's not meant as a joke ) Hehehe... *HUGZ* - Jeff -
JeffsFort Posted February 28, 2006 Posted February 28, 2006 (edited) Ok, I had a really odd dream this morning and it gave me an idea. I don't know if this is really off track, a good idea for this project or maybe even a base for a future project... Who knows? Ok, I was thinking... (Happens sometimes. Don't worry it will eventually pass ) Comicality is a total mystery. He chooses his company carefully, right? Well, what if the chosen authors were to re-create themselves as a vampire? One of Comsie's chosen ones. Then with each chapter, it could be from the perspective of you... um... you know, as a vampire. Comsie would of course play the roll of Himself... LOL! and maybe even elect who could become the main characters that already exist... It could be in another area of town maybe. Another family? Was a thought brought on by a dream I had after reading just before bed. (Got too into it while half asleep I guess.) One of those, woke up in the middle of the night and went back to sleep kinda dreams. Some of those can be so cool. Let's just say I met up with a set of fangs in this one, but wasn;t frightened Ok, now you can let me know if you think I have lost it No worries... I already know the answer *HUGZ* Edited February 28, 2006 by JeffsFort
JamesSavik Posted February 28, 2006 Posted February 28, 2006 Com- I am part of the team that wrote Collision- a round-robin mystery. It's winding down now and it should be done in the next couple of months. One thing that I suggest right out of the gate: assign a project editor and give him some amount of authority. Our editor has been invaluable and has kept the wheels from falling off several times. He has also been very helpful in keeping a lid on issues like continuity, reality checking and timeline. Now...things to think about... 1) What should the boundaries be in a series like this? Afterall, we want to have some kind of strong foundation that sets a certain level of limitations for the storyline. You know...just in case someone has the idea of suddenly getting abducted by aliens and sent to another planet where they become a sex slave for Regis Philbin. That's just a LITTLE bit 'off topic'! In Collision, we started off with a document called the game plan and a first chapter. The game plan addressed: a) primary characters and character information (like Kelly likes Perl Jam and his favorite color is blue) setting (where things are happening) c) beginning assumptions The rules were that the game plan was fixed but each author had the ability to add secondary characters, plot twists and whatever creative control they wished as long as didn't drive the plot into a ditch. For most of the run of Collision, the authors had regular chat sessions to keep everyone on the same page. 2) How long should we give each author to work on their particular chapter? I believe that we agreed on a month the last time. One month to write and edit their own work, and two weeks for our three proofreaders to look it over. That really depends on how long you want your chapters to be. In the context of Collision, we had either very seasoned authors or gifted newbies so we could give the author a chapter and let them run with it. Six weeks is rather long. Most seasoned authors could probably get a chapter out in 2 weeks. I would suggest a flexable turn around time: 2 weeks for the author, 1 week for the editing and an optional 1 week for rewrite if necessary. Given this time line, you would produce a chapter every 3-4 weeks. For online fiction, that's just about right. You don't want to get the readers interested and then have them forget about your story. 3) What should some basic rules be about treatment of the characters involved? Involving adding new characters, killing off old characters, crossing over with any "GFD" or "GFD fanfic" characters, or anything else that might have a huge impact on the storyline? I have a list of characters from "GFD" that I would be happy to allow to crossover into the series, but no one from the lot. (Secondary characters. Like Jeremy the blood dealer, Diva the vampire gossip, Soren who runs the fighting arenas, etc.) We used our regular chats to iron out these issues. You can't very well kill off a primary character and expect the plot to flow. 4) Length of the chapters. It would be unbalanced to have a 300K chapter followed up with a 15K chapter, you know? What do you guys think about chapter length? Should there be a minimum? A maximum? Both? Let me know Hummm... good question. A min and a max on chapter length is probably a good idea but writers usually have a pretty good eye for that. Collision chapters run from 10 to 16 pages and we had no such guidelines. I've never written in the horror genre but I would love to give it a try. -JS
Dio Posted February 28, 2006 Posted February 28, 2006 I think a month is good, especially since Comsie seems to be enamorous of lengthy chapters (as am I). Some people might get it done faster, but that just gives the editor team (and I do believe comsie mentioned he has three in the wing--I think I read that somewhere) more time to make sure it's a damn good addition to the story. Collision seems to be based on the idea of a lot of short chapters, from a ton of different authors. The Lost in Shadows story format, in my opinion, wouldn't really go over so well with short chapters. I mean, ~3K words and you have time for one short wham bam thank you mam fight scene and its already time for the next author. Since most of us have other projects as well, the lengthy periods between writing one chapter and another is good, and it makes it all that much more special when your turn does come around. hugz, db
Comicality Posted February 28, 2006 Posted February 28, 2006 You know Jeff, that's funny that you mentioned that. Becaue originally, "Lost In Shadow" was originally going to be a spinoff about the 'Com' vampire charater's origin. (Years ago. The title was in reference to his extra.) But I like this idea MUCH better, especially with other authors involved! The thing is, while your idea might make a good spinoff of the spinoff...I kinda thought about making it a rule to not have any changing perspectives for the story. The sole reason being that it can either become confusing, or take the story in a completely different direction, following another character's thoughts and actions instead of the main character. But I am kinda curious how THAT dream turned out for ya! Hehehe! Big BIG thanks to Jamessavik too!!! I still have the emails you sent me about this, and I'm definitely going to use he awesome advice you gave me to help mold this into a fun experience for us all! I do, as of right now, have 3 editors for each chapter that volunteered back when the idea was first presented. And I'll be contacting all of them this week to see if they're still interested and all. So that will help iron out some rough edges before the new chapters are posted. So far, the 'info' stuff that I have written out to post along with the first chapter this weekend, is a character list (with descriptions and some info on who they are), a list of basic rules, a short list of possible crossover characters from the "Gone From Daylight" series, and a 35 term 'vampire vocab' section explaining what all of the words mean (Extra, hunter, crossover, elders, sun quest, etc). It's a very cool idea to start off with some beginning questions too. Just to get people's wheels turning when it comes to creating a plot for their particular chapter. And it's a damn good idea to have chats too to iron out situations and answer questions between authors. Communication would be a must. I think a month is a fair amount of time to create, write, edit, and post a chapter. A lot of authors may not even need that long. So if anyone decides to post their chapter early, great! I would assume that anyone interested in adding to the series would already have some idea about what they wanted to do before their turn even comes up. So, a month should be a decent amount of time for them to write, still be able to work and play away from online, and would give enough room for those unpredictable 'life issues' that tend to rear their ugly head from time to time. Of course, it doesn't have to be a 'deadline'. Just a suggested time limit. If anybody objects, now would be the time to tell me. And Dio's absolutely right, I think chapters for his series might be a bit longer than average, simply because thee's so much room for ideas to be added to the storyline, and all of those ideas would have to be presented with some kind of explanation. And by the time that's done, and dialogue, action, or character development would push the length even further. Slightly longer chapters would give any writer enough room to make a significant forward movement in the storyline, I think. Anyway, thanks SO much for all of the input! I'm definitely taking notes! Thank you all!
reapersharvest Posted March 1, 2006 Posted March 1, 2006 I've just been thinking about the various paths the protagonist could take in this story after reading the Sneak Preview. I assume that if he should become involved with the Mistress' 'boy-concubine'- for lack of a better term- the two of them would be hiding out from her wrath and possible hit men (maybe some of the same ones we've seen go after Justin in GFD as another possible tie-in?). He would also be attempting to piece together his memory, perhaps by seeking out vampires whose extras could help him unlock his mind (potential for another visit to Divinity, she's a favorite of mine). Anyway, I'm just throwing out ideas as they occur to me. Then there's the possible path of his struggle to return to his routine and going back out on missions. Unlocking his memory could just be incidental as he spends more time in the field. I'm seeing lots of inconvenient hallucinatory episodes and panic attacks a la Wolverine in X-Men. Just a thought. Anyway those are just some possible directions I gleaned from the preview, I'm ready to adapt to whatever takes off after the next couple of chapters. I'd like to add one, I have a couple of ideas for bit characters as well.
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