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Original Writings is dead! LONG LIVE ORIGINAL WRITINGS!!

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Seer Fox
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« on: October 14, 2008, 02:23:25 pm »

Woo, no new posts since August, huh? We're in pretty dire straights (particularly seeing as I, too, have kinda stopped posting).

No more creative talent, people? No more MSN chats about the future? No writing projects you're keen to work on? Nothing? No?

Tsk. I blame myself, as a good Global Moderator should.

So perhaps a huge, sweeping site was a bad idea (the poetry board was DEFINITELY a bad idea, as stands) so I shall attempt to make amends.

Before I do so however, I would like a roll-call to be held here, to see who and what I'm working with.

I'll give this thread...seven days. No, eight days. If you're interested in doing something about this dusty grey forum, then post in here by then.

Of course, there's no guarantee that you'll be able to read this in time, but eh...that's a risk I'm willing to take!

See you in eight days.

Ciat,
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« Reply #1 on: October 15, 2008, 01:22:16 pm »

Believe it or not, I'm still here.  Between medical problems, family and work, I have had no chance to do anything creative.  I have written I think one short story since I participated in NaNoWriMo last November... call it literary burnout, I guess.

I would have posted my short story, but history has proven to me that posting Shadowrun fiction here is rather fruitless, since no one really reads it.  With the demands on my time of late, I haven't been able to devote the needed time to properly review any of the new posts from the newcomers either.

Regardless, I still poke my head in here from time to time and I'm open to suggestion as to what we could do to re-ignite some kind of spark for the boards...

J.
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« Reply #2 on: October 26, 2008, 01:20:36 pm »

I wrote out a big post outlining my plan, but the 'net went down so I'll have to give you an abriged version of what I wrote when it comes to a plan.

Basically, I want a site where there is less focus on putting up individual works HERE for review (where, lets face it, it hardly ever happens) and more on providing a sounding-board for ideas to get said works started up so they can be published somewhere else. I also want to tighten the community together, whether through MSN or Facebook or whatever. If any of us are going to be writers (and I AM doing a degree leading to that) then I'd like us all to have as many contacts with each other to help along the way, and to get individual opinions off.

Feedback on this (very rough) idea for the site would be appreciated. I'll try and outline something more concrete later.

Ciat,
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« Reply #3 on: October 28, 2008, 02:51:39 pm »

I think the idea is sound.  There are several sites out there for posting stories and getting feedback.  A place for refining ideas isn't a bad thing, especially if any one has aspirations of publication (if an idea is only half-baked, the story, no matter how well written, will seem weak).

As for a means of tightening the community, as some of you here might have noticed, I am no longer on MSN... my workplace blocked it and it isn't installed at home.  I am on Facebook, though.

I'd be interested to hear some more details baout what you had in mind.

J.
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« Reply #4 on: October 29, 2008, 02:47:47 pm »

Right, I’ve been thinking mainly that we should cut the criticism of actual work down to just one thread; basically, wherever people have put up their work, they can put the link in this thread and ask us to look at something specific.

I’ve found that biggest problem in commenting on someone’s work is that they don’t give me any particular THING to address, just expecting me to look at it and get everything they were aiming for or at. I’d like a little more direction, like ‘Is the character this story believable?’ or ‘Is the poem hindered by that particular line?’

We obviously don’t need all these boards for what turns out to be such a small amount of reviews people give, and there are people better qualified for it, so we may as well leave the majority of criticisms out of the site.

Instead, in the spirit of an idea sounding-board, there should likely be a couple of threads, or maybe just one, dedicated to this particular task. In it dudes and dudettes can just waltz in and express their idea for a short story, or maybe a problem in their plot or so forth, and we can comment and advise. Not strictly the same as criticism of a story, given it hasn’t even been written yet, but useful for sorting ideas out. The person posting should give us more detail than ‘So, how should I make a fantasy story?’ they should have already thought through their ideas a little beforehand.

As far as bringing the community together is concerned, every time we’d tried for a competition or a collaboration or an anthology its never turned out particularly well, so I don’t want to head in that direction.
   What HAS proved rather popular (somewhat surprisingly) is the Random Thread, so I’d like to focus on more off-topic community bonding that doesn’t involve strenuous input. The sort of stuff that friends might do anyway, but perhaps with a slight twist to it; say, a thread where we discuss a movie or series that we’ve enjoyed, and then we write a short paragraph about the guys, and then suggest what the next poster should add into their paragraph, or what happens to them next; maybe like a paragraph version of the four-word-story. That idea is a little stupid, but you get the picture.

I’d also like to encourage people to share their hobbies, if they’ve got any, like drawing or painting or reading and the like. I’m not sure whether these should all be compiled into one thread, but I’m sure something should be done about it.

I’m also inclined to start discussions of writers who I’ve learned of during my time at university, or at least give people on the site information about what I’ve learned and things that I’ve found useful going about the site.

And fanfic! I’ve found myself writing a lot of it lately, so I may as well start a fanfic thread or two. I’m sure everyone has SOME.

So, come and help me sort the plausible, the good, the implausible and the bad, if you’d be so kind.


Ciat,
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« Reply #5 on: October 31, 2008, 08:43:18 pm »

We may need two boards... a critique board with some guidelines (what do you want the reader to focus on, etc) and maybe just a reader board.  Post a story, let people read it and rate it.  No critiques, just a rating system (On a scale of 1-5, rate plot, characters, settings, SPAG, style, etc).  Maybe a brief statement of what you thought, and so forth.  Then if the story has a consistantly low characters score, the writer but post a link to the story with a pointed question, which could prompt a pointed critique (why are my characters being rated as weak?).

I like the idea of a Concept board, where people can post a short plot outline and ask for guidance on how to get from A to B, ways to flush out their characters, etc.

While collaborations, etc didn't work, I like the idea of a random writing board where there can be writing challenges and little jokey exercises in the pursuit of of fun, while still indulging out pasttime in some small fashion.  Smiley

Hobbies are always a good topic of discussion, as people are typically passionate about the things they do in their free time.  Hopefully, we would get enough visitors to generate a decent discussion base (having a discussion about something like 40K is well and good, but if there are only three people and we all play different armies, there really isn't much to discuss...).

I've written more than my share of fan-fic, most of it Shadowrun.  I'd be happy to share it with other readers, if people would be willing to read fan-fic from a fandom they might not be familiar with...that is the trick with fan-fic.  Smiley

I think the ideas you've come up are sound and could form the basis for a solid writing community that isn't die-hard like some of the writing sites out there...

J.
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« Reply #6 on: November 01, 2008, 03:38:52 pm »

And I have a fair amount of Avatar fanfic under my belt now too, which I could share.

However; critical question now Sild; who exactly would we be renovating this forum for? I mean, we're the only two people posting here, currently. Mayhaps we waited just a little too late? I PM'd jazen a few days ago, but so far it's all a big no-go on the other members front.

Tch. Well, I suppose we can still make the changes anyway. Not right now, 'm a little preoccupied and have noaccess to MSN, but later, certainly.

I like the rating system, by the by. It's a pretty quick and good idea.

Ciat,
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« Reply #7 on: November 03, 2008, 05:49:18 pm »

That is the true question.  If we are the last ones left standing, then no matter how well-intentioned a forum revamp would be, it'd ultimately be a likely waste of effort.  Would we seek to redo a forum like this one and try to somehow draft enough people to make it intersting once more, or would we move this thing to a social site (like Facebook) as a Group and try to track down more like-minded people with more free time than common sense might typically dictate?

If we decide to implement a rating system, we should develop a strucutre for it, so we don't have meatheads giving stories a 5 out of 5 for "Appropriate use of Cheese" or some other nonsensical rating.  Tongue

J.
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« Reply #8 on: November 04, 2008, 09:07:16 pm »

The Facebook idea has more sense behind it, but I myself don't have an account. I suppose I could make one; my brother's been nagging me about it for the past year anyhow.

Ciat,
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« Reply #9 on: November 06, 2008, 11:35:26 pm »

Oh and Seer, a pm to me would have triggered a notification email and I would have been aware of this sooner.


...Oh yeah.

Well at any rate, give me a week or so and we'll see what I can do. I imagine large swathes of this board will need to be deleted or stored away. I should probably put my mind as to 'what', and then work on what else needs doing after the fact; a new board or two, rules for the rating system, perhaps...

Ciat,
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« Reply #10 on: November 10, 2008, 08:01:54 pm »

I've also got to apologise and offer the weak excuse that 'I was doing my homework'. I think the biggest problem here was that the entire forum relied on a few key people - and when they became inactive, due to entirely sensible reasons, everything sort of fell apart. So I think a priority for a revamp should include much more publicity or whatever (attracting new peoples!).
The concept of having a sounding-board is a great idea, and I'd agree in saying that I haven't seen it done before. And the diagnosis of needing specific critique questions is accurate - it is always kind of hard to just try and rate someone's work in general. The 'how to review fiction' link was a great help, but frankly, I often had to force most of the categories out - it's just hard to write about everything.
So just to add my two cents - I'd love a revamped OW. Whether I'd be a great contributer is another question, and th answer is 'probably no'. Partly, I have to do my homework, and partly... well, actually, that's basically the reason Tongue. Though if the activities were less time-intensive, I may contribute far more often.
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« Reply #11 on: November 13, 2008, 04:37:47 am »

Amigos, a pleasant day to all. I don't know if anybody still knows me here.  Grin I would like to apologize also for being away for soooo long. Work is what hinders me to take up the pen and write. Additionally, I've been guilty of a little bit of procrastination. hehehe...

I really would like to see OW resurrected.  Of all the forums I've been into, OW is the one that I call home.  And I missed you guys.

May I offer a suggestion? How about if we put up a website and a forum? The website is where we post the final drafts of our literary outputs. The forum is for interaction and idea sounding board. It is there where we will help each other---through comment/suggestions---finalize our literary outputs. To make the forum more interactive, I'd like to suggest this: If a writer has already  finished the final draft of his story/poem/article, he can now choose to submit it to a vote. If he gets all the nods, then the story/poem/article will be posted in the website. Just a piece of my mind, amigos.  Smiley

So, whatever your future plans, please count me in. Just send me a message.
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« Reply #12 on: December 18, 2008, 12:10:20 pm »

Just so y'all know I'm not dead. Just been reviewing my old shizzums that I've found in the hidden depths of my hard drive and thinking about starting one particular story up again. Anyone else still visit these here lands much anymore?
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« Reply #13 on: December 18, 2008, 08:31:52 pm »

Hey Kentai, it's been a while.

I still poke my head in here from time to time, though it's been a while since I've had the time to read or write much...

J.
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« Reply #14 on: December 21, 2008, 08:23:14 am »

I'm now checking for recent posts semi-regularly.
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« Reply #15 on: December 22, 2008, 03:31:21 pm »

Very lazy writer checking in.

Have been wanting to write something now for ages so perhaps I'll get to it.
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« Reply #16 on: December 28, 2008, 09:43:53 pm »

Was it just me that saw a recent batch of spammers/bots floating around? I just had to get rid of about 5 new ad topics.
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« Reply #17 on: January 03, 2009, 07:58:40 am »

Nope, they weren't just your imagination... it was quite strange. Why would ad bots target a dead board? Tongue
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« Reply #18 on: January 07, 2009, 05:22:35 pm »

Perhaps they wanted to add a bit of life to the place, wouldn't blame them. Still, I have 2 weeks off work for being sick, perhaps some prose is in order....
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