Good Intentions....

[Hugin]

A couple of things have happened in some of the fiction threads that make me think perhaps some ground 'suggestions' might be appropriate?

1. Hush started out one way and then veered quickly off in another direction. Apparently to the dismay of the person who started it. How should we look at collaborative pieces? Yes, they are collaborative, but I'd be real honest and say that if someone had pushed Lemmy's party off course like that I'd have been downright ticked. So, maybe whomever starts the thread should have some say in the regards to content? Or we might end up with no real collaborative works and just works by one person with the occasional grudgingly allowed guest role.

2. Deep of the Ancients has been going on for nearly four months now and has just finally gotten to the point of the story, the dive. This has two effects. First, apparently some people lost interest as I haven't seen them around lately and that can mess up the story. Two, where do the events occur in regards to OpNet timeline? They've been mentioned in the OpNet, so I assume they've already finished since the dive isn't going to actually take four months, but more along two or three days with travel time? I'm full blown gonzo confused.

Maybe we need to get together on how this stuff is going to be handled? Irini sounds kind of ticked, I don't really blame her, and it would be great if we could prevent this in the future.

[Sakurako Hino]

I'm partially to blame for my story's speed, James. I had goten too impatient with it, and I went and said it was done. Then I re-opened it. I think I scared off some, and confused others. I'm getting the story back on track, quite well infact, but I don't see why I should have outside forces pushing me along. What I'm doing will not have any real bearing on the OpNet boards. I'll make sure of that.

[Hugin]

I'm not talking about 'forcing' anyone to do anything. I'm just concerned. It's just an example of something we've seen before, with these many participant stories getting sidetracked and petering off.

I'm also not concerned about it 'affecting' the OpNet. If it doesn't break the FAQ I would assume it's considered OpNet cool. If y'all suddenly come across an undersea tryst of Mal and Pax making hot quantum monkey love, I'll just assume it's out of the OpNet.

Not trying to step on toes here. Just wanting a dialogue. Tell me to fuck off if you want to. I won't cry. Much.

[Neil Preston]

We could do it all four ways, and make a note of it at the start of the piece.

1)Sole character pieces. You want to tell a story about your character. Confessions of an Autistic Mind is like this.

2)Minor collaborative pieces. One author has a story to tell, but others get to contribute to the provided plotline. I feel that "Deep of the Ancients" is like this. Endeavor has an overall plot to tell, and the rest of us are along for the ride.

3)Pure collaborative pieces. The wild rollercoaster ride. Hush fell into this abyss, though "On Wizard's Watch" didn't.

4)Invitation pieces. A story told by a small, select group of authors, generally with a theme in mind. "Stranger's in the Night" is like this.

In general, the lead author needs to lay his/her desires at the start to avoid other contributors making fools/asses/idiots of themselves.

As for keeping the stories rolling ... that's a tough one. Perhaps the lead author can PM players who haven't posted in a bit.

[Nightfall]

I've learned from this experience. Next time I start a collaborative piece, I will set down exactly what I want to happen with the story, or at least what I want it to mean. I'm sorry if I got stroppy with some folks - all of us screwed up in Hush, so I think we need to be more careful in the future.