Now that the blog's initial purpose has been fulfilled, I not sure where we should go from here. I assume you're interested in continuing the adventures of Cicada-Man, and possibly might enjoy other submissions of mine. Here are some options.
- I just keep posting chapters of Cicada-Man here until it's done. This isn't a bad option.
-We start a new 52 Week Project, but take steps to assure that we don't have such a high dropout level. I know some people who might be interested, and we could re-invite previous members of the blog. I'd probably have to repost the chapters all over again at intervals, though, since giving them in a huge block would likely scare people off. Also, we'd have to brainstorm on exactly what steps we'd take to increase the success ratio.
-I have ideas for a blog project titled "Feedback Guaranteed." It'd be a way for writers to post their work for critique from within the blog's community. In order to submit a candidate for the daily story or poem (under 3,000 words), you'd have to send the story to my email alongside a link to an substantial comment you posted on another person's entry. I'll post, I'll comment, people will comment, more stories will be submitted. Happiness abounds. Again, this would require reposting of Cicada-Man (plus, as this method is untested, it might go off not well enough or too well).
-I just realized we could combine some of these. We start another 52 Week Project or Feedback Guaranteed, I'll post old Cicada-Man stuff there while I write new Cicada-Man stuff here.
I'm anxious for your feedback! Words cannot express how much your companionship has meant to me in my writing life.
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ReplyDeleteI am all in favor of continuing, whether it be on this blog or on a new one. The format of this one was simple and worked well enough; the problem was keeping people involved. I know it can be hard for each person to find enough time to write something new every week, and since the original focus of this project was primarily on short fiction and plays, perhaps some writers thought that's all that was welcome. I switched to writing poems because they are usually quicker to finish. If we keep this going, we should reiterate to everyone that ANY writing is welcome (poetry/prose, fiction/nonfiction, revised versions of previous posts, etc). We should also make it clear that all feedback should be as constructive and specific as possible. I know we were never tearing each other down here, but if the only feedback a writer ever gets is just "this was good", they aren't really getting any kind of direction or encouragement, and we need to be helping each other stay motivated.
ReplyDeleteLike I said, I like this format and I'm game to keep going on this blog or join a new one, but let me know what other people's preferences are.
What do you think about Feedback Guaranteed? I'm excited about the idea, but I would like to know how you'd react to hearing about such a blog. I might be able to manage a new 52, updates to Cicada-Man, and Feedback Guaranteed, but I admit it might be more practical to pick just two of the three.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing that makes me hesitant about Feedback Guaranteed is that, based on your description, all submissions would have to go through you first and then you would decide which one would get posted for everyone else would get to read and critique. While I can understand wanting to limit submissions to prevent overcrowding the blog, I can also imagine someone getting upset if their submissions keep getting put off in favor of someone else's. Of course, that's assuming lots of people are submitting something new every day; if we're still only expected to submit one piece per week, bottlenecking might not be much of a problem. Personally, I think keeping with the 52 format of letting people post their writing directly would be simpler, but we can still move the action to a new blog, especially if the concept of weekly posts is changing.
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