September News Roundup

Some Interesting News Bits happening in the Blog Fiction World. Some old, some recent, all of it was news to me in the last month. I know I usually post this on the last or second to last day of the month, but my day job has been reaking havoc on my blogging and reading time.

GGR hiatus
Purhaps the saddest news of the month was the announcement that Giant Girl Rampages is going on hiatus until further notice.

We're not ruling out Melly's eventual return, but we're not making any promises either. We've been working behind the scenes to recruit a new team of writers/illustrators with the time and energy to pick up where we've left off, but dream teams are hard to come by.

New Blog Fiction sites:
There are 2 new sites in the blog fiction list that are still active. Time Traveler blog is one of them. The other is in french-so I THINK it's active.

Lord Likely gave me 500 credits
Three cheers for Lord Likely!!! (Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!) He was kind enough to give me 500 advertising credits for entrecard. If you have an entrecard please go to his site and drop it on him to thank him. (stop and read his site too - it's hilarious for anyone who deosn't mind the "adult" humor)

Muse's Success launch.
It looks like there is another alternative to Web Fiction Guide and Pages Unbound. Muse's Success is still pretty young, but it's mission is ambitious: "create a catalogue of each and every web based novel (or serial) available on the World Wide Web. In addition, we allow our visitors to review stories within our catalogue, and also provide a community in which authors and readers of web based novels can interact and communicate." I'll be watching it to see how it will differentiate itself from the other internet fiction rating sites.

Tech Babe and Jason X meet.
Some interesting developments over at The User Pool. For quite some time, the fictional characters Tech Babe and Jason X have existed quite separately in their own little worlds. They only conversed in the online world by leaving and responding to each other's comments. In recent postings the characters recounted meeting each other in real life. Could this mean there could be some future drama between the two? I don't know. It would be very interesting to see though.

Did I miss anything? Have your own September news? Let me know in the comments.

Performance Writing

No, the title to my post is not referring to an Olympic sport that I'd like to see. I'm referring to the fact that writing blog fiction is just as much a performance as it is writing. Sure you have all the traditional writing elements to worry about: plot, character arc, pacing, etc... But with Blog Fiction there is an added curve ball. Depending on your format, comments and others' blog posts(if more than one author) could throw a writer's best laid plans under the bus.

Over in the forums I responded to a post asking what people like about Blog Fiction. One thing I mentioned was,

Multiple authors working on the same story blending the distinction between writing and performing.

After doing some thinking, I now realize what a dumb thing that was to say. A blog fiction does not need multiple characters or authors to blend the distinction between writing and a performance. Even a standard blog fiction(one diary, one character) enters performance the moment they allow comments. Two examples of just that happening.

Last week it looked like the writer's over at Giant Girl Rampages tried to get their audience to help the main character, Melly, figure out Dr. Crisp's code talk. The diary made it clear that Melly was not getting something that was quite clear to the audience.

"Strictly closed. The only way a person might hear what's going on would be if they happened to be located 18 feet off the ground, just outside that open window." It was like he was speaking in code, I thought, but I was just too tired to figure out the message.

"I have a math exam for you, Melly," he said, handing me a few sheets of paper. "I'll be by later to pick up your answers, on my way to the school board meeting, in my big empty truck."

I took the papers and nodded. I wanted to ask Doc if he'd come up with a way for me to attend the meeting, like he said, but I'm sure he'd have told me about it if he had.

Fortunately, an astute reader helped Melly out. She then stowed away in the van so that the story could continue. I'm not really sure what the writer's would've done if none of it's readers helped Melly figure out Dr. Crisp's "code". Would they have had Melly miss the board meeting? Or would some deus ex machina fallen out of the sky and clonk her on the head allowing her to decipher Dr. Crisp's "code". I'm not sure what they would've done, but the point is, they had to plan for it.

Jason X over at the User Pool has some very engaged readers and commenters. Some have even taken to giving Jason advice on helping him out of some of his predicaments. Advice that Jason has been known to incorporate into his story. Well, reading through is archives, I do believe that one of his more observant readers nearly ruined a clever storyline for him.

[Warning: Spoiler Alert!]
In the story, Jason thinks he's being framed for a murder. He reveals this in a Friday post. The names of characters and some of the circumstances are very similar to the movie, Basic Instinct. There are no further posts until tuesday. On that day it's revealed that someone was using the Basic Instinct plot to play a practical joke on Jason, but not before Jason really twists in the wind with stress and worry that he's about to get arrested.

Here's the problem. Back on friday one of his more astute readers commented on the similarities between his situation and Basic Instinct. As smart as the character is, after reading that comment he should've been able to figure out that it was a practical joke. Also, it kind of ruined the suspense for the readers who never saw, or don't remember the details of Basic Instinct (like moi). We were able to realize something is up. So, at best, the innocent comment ruined the suspense, and at worse, caused a small plot hole. Jason did acknowledge the comment in the tuesday post, but the story didn't seem to be affected by it. (My guess is that he already had the post written and didn't have time to rewrite the whole thing and just allowed the small plot hole)

Those two examples were enough for me to realize that almost all blog fiction is a written performance, not just the multiple character\author blogs. In both cases the writer's have had to react to their readers in some way. It would seem that all blog fiction blends the distinction between writing and performing if they allow, and respond to, comments.

Meta Posts in Blog Fiction

Almost all fictional blogs need some way to convey non-story elements. Things like a short introduction, a short summary of the story so far, a note from the author are all examples of this. The problem is, where to put that information. Some people put it all in their sidebars. Others put the info in header links. Still others put the info in "Author's notes" posts, and still others maintain a separate non fiction blog. Some of course, might do a combination of all of these.

Of all the methods, the one I like least is what In My Daydreams does. It has entire meta posts here and there, and then some of the story posts have author notes embedded in them. Having all that non story text is a huge distraction. It prevents me from immersing myself in the blog. It also serves as a constant reminder that it's fiction. For me, reading is the most entertaining when I can almost forget that what I'm reading is a work of fiction. Looking at Fleet Commander, I must say that even one "author's note" can be jolting. If I'm reading to catch up, I don't need to read an author's note from 3 months ago. Especially since it probably no longer contains relevant information.

I'm not trying to pick on In My Daydreams or Fleet Commander, lots of fictional blogs do this. Transplanted Life does it, I did it, Anonymous Lawyer did it, etc... I think as a writer it just made sense to once in a while slip in a meta post the same way as a fictional post. However, now that I'm evaluating this practice as a reader, and in spite of the fact that everyone seems to do it, It's a practice I now discourage.

Instead of doing Meta posts, consider these other ways to convey meta information:

• Put an announcement at the title level
• Maintain a separate "meta" blog.
• Consider if you really need a meta post
  

If you're late in your scheduled posting or you're taking a brief hiatus, why not putting it at the top of your blog, instead of a post. That way you can still convey the announcement to your readers, but don't have to permanently embed the info into your blog. You can just take down the announcement later on.

If you're going to be posting a lot of meta information like Entia did, you should definitely consider having a separate blog for the non-fiction posts. It makes for a clean separation.

Do you really need that author's note? If your post is a little late, your readers will get it, you don't have to tell us in a post. Also, instead of responding to comments as a post, You can respond to your readers in the comments as well. There's no law against leaving a comment on your own blog.

Of all the ways to convey what I call "meta" information. That is, information that isn't part of the story, I have to say my favorite method is what was done by (the now defunct) Entia and Big Melly. They use a separate blog. That way the story posts are completely separate from the author's notes.

I like the idea of using a separate blog because it really lets the story blog sit out, uninterrupted. A reader can really immerse themselves in the reading. If I'm catching up on a story, I won't be jolted out of my reading by an "author's note" from 3 months ago that's no longer relevant.

While I don't expect everyone to start maintaining 2 blogs, I hope everyone will consider getting rid of meta posts using the strategies above. If you really really have to have one, consider eventually deleting it when it's no longer relevant. That way it won't distract readers when looking through your archives.

Giant Girl Ruined my Vacation

Now you all are going to think I'm crazy. Too be honest, if I hadn't seen it myself, I'd think I was crazy too. In fact I'd still be questioning my own sanity if my fiance` hadn't been with me and seen it too. I was driving through a quiet town in the middle of farm country one day, when all of a sudden I saw a girl who must've been at least 18 feet tall strolling through town. That's right, I said "girl", not a woman. Despite being 18 feet tall, she still looked just a kid. Maybe not a little (probably the wrong word) kid, more like a teen-aged kid.

I was in my little car gawking at her not paying attention and ended up hitting a telephone poll. We ran for cover as she terrorized the town. Eventually the police showed up along with animal control and the national guard. I was shuffled away behind police barricades, but not before I saw the poor girl collapse from all the tranquilizer darts. The last thing I saw before being pushed away by the authorities was her being tied down.

Later, a local doctor treated my fiance` and I for some bumps and bruises from the car accident and a particularly pushy police officer. He was a nice fella, Dr. Crisp, I think was his name. When I talked to him about the girl he seemed more concerned for the girl than frightened.

With the exception of the local newspaper, The Daily World, no paper treats the story seriously. Waiting for my car to be repaired I ended up staying in the small town for a few days. No one I talked to really seemed to know what happened to her. Everyone was content just to know that she was gone. My guess is that she's somewhere in a room being studied.

I know, I know, you don't believe me, and that's fine. Before you dismiss my fantastical story, just think of this. Do you really think someone could actually make this up?