ysabetwordsmith | Let's Talk About Serial Poetry (Reply)

my_partner_doug and I have been talking about serial poetry this past week, and I wanted to raise the topic here on Monday when the most people are active. These are some of the things I've been thinking about...

So far, I unlocked the donor-perk prompt post so that people could see the prompts that inspired the recent batch of poems in the Fiorenza and Path of the Paladins series. my_partner_doug pointed out that, based on what happens during fishbowls, people seem to enjoy reading each other's comments and comparing the initial prompts to the finished poems. Fair enough. For future reference, I'll try to remember to unlock donor-perk prompt posts after I've closed the prompting window. Your feedback on whether this is welcome, and we're on the right track regarding what you like, would be helpful.

Regarding the "Donors" custom group, I've started adding some of my volunteer supporters as well as cash sponsors. Time is money, and I've got some folks who are taking on important aspects of the project that free up my time for the stuff that only I can do: writing the poems. Thank you all.

I've been toying with the idea of bonus material for the poetic series. This is partly because I've seen some other creators offering such things, and partly because some of the series are getting big enough that I need to create certain things for organizational reasons -- which I suspect you'd enjoy seeing too. Likely options include lists of characters, longer character descriptions with reference photos, setting lists, timelines, and collections of reference links. Some of this is also the kind of material that might wind up the back of a book. (I already have a publisher interested in The Origami Mage and Monster House.) Please let me know if any of this appeals, and if so, what kind of stuff you think might be the most fun.

Open Epics

I want to keep the open epics flowing, and I want to make sure that what's been written for a series doesn't get unmanageably far ahead of what's been published in that series. I want each series to remain true to its core concepts while allowing room for growth. I'm also still looking for ways to conserve and condense my worktime. In support of this:

1) If there are unsponsored poems in the selected series when it's time for a free serial poem, I'll put those up for voting instead of doing a whole new prompt call. This will give you a chance at picking up poems you've been wanting for a while -- especially the big epics -- while closing gaps in the storyline, preventing the series from getting too strung out, and conserving my worktime.

2) If an open epic stalls, and doesn't get any more donations after some amount of time, I may decide to offer it as a perk to get it off the list. That could involve matching verses to votes, or putting the remainder up whole as a free poem perk, or whatever else seems promising at the time. This is less likely to fit into a regular perk, and more likely to be "I need something to give people for thingie-I-want-them-to-do."

3) I am retiring "A Periodic Table of Elementals" for the time being. I still hope to finish it, I'm just not doing a satisfactory job of writing it verse-by-verse. I seem to do better at writing things first, then offering them. This information is useful, if frustrating.

Somewhat related to this is the giant can of worms regarding epics per series. I would prefer to stick with one open epic per series, and no more than that, opening the next one after the current one completes funding and posting. In the interests of letting cyberfunded creativity do its thing, however, I'm seeking audience input in case other folks think of more things that haven't hit my radar yet.

Cons: I thought that with more than one open epic per series, the chance of tied polls would be much higher, and people would have a harder time deciding where to route donations. (I've had complaints of choice paralysis before; it's hard enough with different series, without internal competition.) Doug thought things might go the other way, though: that a series' supporters would split their votes in a "third party effect," thus consistently allowing some other series to win polls, and perhaps leaving a majority unsatisfied who would have won if they'd pooled their votes behind their favorite series' single open epic. Another drawback is that multiple open epics within a series would reduce the diversity of open epics currently available; people not into that series would have less of other stuff to interest them. I don't want to have an infinite number of epics open at the same time; as mentioned before, it can spread out donations too far. (However: the more of you donors there are, the faster these things go, and the more you can support.)

Pros: The one clear advantage to allowing multiple open epics within a series -- and it's a big one -- is that it would maximize donor choice. (I'm reluctant to tell other people how they can spend their money; I only do it if it seems really urgent to me.)

A literary effect of this freedom may be considered an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on your taste: it would facilitate the diversification and development of subplots or character arcs. For instance, we have two popular series where the character perspectives and events have some divergence already: the origami mage and the kirigami mage in The Origami Mage; and Shahana/Ari, Larn, and Johan in Path of the Paladins. It would let people choose and support what they like best, but could leave other people bored and/or create more plot scatter than is desirable. There's a risk of losing the tight focus on a main character or the original theme/flavor of the series. As a writer, I have some but not total control over where a storyline goes. That is, I can usually give you more of what you request as favorites, or choose to include something I know is relevant even if you're not requesting it. I can't necessarily stop a character or plotline once they've gotten going, and they may sometimes go in directions that neither you nor I expect or wholly approve of. The massive creative engine has manual steering, not automatic. I do my best to find a confluence between my interests, your interests, and what the characters are up to.

Please think about open epics, what you consider to be pros or cons, and whether or not you think it would be prudent to allow more than one open epic per series simultaneously. I want to know your ideas and opinions on this topic. I have a pretty firm opinion right now, but it's not carved in bedrock and if nothing else the situation may change in the future. More information is always useful.

Feedback

Finally, I want to discuss feedback, especially comments. You folks are nice and lively; plenty of you comment on posted poems. That means my_partner_doug and I tend to use your comments or lack thereof to estimate the level of interest in each series and in individual poems or specific themes/motifs. (Prompts count, but the window of activity there is much narrower. Donations count, but those are usually one person's opinion except on the cosponsored pieces.) This impression of popularity garnered from your feedback can influence what gets written and/or posted. More popular stuff gets more exposure, although as mentioned above I may still do occasional work on things I consider necessary for narrative reasons even if they're not wildly popular.

I rely on you to tell me what you want. The more targeting information you give me, the better my aim at producing things you like. If a poem gets no comments, or just one or two -- when others are getting 10 or 20 -- then I tend to assume you weren't all that impressed by it and probably wouldn't bounce on your seat if more appeared. The more comments I see, the more I figure you liked that poem. So even "This is cool!" or "meh" comments have some use. Beyond that, however, request comments are better: "More like this" and "Less like this" especially. Substance comments are where you mention a favorite line, motif, or character; or point out things you recognize from source materials; or ask questions or suggest further developments; or propose revisions. Those are the most valuable of all. It doesn't take many of those to imply that a poem is super-popular. Also remember that I occasionally spin substance comments into whole new poems.

During a prompt call, your prompts also serve as requests: I give more weight to things that multiple people request or that make valuable developments on previous material. But that's a day or two a month. Comments are always open. To all of you who comment regularly: thank you for your input. For the rest...

If you're not typing, you're not steering. Crowdfunding is the time when I share my inspirational journeys with other folks, rather than just exploring on my own. I really enjoy that interaction. (If you prefer to lurk because you feel more comfortable that way, I won't push; but if you think think that your opinion isn't important, it is.) Also, when you pay attention in crowdfunding, what you buy with that is the opportunity to help make important creative decisions. Please don't leave your change on the counter. Talk to me. If there are other points you'd like to raise regarding serial poetry, beyond what I've listed in this post, this is a good time.

Over to you now ...