jan05

Well, Now What?

Posted by Kevin Lawver 6 months ago | Permalink | Comments (19)

Mr. Scalzi has left the building, and even though I’ve given him a key to get back in anytime he wants, that leaves a gigantic Scalzi-shaped hole here on the ol’ ficlets blog. I’m not the writer that John is (even though I have a book out, it’s not fiction and I only wrote a chapter), and don’t have world-famous science fiction authors as friends I can e-mail for interviews or any great wisdom to share on writing. Now, if you want to know how to write a cool Rails app or the inner workings of CSS, I’m your guy. But, writing? I don’t feel qualified to start pontificating about it here.

I don’t think I’ll be able to get the powers that be to spring for another professional blogger to come in and help out, so you’re stuck with me (lucky you).

So… What would you like to see on the ficlets blog? I love the community that’s formed here, and I’d like to do more to highlight the things you’re doing – both in the ficlets space and out. I want this to remain as sort of the water cooler for the site (although a lot of you have suggested creating a forum – I’m all for it, I just have to find the time to build it so I can’t promise it’ll happen any time soon) and a source of non-photo or snippet inspiration.

In the short term, until I figure out what my plan is, I’d like to start showcasing the challenges you guys have been doing. A good deal of the most popular stories on the site are challenges, and well, I can’t keep track of all of them. So, if you post a challenge, please tag it with newchallenge (please don’t tag challenge entries with new challenge, you should keep using the challenge tag). I’ll keep track of that tag and try to blog new challenges every couple days or so. I’d really like to make the challenges something other than ficlets so they don’t “pollute” the story stream, but hey, you guys are having fun and finding ways to add features I didn’t plan, and that’s pretty damned cool.

Post a comment with what you want to see on the blog, keep writing good stuff, and tag those new challenges!

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Comments

  1. Fyora Cartagan's Buddy IconFyora Cartagan

    Posted 6 months ago

    Two things.
    One is a question: Should we change our tags for old challenges and put newchallenge in them if they are still going on?
    Two is rather an idea for a feature: Is there a way to be able to grab specific pictures from Flickr rather than just the ones that are able to be selected for inspiration?
    I’ve had my eye on a few pictures by someone I know on there, but they don’t show up when I search their tags from here.

  2. [pens&feathers]'s Buddy Icon[pens&feathers]

    Posted 6 months ago

    I think it would be really cool to have a separate section for challenges, that way they are easier to find and enter.

  3. Kevin Lawver's Testing Account's Buddy IconKevin Lawver's Testing Account

    Posted 6 months ago

    Fyora, if the challenges are still going on, yeah, go ahead and add the newchallenge tag.

    For the photos, they have to be Creative Commons Sharealike-Attribution licensed for us to be able to use them on ficlets. Otherwise, there are too many possible licensing and legal “issues” to deal with (I love creative commons).

  4. Stovohobo's Buddy IconStovohobo

    Posted 6 months ago

    I totally agree with pens, it seems to me the only ficlets that are “popular” or “active” are only challenges—I know, not completely true, but it seems that way.

  5. Jenunique's Buddy IconJenunique

    Posted 6 months ago

    Okay, just a “suggestion.” Would it be possible to add a link in the pretty yellow bar up there, (hinting to the top where the “home”, “your ficlets”, and so on, are located) and place the challenges there? I know that there has been a teeny bit of controversy concerning the challenges lately. I love them, but others have become annoyed, somewhat, by them. That way, if someone didn’t want to view them, they would never have to click that button. So, in actively clicking a challenge button, they would be making a conscious choice to view the challenges. Just a thought. ;)

  6. Jenunique's Buddy IconJenunique

    Posted 6 months ago

    O, I meant to add my vote for the forum also. 1024 and 512 are turning into my least favorite digits. ;)

  7. Yeah Write!'s Buddy IconYeah Write!

    Posted 6 months ago

    what’s a forum? (i’m a moron… I know.)

  8. Saint Chuck's Buddy IconSaint Chuck

    Posted 6 months ago

    Yeah Write, a forum is a place where people can discuss a certain topic. Kind of like posting comments, except to discuss a something instead of critiquing a story.

  9. Kevin Lawver's Buddy IconKevin Lawver

    Posted 6 months ago

    Jenunique, I don’t mean to single you out (because I hear it all the time), but I really don’t want the forum to be a place to skirt the constraints (1024 being the most important). It’s what makes ficlets what it is. Until now, I’ve been hesitant to add anything to the site that would take away from the core experience.

    As soon as I have a place for challenges, I’ll definitely add a prominent link to them. You’ll be able to find ‘em.

  10. Jenunique's Buddy IconJenunique

    Posted 6 months ago

    Kevin, I totally understand. And I put myself up there to be singled out. It’s what I do. ;-) I doubt that I would be the only one to get carried away and pull that leash just as far as it would stretch, hence, another understanding of the 1024/ 512 constraints.

    Completely understandable. Just ignore my virtual pouts. ;-) I still love this place.

  11. someday_93's Buddy Iconsomeday_93

    Posted 6 months ago

    I agree with the thing about challenges, it would be nice if they could somehow be separate, they do seem to dominate the most popular/active lists.

  12. .:band baby:.'s Buddy Icon.:band baby:.

    Posted 6 months ago

    The challenges most deffinatly dominate the popular/active lists. Love the idea of seperate place for challenges.

  13. THX 0477's Buddy IconTHX 0477

    Posted 6 months ago

    I’d like to object in the strongest possible manner to anything and everything previously said in this comment string. Not really, but I wanted to say that just for fun.
    One thing I would like to see on the blog is potential story topics. One of my favorite challenges was the one by YodaOnCrack where he sited a recent article (the one about robot/human marriage). Current events, philosophical positings, and new advances might make for some compelling and interesting ficlets.
    LoA

  14. Hobo Beard Bob's Buddy IconHobo Beard Bob

    Posted 6 months ago

    I would like for buddy icons and ratings to work. I’d also like to be able to delete drafts and edit comments. I’d also like one-hundred thousand dollars. If you could give me at least four out of the five items on my list, I would be happy.

  15. BernerOberland's Buddy IconBernerOberland

    Posted 6 months ago

    I agree with Hobobob can you make it in small bils please.
    I love the challenges, some of my best ficlets( those that were featured) are my favorites because then i dont have to use my little gray cells to come up with my own ideas. Lol LoA

  16. Alexa ♥'s Buddy IconAlexa ♥

    Posted 6 months ago

    Havign the challenges somewhere else. (Perhaps under the inspiration tab, since they inspire us to write things we wouldn’t have?)
    ~
    I’d also like to see some way of connecting to news articles or videos, but if they’re not on the Creative Commons, I understand.
    ~
    I agree about the ratings; I have to refresh pages several times before the stars show up.
    ~
    Drafting/editing/deleting my own comments would be helpful.
    ~
    When I re-edit a Ficlet, I’d like the option to have it re-post (and then be on the list of recent Ficlets).
    ~
    But mostly, I just want a mobile-friendly site so I can log on from the so-called Smart Phone. That one most of all.

  17. YodaOnCrack's Buddy IconYodaOnCrack

    Posted 6 months ago

    We’ll miss Mr. Scalzi’s posts – his Old Man’s War book is available on aubible.com & I can’t wait to download it & listen… In the meantime, Mr. Lawver, glad you’re the one who’s filling in… I’m sure you’re a very busy guy without the time to make too many changes / additions to ficlets. I think that finding a way to highlight challenges is a great idea. Maybe downstream, reward people with “points” (for reviewing) that could later be “spent” to create a challenge highlighted on the front page? I also like Alexa’s idea about smart phone accessibility, but not sure what would be required? More later…. – Yoda

  18. Tad Winslow's Buddy IconTad Winslow

    Posted 6 months ago

    This is totally disjointed from the flow of topics… but what I would love is a search bar for ficlet authors. A way to search for authors you know of that aren’t on the most recent, popular, or active list. It seems that if you are not on the MOST lists your ficlets are inaccessible.

    Is there a way to search for authors on this site, did I miss the memo?

  19. someday_93's Buddy Iconsomeday_93

    Posted 6 months ago

    If there is, I haven’t seen it either, Tad…that would be cool. I was also thinking, and this may be a bit much to ask for and maybe even defeat the purpose of ficlets, but maybe there could be a place for us all to get together and talk (notes are good, but that’s just one on one), without having to give out private info? Just a thought, I know that’s a lot.