I had to cut a fanfic out of the SJ forum tonight, because it basically stepped on the toes of the storyline I've actually got running. I hate to throw my weight around like that, but at the same time, I don't want the integrity of the story to be jeopardized by activity in the forum, either.

Since the storyline ends on Friday, I figure I'll put the fanfic back on the weekend, after the actual storyline has had its finish. That way, what I wrote can gel and sink in a bit, before people start reading ways it could have gone.

I suspect that the fanfic is probably closer to what most people were expecting (and many doubtless wanted) from this storyline ... but it's not where I wanted the story to go, and I want to ensure that it is my version of events that people think of as "the real story" later on.

I guess what it boils down to is a matter of control. When Tieran wrote an alternate-universe story with Drezzer and Wally dating, that was fine, because it was set a year backwards in time, and it was very clearly just a "what if" fantasy. This new story hasn't even let the dust settle, and the real ramifications of what's going on settle in, before going off entirely another way.

Anyway, I'm not angry ... I'm a little sad that the impact of my own story may end up blunted because of this, tho, and in the future, I'm going to have to keep a tighter rein on fanfics, I guess. Such is the price of having an expanding audience, alas.

Tobias, if you're out there reading this, I hope you see my point, and don't feel like you're being picked on or anything, 'cause that's not my intention.

Anyway, that's all for now. G'nite!

-The Gneech

Not that the title has anything to do with this entry, it's just what's going through my head at the moment.

Come, friends, who plow the sea
truce to navigation
take another station
let's vary piracy
with a little bur-gla-ry!

( ANYway...Collapse )

I'm pondering the SJ Site Redesign some more tonight; while I was doing so, Kai threw this in my general direction:

As you ponder weak and weary,
on this night, so cold and dreary,
thoughts of websites float the mind,
of dreams of beauty of the furry kind.
So far and away the whipper cries,
and soon a desire will surely fly.
Come forth now, I beckon ye,
a website setup, that all can see!

I like it. :) I'm not sure it helps, particularly, but I like it anyway.

As for the website, I suspect that the only thing that's really going to get things moving, is to sit down and start throwing elements together. When I was coming up with the site redesign for NeverNever, I had a strong visual element that I knew I wanted to work with, which was the ivy leaf, and I had a vision of earthy colors and the Albertus font. ;) That ivy leaf motif was actually on the wrapper of a rubber stamp that I picked up at an arts and crafts store, doctored suitably and made into something else so it wouldn't be just plain theft.

I don't have a similar solid hook for the new SJ design. I've puttered around with images of Tiffany, with alternate logos, with funky ways of making the strip look like it's on the page of a book, with a Site-As-Magazine-Cover concept, a "deep in the tall grass" design, and so forth ... still haven't had something jump up at me and say, "Yes! I am the site design you've been looking for!"

Oh well, I'll work it out. The good news is, I am making progress on the Too Much To Do List! Two things are almost done (but require retrieving some stuff from jamesbarrett), two things are finished and crossed off, and I expect at least four things to be done by the end of this weekend. Woohoo!

Of course, something new got tacked onto the bottom -- D'Oh!! -- but it's still more good news than bad, overall, and that's the way I like it.

That's all for now. G'nite everybody. If you get a chance, tell somebody else who's not expecting it how much you like them. It'll make their day better.

-The Gneech