edit.
 

Immy, I edited the beginning of my most recent post. Check it out please? I think it's okay.

AAAAAALAAAAAAK, where are yooooooou???

If I'm going to have to carry Erebemlin and Taitheneb, somebody please tell me. (GAH. Not enough time for who I've already got!!!)

I think it's brilliant, mate.

*gives Mark a spot o' tea since it sounds as if she could use it.*

;)

Mighty kind, Immy. And Thankee!! A spot o' tea does a body good.

Let's Face This Problem We Have.....
 

Feanor has explained on the EMH discussion thread that she will not be available for an extended period. I would expect that applies here as well. Thus, yet another needed writer for this story is not available.

It would appear that we have three options:
1. just keep on slogging on
2. stop now and wait until enough writers' availability returns
3. Stop, Rethink just who is going to be writing this, and cut down on number of writers to those who can commit, and Restart once that has been decided.

I'm not in charge of this story, but I would appreciate it if we could discuss this issue and these options, because as Immy so bravely pointed out not long ago, the current situation makes the story suffer, and that's not worth it.

I'll be able to commit to writing, just not for a few weeks probably.

Before I had finals, now I have an insane holiday work schedule (boo), and then I'll be moving out of state. After that, some time in January, I should be good to go, unless something comes up.

I'm committed to writing, though next month will be busy for me so I may take longer than usual to reply if things start to move quickly then.

Good call, lmp. I vote against slogging. The other two choices... Hmmm.

I'll be committed after this Friday. I'm having surgery tomorrow and I'll be recovering until then. I'll get a post up as soon as possible for Bellyn after Sunday.

I also vote against slogging, but I know that sometimes it's hard to deal with school/work/both.

So...yeah.

Option 4
 

Just thought of this today (or was it in the middle of the night?).

(1) Find out which writers are going to be available each month for the next three months.
(2) Make a list of (A) all of our characters and (B) their writers.
(3) Have the writers who cannot be around for one or more of the coming months choose alternate writers who are authorized by the primary writers to handle their characters.

The primary writers could work out with the alternates what degree of complexity would work. For example, some alternate writers may be familiar enough with a character that they could "get in the head" of the character they are sub-writing, while others would feel comfortable at only providing action.

I intend to be around for the next three months, but if I wasn't, I could, for example, divide my characters thusly between alternates who would be around:

Jorje: Firefoot
Æedegard: Nurumaiel
Raefindan: Helen
Tharonwë: Formendacil
Marigold: Alak

These are just meant to be examples based on reasonaable familiarity with a type of character; the weakest choice being Formy for Tharonwe, no fault of Formy's.

For myself... I'm both lazy and a student, so quick response from me is not to be expected whenever my turn comes up for posting (waiting on Fea's save right now, but that doesn't appear to be coming... so....). However, I'm a fast enough writer and this RPG is slow-paced enough that I should never have too much of a problem getting to posting within a week or so of it being my turn- assuming I get nudged if I don't seem to be around (it's started to happen, now and again...).

That said, I can carry Indil for the moment. Insofar as anybody "knows" her, I guess I do. (The posts with her thus far were penned primarily by my hand.)

So I'm around, and able to help, if need be.

Thanks, Formy. One caution though: posting speed can suddenly ramp up and you may find yourself with a dozen or more to catch up on before you know it. It has happened here.

I don't have any conflicts in the next three months to cause significant changes in my posting schedule - there might be a weekend or two that is bad, but nothing more than that.

I've sort of been waiting around with Rugh, but I think I'll try to come up with another post soon.

I was just thinking about all this in terms of who might be able to take the slack on various characters, and came up with this list. This list includes a lot of interpretation on my part, in terms of how primary, or not, a given character is. Feel free to differ with me and correct me if you feel the character you write should be placed elsewhere than where I did.

There are 23 characters here, all of which will be, and have been, written for. That's a lot of characters! They represent 11 writers, also a huge number for an rpg. How unwieldy is that?

My main point is that we have got to do this kind of delineation so that we have a sense of what's going on, because if all these characters are equal in our minds, we're carrying much more weight than we ought to be. The next questions to be asked are (1) what is the character's motivation for doing what s/he is doing in the broad sweep of the story? & (2) what is the character's purpose within the story? & (3) Which characters could leave the story with no harm to the story?

Main Characters

Primary

Mellondu/Amroth ~ Helen
Mellonin ~ Helen
Raefindan/Imrazor ~ Elempi
Aeron ~ Imladris
Ravion ~ Orual

Secondary

Liornung ~ Nurumaiel
Argaleafa ~ Nurumaiel
Bellyn ~ Aylwen Dreamsong
Ædegard ~ Elempi
Gwyllian ~ Imladris
Erebemlin ~ Alaklondewen
Nethwador ~ Helen

Minor Characters

Primary

Tharonwë/Maegeleb ~ Elempi
Jorje/Tirril ~ Elempi
Taitheneb ~ Alaklondewen

Secondary

Marigold ~ Elempi
Erundil ~ Orual
Mithrellas ~ Elempi

Not sure yet

Bergil ~ Formendacil
Indil/Angela ~ Feanor
Sæthryd ~ Celuien
Rugh ~ Firefoot
Avarien ~ Helen

Double post
 

Now that the holidays are over, perhaps more of us are around to have this discussion.

One more alternative is that those writers who are active can simply be the main characters, and those who are not around, are carried along as minor characters by those who are actually writing.

I would venture to say that posting once per week would be construed as "active".

Despite the insanity of the coming month (sample schedule: driving to Providence Thursday, driving back Friday, most likely working on Saturday, driving to Pittsburgh Sunday and coming back Monday, repeat for the next three weeks), I will definitely keep an eye out to keep Sæthryd active as she may be needed. But if things move for her before February, posting any more frequently than once a week will probably be difficult for me.

I must be crazy. :rolleyes:

This is a test ...
 

... of the activity level of our writers; this is only a test.

If you reply to this by seven days from this post's date, you are considered active.

(Except for Celuien & Elempi who have already posted.) :rolleyes:

As you can see, I really, really want to get this going, and would appreciate a little help doing so.

I am going to be moving out of state in about three days. After that, I will be free to be as active as you please.

I'm working on it.

Here.

Present.

(And posting once a week should be doable for the foreseeable future... though with school about to start again, that will be about it.)

I'm also here.

Things are quieting down for me now, and once a week at least should be very do-able.

Honestly, I think I count as not-here. Posting is going to be increasingly difficult.

And where oh where is alak...?

To be dead honest, I count as not really here either. I'm almost around, but not in writing ability. Since that's what we're doing, lurking irregularly isn't helpful.

Double posting... I'm so naughty.

Save filled, and the cheering commences.

Formy, you're up.

Maybe I am around.

But I should warn in advance that my involvement in the 'Downs as a general thing won't be what it was. I'm slowly extracting myself from everything, but I am still interested in continuing this particular commitment.

Hmmmm.... seems to be true for both of us.

Mark "not here", however, really calls this entire project into question. How does one carry on the story if the two main characters aren't around? It doesn't work.

So if "slogging on" is not an option, what then, Mark?

There are two ways to write about a cat.

Option 1: You have the cat. It's right there. Everybody knows the cat is what the story is about, and you have this lovely fluid story pertaining to the cat. For example, you have the cat, you get the cat in the tree, you get the cat out of the tree. And, ta da, the cat story is simple.

Option 2: Slightly harder. You build the cat out of claws, fur, purring, screeching, hissing, the scent of fish and dead mice, a scrap of yarn, and a few chirrups. You show the sunny window and the sound of scratching furniture. If the story is about the cat getting in and out of the tree, you also build the tree. The bark, the leaves, the breeze making the branches shiver as the cat holds on for dear life, because even though cats always land on their feet, you've built a distance between the cat and the ground. To change my metaphor without warning, it's like studying DNA by watching its shadow.

We don't have the main characters without Mark, but we have their shadows. We have the claws and the purring. We can build the story around them, if we know what to build.

Can you describe the sensation of "sizzling bacon" without discussing meat or grease or cooking? If so, you can write a story without somebody talking about the main characters.

What we can do without them, is build around them. As a sequel, if we were publishing, we'd need to give the audience a bit of introduction to the story anyhow. We can nudge memory into place, build up the scene. Give the readers the smell of a dead fish-- er... purring. We can give the readers purring.

We'll need Mark eventually, obviously, but we aren't bereft if she needs to disappear.

At least not unless I'm wrong.

Fea, you are hilarious. And, I hope, correct.

True confessions here: I was counting heavily on alak to do a great many things. She and I have worked on the Amroth/Erebemlin/Mellondu/Taitheneb foursome for so long that either of us can carry it. "Neither of us", however, might be a bit of an issue as elempi states. Or-- not, as Fea counters.

Okay, Fea, I'm game.

I'm willing to 3rd person Mellondu, Amroth, Erebemlin, and Taitheneb.

Current Active List:
(giving us the following characters as pov----->

Elempi ----->Raefindan/Roy Edwards/Imrazor,
-------------->Ædegard,
-------------->Maigeleb/Tharonwe,
-------------->Jorje/tirril
-------------->Marigold
(How'd my characters get so many names?!?)

Celuien ------> Saethryd
Feanor ------> Indil/Angela
Imladris ------> Aeron, Gwyllian
Firefoot --------> Rugh
Formendacil-----> Bergil
Nurumaiel-------> Liornung, Argaleafa

Third Party Character List (so far):
Erebemlin
Taitheneb
Mellondu/Amroth
Mellonin
Bellyn
Averyll
Nimrodel
Mithrellas
Ravion

So far so good?

Out of the smoke...
 

I'm pulling out of the chaos of life now. I have had many many things happen pretty much simultaneously that had brought my coming online everyday...into coming online once a week to check my email and that's it.

Over the last few days, I've been feeling the fire to write and Erebemlin is calling to me. I want to catch back up and be a part of this game; however, with that said, I don't want to say I can definitely be here everyday, but as everything seems to be working out...I would like to say I can write once a week.

I'm sorry for my unexpected absence, but my heart is in this story...and I hope to be able to meet the obligations of the story.

~Alak

GLEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

And celebration.

Hm.

I'm here...but it's not like Bellyn is a super important character or anything.

I'll try to get a post up for her, and I know I said I would after my surgery, but the holidays got to me. Sorrrrrry!!!!

Ahhhhh. :) Now I feel like I can relax a little bit. I think that if we all commit to posting once per week, we'll have a very good experience. Now, if only Helen will commit to this too.... Helen? ;) The only person we have not heard from yet, within this week, is Orual. There's still time.

Okay, now that I've committed to once per week, I'd like to suggest that Jorje is going to make it to the mountains a couple days after he leaves Marigold. Firefoot, what do you say to Jorje happening upon Rugh? Would that be workable?

Tharonwe is ready to be posted for, but I need the ladies to follow, and in order to do that, one of the ladies' writers needs to post. I'm waiting .... er .... patiently.... :rolleyes:

Ædegard and Raefindan can respond to Aeron at any time, but not at all to Aeron's liking. Actually, if, Immy, you want to post for Aeron again pretty soon, you could add in replies from Ædegard and Raefindan, that they have sworn to stick with Mellondu.

Okay, is there any reason as of now for Bergil and Indil NOT to reach Mellondu's company in my next post? Reasons like: things need to be posted first, days are discrepant, too soon artistically... or anything.

Not that I'm up to it tonight, or even tomorrow, probably... but soon I'll probably be ready to post, and I'm a "catch me while the catching's good" sort of guy.

Sounds good.

The only thing I can think of is that it would be good to heighten the conflict regarding Aeron's dream versus Erebemlin's will. That involves Immy and me; I'm happy to write another post for Ædegard and Raefindan to that end instead of what I suggested above. Since Erebemlin has made himself clear already, it's not trouble to write him 3rd person, which either Immy or I could do.

Okay, Firefoot, I'll work something up for Jorje.

I'll try to put something up for Saethryd by Sunday. Not tomorrow Sunday since I'll be back on the road, but a week from tomorrow. ;) Changes in her visions and sensing that things are going on near her "realm" and the like...

Aylwen, where does your last post place Bellyn, in general?

For that matter, where are Mellonin and Leafa? And that other new Elven woman of Helen's?

lmp, I must admit, not only am I unsure as to Leafa is at this present moment, I'm even rather doubtful of where she's supposed to be.

Has she run away? Or not, but still needs to?...

Hopefully once I get Leafa's whereabouts down, I'll be more clear on what I need to do, and able to participate a bit better!

Uh, in my mind, it's been something around a day and a half or more since Bellyn left (she left sometime around midnight or right after, traveled for a day, and now it's mid-morning of the second day?) based on the posts that I put and Helen put for Mellonin. I'm kind of assuming this because I'm not 100% sure how fast horses can go, but I'm assuming Bellyn has ridden somewhere in the vacinity of sixty miles? If that's the case, she'd be somewhere near...uhm, Nordol, or near the Stonewain Valley...but that's just in my head (she may have ridden farther or ridden less, depending on how wrong I am about horses). And I assume Mellonin is somewhere behind her?

I must admit that I was rather surprised that the three - now four - women all left separately. I had expected that they would tell each other about their dreams and leave together for strength in numbers. But maybe that's just me. Get a bunch of introverted characters in the same city, have them dream the same dream, and they're likely not even to consider that others might need to know about it. :p

So okay. I'll assume then that Leafa has also left on her own, which seems desperately out of character for her; she had better have one whopping dream, seems to me.

So okay (hmm I already said that); I can post for Tharonwë then; just not right now. :rolleyes: - short break.