Quick thoughts:
Maédhros: Point taken. I venture to say that the TftE crew is unusually dedicated, though. If the idea here is to involve a broad cross-section of Downers, then a narrower time frame seems more likely to succeed. But hey, if I'm the only one worried, I'm certainly not going to make a federal case out of it. Besides, there's probably not much difference between eight months and a year and change. If pacing it out to cover, say, the summer seems too fast, then you may as well go whole hog and do a chapter per week.
M and Lyta: Topic starting. A couple of things. Do we really need a summary? After all, posters presumably all just read the chapter. That's the point, right? Plus we have detailed chapter summaries available for linking (or even cutting-and-pasting, for that matter) on the Downs proper. As far as preparing an essay-form analysis/introduction of discussion points... I wasn't anticipating anything of this sort. I side with the posters who advocate maximum flexibility in the actual discussion structure. My idea was that the moderator would pretty much create the thread without necessarily creating expansive introductory comments and discussion would simply begin, with posters taking the lead in any given chapter as opportunity and inspiration allowed, rather than as assigned work. This approach also guards against dropout and burnout and missed deadlines. I can be convinced otherwise, though.
Saucepan and mark12_30: Yes, I had anticipated a standard thread-naming convention (another reason to have one person starting all the threads). Maybe not so "computerese" as your examples, Helen, but something similar. The zero-padding is a good point. So - "Book I - Chapter 01 - A Long-Expected Party" and so on. "Wipes vs. dissolves" refers to filmic transitions. Ugh -- my mask is slipping!
Oh, and P.S. --
Lyta, it's awesome that you have a sig from "Pale Rider". Eastwood RULES.
P.P.S. -- Cross-posting with
SPM -- agreed re: essay writing.