AMAZING IDEA!
i love it
cant wait to get the whole thing started!!!
as if you guys didn't have enough to do???? just kidding, grat idea I'll tune in to listen.~ Kristy
Wait, how do we apply to read these things? I am obsessed with theatre and Harry Potter, and any opportunity to read Harry Potter aloud would make me do backward somersaults. The banner above is about something called "Odd Fish," which sounds suspiciously Scarlet Pimpernelish.
o_O That was unexpected.
Having listened to a little of the pilot, I'm impressed by the quality of the recording. I'd also like to add that you have a lovely voice for the job Roxy.
That said, I can't help but feel a little surprised and, if you'll forgive me, rather less enthusiastic than many of my fellow authors. This looks to be a rather mammoth task to run, which makes it seem like an odd decision given the already large pressures upon those who run the site and manage the fiction. I'm also a little worried that the nature of such a project might go on to promote already successful one shots/poems; at the detriment of progress/validation to new chaptered fics. Obviously that's a particularly selfish point of view, as a reader and moreso as a writer, but I think it's a valid concern.
All that said, of course, everyone else who has posted (here and on the boards) seems very excited and enthusiastic about such an idea, which counts for more than one skeptical post. In that respect, well done and best of luck with it!
This is a fantastic leap ahead for MNFF. I hope there are many vocally and theatrically talented members out there who get involved in this. Of course this is really putting the pressure on us dinosaurs still on dial-up to upgrade.
On the other hand, as butter_beer_drinker said, "as if you guys didn't have enough to do????" It was my understanding that part of the shutdown was for mods to catch up with the overload of work. I hope this new project doesn't increase queue waits for those of us who only want to submit our archaic typewritten stories. MNFF queue down was like having the car in the shop. I've waited to get the engine tuned-up and running but was instead told I have new chrome wheels.
It's true, we do have a lot to do - that's why we're hiring other people to do it for us. :D We can manage a team well enough and we can help them to run themselves. Don't worry, it won't be too much work for us. And I always like a challenge.
The Audiofictions will have nothing to do with the queue, so queue time will not be affected by them.
Keefy - We do not plan to promote some types of fiction more than others. Obviously, today's episode was a pilot and I thought that some shorter, well written and will known poems would be a good way to start. It is down to you lot to suggest a variety of fiction, but we will be suggesting some ourselves - don't forget that we see everything that goes through the queue - and Chaptered fictions will be read as much as the shorter ones.
All will be revealed as the feature progresses.
This should not stop the writing or validation of any fiction - it is merely an interesting new feature that an author may or may not use. We are first and formost a writing site - and that will never change.
If you want a fiction to be an audiofic - it needs to be accepted to the site first!
*headdesk* I guessed the password correctly, but didn't think to add Mer to the beginning. Darn...
I love this idea! I was trying to put fanfiction as notes on my iPod, but it didn't work. Now I can listen to it!
BTW, Roxy, you have a great voice. I heart your accent!
Despite how much I LOVE this idea, I agree with Keefy. Will chaptered fics get a chance to be heard as well?
Rose
I click the banner and it merely directs me to a black page with the banner on it. What am I doing wrong? :S
Why has the banner been changed back to the "Coming Soon" banner?
~BB
Not to step on your modly toes, but you posted the incorrect password to the Black Lake. It's MerMuggle, not MerMuggles. . .
Love the new feature!
~ Samarie
Alright, I figured it out. In "My Preferences" in Account Info, I had chosen my skin as Guidance... And Guidance appeared for me as soon as I logged on. But when I changed my preferences to Dragon, it's the AudioFics banner again. >.>
~BB
woo hoo! im so excited! i also cant wait for the queue to open (yea i know im not the best speller...)
Roxy, my dear, I did not mean to suggest that chaptered fics would fall by the wayside due to favouritism. I'm sure that wouldn't be the case at all. However, the shere practically issues involved lend themselves towards shorter fictions. To cover a short poem might take three minutes. To cover a 20 twenty chapter book might take five hours! Those five hours could either be dedicated to one author of the above chaptered fiction - or to a hundred authors of short poems. Obviously it's fairer to implement the latter - and in a less black and white world you'd still want to slide far more in that direction than the former. So unfortunately the bias to shorter fiction is, if the system is to promote many writers, somewhat inevitable.
As to the promotion of already popular fiction; that's always going to happen in the democratic nomination process. Anyone who's watched a music television channel or listened to the radio could tell you as much. I like the idea of particularly good pieces of work in the queue getting put up - because that at least is certain to promote largely new things.
Sounds splendid. By the way, am I the only one not using the "Dragon" skin right now?
Can't wait for audio-stories to start coming!
Smiles,
Luna
As far as longer chaptered stories go -- do you think it would go amiss to simply read some EXCERPTS from them maybe? Perhaps a particular chapter could be nominated (of course, you would have to be careful with context and everything), but I don't think that would be entirely impossible/unrealistic, would it?
Also, I'm stuck on the "Classic" skin, and can't find the Dragon. Anyone else?
I'm excited about the changes though! Good work, mods!!! Way to shake things up :D
Neville's Girl and I were talking at lunch today about these musical spoofs that I have posted on the site, and about how it would be fun to get together a cast of people to sing the different vocal parts (for example, me as Voldemort, someone as Harry, someone as Snape...) I don't think that it'll be a possibility, but it's fun to think about.
As I said, we are still in the early stages of this project so we will sort out technicalities later once we've hired our MerMuggles and heard what they think about these ideas.
We have, of course, discussed the dilemma of chaptered fictions and we came up with a number of possibilities. We may have a chaptered fiction being read, chapter-by-chapter, or we may have only the first chapter of these fictions which you can then go away and read yourselves - as a little teaser to start you off.
It really depends on who we hire and how much time they have to record. If we can afford to devote one or two people solely to the recording of chaptered fictions, whilst the others handle poetry and one-shots, we will do so.
It is natural on the site, not just audiofictions, for readers to prefer one-shots and shorter or completed fictions. I'm afraid that's just the way it goes, but we try our best to get it all to you.
Of course popular fictions will be read as Audiofics because these are the ones that we will receive suggestions for - but the MerMuggles will select the fictions from the nominations and we will always strive to give a full picture of our site, and not just the ones that everyone knows.
And sorry Samarie... you are correct. The password is MerMuggle, not MerMuggles. I must've gotten a little carried away. :D
Brilliant!
I was so nearly right (I said videos.) Worth staying up for but can I go to bed now?