CI5 hq

Thank you! But it was a pleasure for me!
And I want to thank all who shared and shared and shared... :-)
It was sometimes really overwhelming!

I just have a wish. How about limiting the number of pages of the rec stories? Maybe not more than 100 pages, or better not more than 50?
Just because of RL...
(I can proudly announce that I've read the 680 pages of Waiting To Fall! - but it took some weeks...)

I'm looking forward!

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I'd hate to limit it that severely. If real life gets in the way...well, probably safe to say no one can participate in every single discussion at the same level of involvement.

If someone suggests something really long like WTF...maybe we could do two weeks instead of one for the reading? Or maybe we just cross that bridge when we come to it.

It was an excellent discussion, firlefanzine. I enjoyed it!

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I'm not fond of restrictions for myself - but I had the impression that the arguments of Byslantedlight are quite to the point.
Most fun is when many people discuss at the same time. I'm not so lucky about that, because for example on Monday morning when all the Great Pros Watch entries are posted I have scarcely time for it.

Anyway it was just a thought. I would of course try even long stories like Labyrinth!

"It was an excellent discussion, firlefanzine. I enjoyed it!"
Thanks!
Excellent is the right description! Although I had sometimes problems to follow, for I'm no native speaker!
(I'm sure nobody noticed it... :-))

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'I've read the 680 pages of Waiting To Fall' - that *is* an achievement, I gather it is a very long wait...

And I completely sympathise about Proswatch, on Monday morning I should be working, not checking The Safehouse (but I do anyway). I gather we have to do Proswatch on Sunday night because that is when it was originally shown on TV. Imagine the around-the-water-cooler conversations we could have had on Mondays after watching brand new Pros on TV. We'd need the cold water.

But that is why I want the Reading Room posts and discussion to start at the end of the week and run over the weekend when most of us have more time.

'for I'm no native speaker'. No, I didn't notice - extra respect!

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"for I'm no native speaker'. No, I didn't notice - extra respect!"
If you go on saying such things I'm gonna go and write a fic - and you are to blame! :-)

Thanks!

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byslantedlight.livejournal.com

I might echo limiting the length of stories for the Reading Room - or maybe if someone wanted to rec a longer one (cos that's good too, surely?) maybe we could just have longer to read it, maybe "miss" a week so that we can all read it, and have the review and discussion posted the week after? I know that discussion doesn't have to start/finish according to when people have read a story, but realistically there might be more participants if people are responding at roughly the same time (as they have been so far, actually! *g*) - partly because we all read at different paces/times/zones, but not least because posts fall out of people's flists relatively quickly, and unless you remember to check back, or track comments, or are receiving comments to your own posts, it's easy for people to forget something's going on if they're behind with it. So if people have to delay responding to a post because they've not had a chance to read the fic yet, it might mean that they end up not bothering? (Or maybe I'm maligning "people"? *g*) Just a thought... *g*

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Cheers! :-)

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Thank you for your thoughts, esteemed moderator.

I thought about limiting the word length when planning the Reading Room, but didn't want to impose too many conditions. I did sort of envisage the Reading Room fics as being something you could read in an hour or even less, like watching a Pros ep., partly so as not to interfere too much with RL, or become a chore and a burden.

I liked your idea, but was worried that if we take 2 weeks to read a long fic, the momentum would lapse. Now shooting2kill has made an excellent suggestion (if I understand correctly) of taking 2 or 3 weeks to read a long fic while keeping up with a short one each week as well.

At least these are ways to avoid having to be prescriptive about the length of fics to be recced.

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byslantedlight.livejournal.com

Hee - who esteemed me? I'll get 'em for that... *g*

Eeh - to be honest I'm far less likely to read two stories at once, with an eye to discussing them both... I'm a bit of a one-at-a-time girl when it comes to things I have to concentrate on! (Though weirdly I tend to have a few books on the go at once - not usually the same emotional pay-off, I don't think!)

I'm not sure that having an extra week to read would lose momentum, personally, not if it's just an occasional one-off - we'd all be away reading, after all!

Also, as of last week, I'll announce the fic as soon as it is recced, but ask for the discussion not to start until Thursday night, which allows a couple more days for reading.
Just to clarify what you said below... When you say "recced", you don't mean when the reccer has made their actual post, you mean when they've suggested it to you? So for example if someone volunteers one on a Tuesday, you'll tell us what it is, but ask them not to make their rec post before Thursday?

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Eeh - to be honest I'm far less likely to read two stories at once, with an eye to discussing them both... I'm a bit of a one-at-a-time girl when it comes to things I have to concentrate on! (Though weirdly I tend to have a few books on the go at once - not usually the same emotional pay-off, I don't think!)

Yeah, I didn't mean this necessarily as a permanent, ongoing thing but *if* someone suggested a longish story then we could put it in our diaries kind of thing - keep it in mind - while in the meantime carry on with discussing the shorter stories.

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I thought about limiting the word length way back, but didn't want to impose too many conditions. I did sort of envisage the Reading Room fics as being something you could read in an hour or even less, like watching a Pros ep. Then we had 'Labyrinth' which completely threw out my week - only just got back to reading 'Point of Hopes' yesterday.

But a longer fic gives us more to get our teeth into, and where would you draw the line between long enough and too long?

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Just an idea but maybe the longer stories could be suggested in advance, giving the group 2 or 3 weeks notice to read them at a comfortable pace i.e. someone might suggest a story like Bats at Noon for the end of March, and in the meantime the shorter stories could still be discussed on a weekly basis and so maintaining the momentum. (And if anyone doesn't actually like the current choice of story they could be getting on with reading the longer one). How anyone decides on what a longer story is though, I don't know - I think ProsLib defines them as 64K and over.

Edited Date: 2009-03-10 05:41 pm (UTC)

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Thanks, that's a very good idea.

Taking longer to read a longer fic is a good idea, but I worry that if we 'miss' a week it will drag on and after a fortnight people will have moved on to something else.

Also, as of last week, I'll announce the fic as soon as it is recced, but ask for the discussion not to start until Thursday night, which allows a couple more days for reading.

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Taking longer to read a longer fic is a good idea, but I worry that if we 'miss' a week it will drag on and after a fortnight people will have moved on to something else.

I think I've probably misunderstood what you're saying but do you mean 'miss a week' in terms of the longer fic or in terms of discussing anything, because we'd still have the shorter, week-by-week, stories to keep us going.

Also, as of last week, I'll announce the fic as soon as it is recced, but ask for the discussion not to start until Thursday night, which allows a couple more days for reading.

I think that's a great idea and will give people slightly longer reading time. Thanks!

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Sorry, I agree entirely with what you suggested. We could have a longer fic going over 2 or 3 weeks, with a short one each week as well - if there are recs for them, that is.

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Do you want to rec 'Bats at Noon' for the end of March? (she asks cheekily)

It's one I'd like read, certainly. Or was that a purely hypothetical comment?

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At this stage it was purely hypothetical but I might summon up the courage in a few weeks! Thanks, though.

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Sorry, that was me.

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May I make a suggestion? I'm not sure when you post this, but is there a chance of varying the time? I work daft shifts and by the time I get home, plenty of people have posted regarding a rec. I'm sure I'm not the only one in the same boat, and it'd be nice to have a chance of recc-ing a fic.

Just a thought, though - it's your idea :-))

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May I make a suggestion? I'm not sure when you post this, but is there a chance of varying the time? I work daft shifts and by the time I get home, plenty of people have posted regarding a rec. I'm sure I'm not the only one in the same boat, and it'd be nice to have a chance of recc-ing a fic.

Just a thought, though - it's your idea :-))

I don't think anyone's recced a new one yet, have they? Shooting2Kill was speaking hypothetically it seems. *g*

So...did you have one in mind?

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Shooting2Kill was speaking hypothetically it seems

Hah! (I don't laugh out loud so I won't say LOL). Do you know, I used to think I'd like to try my hand at having a discussion club but the level of analysis of the stories here is so impressive to be almost daunting and I'm not sure I could 'host' it as well as it has been hosted.....I think it must be very hard thinking of new or worthwhile contributions to each comment. But the more one reads the stories and reads the analyses, the more one learns and the more ideas you get, so hopefully, in time, I *may* get the courage to rec something.

Edited Date: 2009-03-10 08:06 pm (UTC)

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'so impressive to be almost daunting', ditto. If I hadn't gone first I would've been too intimidated by now.

Please don't feel discouraged though, I'm sure you'd hold your own perfectly well.

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Thank you! I would definitely like to try it at some stage.

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I think it must be very hard thinking of new or worthwhile contributions to each comment. But the more one reads the stories and reads the analyses, the more one learns and the more ideas you get, so hopefully, in time, I *may* get the courage to rec something.

Oh, I don't even know that it would be necessary that you respond to each comment -- unless you feared the discussion was flagging. I always enjoy your insights. You'd be great!

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Stands a little taller with pride

Really? Blimey....OK, in the meantime I'll try and get some practice.....

How do you get to Carnegie Hall?
Practice man, practice....

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Ooh didnt realise! Thought it was actually a rec *g*

Okay, how about Lizzie's The Victorian Kitchen Gardener? It's on the circuit archive, here is the link: http://www.thecircuitarchive.com/tca/archive/6/thevictorian.html

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Yay, well done you!

Was thinking the timing was unfair to anyone who's not around lj on Tuesday afternoon GMT, but couldn't think of a better way of doing it for the moment.

Would you also be kind enough to do us a short rec and post it on or around Thursday evening? And host the discussion in comments to your post? If it's a problem, I'm happy to help (well, not so much happy, but prepared to...)

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No problem...I just hope I remember! I could do with someone nudging me, or posting a comment to remind me, in case I forget...my memory is atrocious! LOL

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Will try to remind myself to remind you.

Thanks very much. This is going to be fun.

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A gentle nudge about this week's rec...
to be followed by a poke in the ribs.

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Tis done - and thanksfor the nudges *g*

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kiwisue.livejournal.com

The usual rec time is in the wee hours of the morning for me. I'm not quite ready to submit a rec yet, but if I was, could I get a pal who isn't as chronologically challenged as I am to post a claim on my behalf?

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I really do feel guilty about the timezone/work hours thing. Maybe one week I should set my alarm for 3 am and ask for a rec then. *vbg*

In the meantime, having someone else post a comment for you is an excellent idea.

Also, as the novelty wears off and more people (who are around on a Tuesday afternoon) have recced, the time before someone gets in with a rec will probably extend. This week it took about 5 hours for someone to 'volunteer'. *g*

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