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Doom in 2007

Started by Ed, January 26, 2007, 02:36:38 PM

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Ed

I've been thinking about having a bit of a sort-out here, deleting areas of the forum that aren't often used, downsizing the whole thing to make it easier to navigate, etc.  One of the potential areas looking at the chop is the artist's section, because it very rarely sees any action, sadly.  Active areas of the forum won't be affected.

Something else I've been thinking about for quite a long time is to have a separate area, or perhaps even a whole forum of its own, for writing on the lighter side of fiction - drama, humour, sci-fi, thriller.  Stuff that isn't necessarily dark in nature.  Reason being, a few people have said the dark look of the forum puts a lot of writers off coming here, because they think CafeDoom is all about horror, and nothing else.  But then there are a lot of other places on the internet to cater for that kind of thing.  Experience with the novel writing section's failure makes me wonder whether it would get any use.

Another thing I've been considering is whether to have a regular new story on the front page, together with maybe a few flash stories and articles.  Trouble is, I'm aware of how much extra work that might involve, and I'm not sure I've got time for it.  I never intended Doom to be an e-zine - just a writer's workshop and showcase.  I'm not sure how you would make the distinction between the two, though.  It would be nice to have a few front page stories to choose from every month, and I think having Doom listed as a 'for the love of' market on Ralan's would help bring in new writers and possibly keep the crit group active, too.

If any of you have any thoughts on these things, or suggestions to make on any subject, I'd be grateful for your input. 

Thanks :smiley:
Planning is an unnatural process - it is much more fun to do something.  The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise, rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression. [Sir John Harvey-Jones]

Dan

I'm a big Ralan fan - when i ran Hell Inside and was offering $5 a story and posted it there, i was deluged. If i'd have had a forum i'm sure lots would have stuck around...
You could list it there are a monthly comp for the front page, £1 entrance and the winner takes the lot. You'd certainly get plenty of interest.
www.HellInside.com - welcome to Hell!

Ed

Thanks for the suggestion, Dan.  I like the idea, but I've never liked mixing money and friends.  Thinking ahead, I could see a time where we got deluged every month, there would be hundreds of pounds involved, and I'd spend all my spare time reading the entries, trying to pick a winner, only to reap a backlash when I didn't pick somebody's little gem of a story as the winner.  The only way to do it well would be to have an independent celebrity judge each time, and that would pose a few problems in itself.

Worth thinking about, but a difficult one to get off the ground. :scratch:
Planning is an unnatural process - it is much more fun to do something.  The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise, rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression. [Sir John Harvey-Jones]

Robert M. Blevins

Good ideas there, Blunt.
The art thing probably didn't go far because of sites like Photobucket, etc. Well, who knows. Doesn't matter.
You could make it into a regular writers' forum, but leave the name the same and lean towards horror. I always thought CD would be better with a lighter background, but that's just me.

Over at Adventure Books' site, we are constantly in motion, changing stuff, dumping pages, adding others. Change is good. A more traditional forum, leaning to horror, would likely attract more members, too.
'Don't give up reaching for the stars...
just build yourself a bigger ladder.'