A New Year and Years to go!

Ok... last week was all about Gen 2 and the new team kicking off the second time line. This week, being the first week of a New Year, is an entirely appropriate time to begin our discussion of the future of the Whateley Academy. And its past. Or, more specifically... now that we have a second group of authors working on stories, what are we planning to do about keeping the new from overshadowing the old... and for further expanding on the world of the Whateley Academy.

Well, first of all; I want people to know that while we haven't hung up a real physical sign saying 'help wanted' ... we are obviously aware that the author roster for the original timeline is a little spare. And we intend to do some things to resolve that issue. But before we get to aggressive with that, we're looking at doing some organizing of our backlog... the plans, the plot lines, the foreshadowing, and all the rest of the things that make it incredibly difficult for us to recruit an author and actually work them into the existing timeline. You only have to look at the student list on the wiki to know that even if someone did come in as a new author, it's not as simple as just saying "Oh yes, I'm writing PoV of this character from the Masterminds who hasn't ever shown up on camera" ... because, we all know who all the members of the Masterminds are.

Obviously, we want good authors. The best way to make sure that we know you can pen a story is to be visibly doing so. Fan Fiction is one way. I'm also open to giving people 'project stories' as trial runs. What this will mean is we'll give you a pre-developed character, someone who if you've been reading Whateley, you will recognize... and a set of conflicts, plot points, and scenes... and have you write the story. Handled well, you'll have a published canon story under your belt even without being officially a canon author. Handled poorly... well, we'll see where the problems are and let you know what areas you need to work on before we would consider you as a canon author. 

As we find authors (and we get the original timeline key plotline data reined in), we'll add a couple more authors to the original timeline writing. Some of the Gen 2 authors might also step into working on Gen 1 characters in the same way that Gen 1 authors may have a Gen 2 character they are working on. This will, of course, depend on how they're meeting their Gen 2 story commitments and so on. And then, other authors not specifically detailed to Gen 1 or 2 may begin working on the 'Gen 3' concept... which atm is sounding more like a non-timeline than a timeline specific group. One focused on telling stories from before the 1990s or after 2025... or otherwise 'outside' the bounds of what we'd worry about causing continuity issues for the original timeline or Gen 2.

So if you have an interest in being a Whateley writer and missed the chance to join the Gen 2 project, stay tuned in the next few months. There are also some potential openings for an editor or two... which would mean, yes, having access to canon backstory details and seeing stories long before they release... of course, we all know that the editors would more than earn that access. Opportunities may soon appear. 

Something else that is going to appear... today... is the third and final part of Elrod's "Charging Buffalo, Hidden Dragon." You'll find that under Content -> Canon Stories