Is THOIN still happening?

If we name it 'boobies' we'll get a LOT more traffic though. 

Aw! You knows we hearts you, Popo!

Haha, I totally forgot about it until now. No, it's totally cool, don't feel bad. It was ages ago, and I gave up on my All*star title as well, for whatever reason. Everything I wrote for All*star was apparently taken down anyway, haha

I can't believe you remember that, haha.

I'd still love to write a Polaris solo. I just wouldn't know where it would fit in or what the long term story would be.

I know, right? Kevin, every time you plot a Polaris story the universe it's for kind of dies :(. I totally want to see you writing a Daria/Polaris story :)

I'm just excited to be writing X-23 :-D

This post is getting REALLY LONG, so I'm going to break it into topics. Read what you like.

The Navigation Bar

Overall, I think the Navigation Bar on the left could use a facelift. "Home" should remain at the top, but I think that "Submissions" and "Forums" should be right under. If anyone is coming to the site to read, they know what they're looking for - but if we're trying to get people interested in writing and posting feedback, we need to make doing so STUPID easy. Kicking those two up higher on the list brings them to the viewers attention WAY more.

I also think that the individual submission info for X-M, 617, and All*Star should be moved to the individual uni itself rather than on the Submission page. To the best of my knowledge, none of the unis are accepting submissions any more, and the less clutter and info there is on the Submissions page, the better for new writers.

I'm not really sure if we need an "Articles & Columns" area unless we're actually going to REALLY do something here. Yeah, there are a few interviews on the page, but I honestly think that's us stroking our own egos more than it is presenting anything worth reading to an audience. I hate to say we need staff writers, but I think if we're going to have a section about Articles and Columns, we need to embrace that. Perhaps some kind of monthly feature on writing, character building, universe building, playing in a different setting (like how CoE uses a fantasy setting as opposed to modern day, what positives that has, what negatives that has) and the like. We could rotate writers or, if a writer has an idea for something solid and steady, give them their own column.
I'm basically thinking on ANN (Anime News Network) and how they have staff writers who review anime figures, who talk about older anime, who review manga, and on and on. When I think of a site with articles and columns, THAT is what I'm thinking. Maybe even give out prompts to the audience and just do something on that - my favorite thread over at Marvel Omega is "What do you want to see?/Case for a Title". Nothing like engaging the readers/writers AND getting that spark of an idea out there.

I also like the Independant Imprint or Independant Titles as some new names for the General Section, which should come next. I prefer "Independant Titles" simply because I think think saying it's an "imprint" implies some sort of blanket theme over the section. When I think Imprint I think of Vertigo or MAX or Marvel Knights - where all the books have some sort of uniting theme.

THEN comes "family books" - which should include the 617, All*Star, and X-M, at least. They shouldn't be on the Navigation bar at all IMO. NONE of the universes are updating and I think we have some kind of moritorium on the 617 don't we? If it isn't going to update, we don't need to promote it - unless someone wants to do a column on failed/collapsed/closed titles, which could be interesting. I also suggest "The Multiverse" as a new name for the "Family Section". It implies that there is going to be more than on universe (which there are) and I think anyone who is reading fanfic is familiar with the concept enough NOT to be put off.

I think then should come "Fan Art" and "Custom Figures". Personally, I think that the submission info for fan art should also be on the page itself, simply for sake of ease. If someone starts to peruse the fan art section and gets inspired, we can save them the click of getting to the Submissions page.
Also, as an artist myself, of my concerns sending my art in is what file type/size should it be in. I know the usual size I present my work at, but is that cool on THOIN? Is there a set size? Or type? I think think this needs to be made clear. It is part of the reason I've never sent work in before.

Tawner's Suggestions/Site Design

I see what he means on the font size - as the latest two updates on THOIN have different fonts. It just presents a sloppy front page.

Considering, as writers, we have no control over the webpage itself, I can't help but wonder if it's necessary to have that banner-ad at the top of the THOIN mainpage? I quite like the THOIN logo where it is, but if we could throw in the banner logos there, then put the company logos in a nice quartered-box design at the end, I think that would be pretty good looking.
I am familiar with designing sites (as I did my own. shameless plug: www.slightlyoffstudios.com updates MWF), but I also built mine from the ground up in Dreamweaver. I don't honestly know how to affect change on THOIN's site, what program they used OR style of coding OR who to talk to. If someone can learn the dimensions, I could even create banners - themed or otherwise.

Banner size

We really need to contact who ever does the actual site work for THOIN for this. >.< Again, I wouldn't mind creating some banners myself - perhaps even themed for a book, if the author is so interested - but I have no idea what size to work at.

Tagline

If our main selling point is the ability to do what you want - within reason - I think that's what we should focus on. "The House of Ideas - Where Anything Goes" "The House of Ideas - No editors, no continuity, no problems" or something. "The House of Ideas - Putting the "fan" back in fanfic."

And finally

@Polaris - I also remember when I was let into the 617 and yeah, I got the same ego boost. : ) Not to sound old, but good times, good times.

Grief came up with some good stuff there. I think on top of 617, X-M, and All Star being in the Family/Multiverse/whatever we call, we should probably have all universes including COTA and any others stay in the Multiverse and not have a thing on the navigation menu. Having universes added on there as they get bigger, while a cool thing for bigger titles, makes too much clutter up there and in a way draws attention to those over other fiction that might not be a universe but be just as good. Since we're a site full of a vast plethora of titles that span so many universes none should really get a foot up over the others.

Started work on a Giant Sized issue that will catch up on all happenings in the Intolerance universe over the six month gap between issue #8 of Uncanny and the start of new titles. X-Factor will spin out of events in that giant size as the two original issues will be discontinued and hopefully stricken from the site.

Who else has had their creative fires stoked lately?

Well, to be fair do we keep 617, X-M and All*Stars are no longer active. Should we move it to Discontinued because that's a major thing I'll be doing this weekend, moving a lot of the inactive titles to the discontinued section(maybe we can rename it The Dead Zone, haha).

So Scotty, you'd say make a thread section for Universes? That might not be a bad idea, but so far the only "universe" would be COTA and that's hardly a universe. It's just a really, really long series(with really, really, long episodes). I'll put up COTA in whatever the family section will be for now though.

And yeah my creative fire has been stoked for a while. Been writing a bunch of stuff. Finally writing the COTA finale. Finished with half of it, have the other half to go. I have an episode on my computer that's been finished for MONTHS,  so I guess I'll finally get that up haha.

But yeah I'm excited for COTA again and definitely for season 4 because I have the whole season plotted out already. I'm just going to wrap up this season(FINALLY) and continue onto the next!

@Grief: I see what you mean about Imprint. As for the changing fonts. It's the wonky html thing for the site. It changes fonts on me all the time. It's massively annoying. I like your ideas for articles though I'd like to continue interviews. Let's stroke our egos. I loved Daniel's interviews, I loved getting insight into characters and plots straight from the source. So maybe we can have articles about that too, like "What inspired me..." or something of the sort.

And Kev, I'd love to see you start writing again!! You know I'd be there to give you feedback :)

@Mackers: WRITE!!! Please!!! I'd love to see your take on an Ultimate X-men title!!!


Edited by XtremeOne1 - 09-Sep-2011 at 5:42am

I like the "Dead Zone".

Edited by Kipe - 09-Sep-2011 at 6:07am

You can leave the universes to me. 617, All*Star X, All*Star Reborn, and X-M are a lot of issues to just cram into the discontinued section. I can move them there without moving any titles from their sections.

EDIT: I've done some changes as far as the universes are concerned. Since all four universes are such large universes I left them in their sections and removed them from the Navigation Bar and added links to them in the Family Section/Multiverse Imprint. Xtreme I changed the names of the GS and FS, feel free to change them.

I think the News Archive and Articles & Columns sections should be combined, and if anyone wants we can start a series where every month or so writers give previews of what they're working on, possibly interviews if we decide to go back to that, writing tips, character/titles (actual comics) discussions to help new writers. A THOIN magazine of sorts. That's something I might be interested in working on, since I no longer get to play around with the appearance of All*Star.

And I've seen Mackers plans for Ultimate X-Men and I need to see him write it as well! Now to get myself going on Avengers.


Edited by Justin Santos - 09-Sep-2011 at 8:37am

Wow, the Navigation Bar looks MUCH cleaner, Justin.

When cleaning up the General/Independent Section X-Men: Excelsiors and Excalibur can be moved to the discontinued section. I wont be pursuing either.

GMM

Yeah, Meet the Acolytes can go there too.