Forum / Discussion of the strangeness of Fictionaut these days

• 
  Henry Standing Bear

  Aug 13, 04:20pm

  There's something strange about this place. It's just strange now, and I can't put my finger on it. It near makes me sad. Perhaps it will be revealed in the few comments this post may generate.

• 
  Carol Reid

  Aug 13, 04:39pm

  Yeah, it does feel strange here these days. As if everyone went "on holiday" as we say in Canada but they actually moved away :)

  You're doing a lot to keep up the energy here, Sheldon and you're probably feeling like you're not getting much back. I know I'm having trouble working up energy to read and comment these days, and that is the lifeblood of this place, right?

• 
  Carol Reid

  Aug 13, 10:21pm

  I'm going to go ahead and agree with myself, so as not to keep myself hanging.

• 
  Oliver Hunt

  Aug 13, 10:27pm

  It's possible, I think, that some of the more active members take breaks from reading and commenting on other people's work while working on their own.

  It also seems like a number of newer or less familiar people are putting stuff up and commenting. That's positive, I think.

• 
  Charlotte Hamrick

  Aug 13, 11:13pm

  Aw, it's sad you feel that way. Of course, I've only been here since April or February or somewhere around then but I feel like I've gained a lot here. Met new people, made good contacts, received gret advice that I greatly appreciate..... I guess I have the advantage of not knowing how it used to be.
  I just think people have busy lives. I know I don't get to read and comment as much as I'd like.

• 
  Henry Standing Bear

  Aug 14, 12:05am

  Sorry about that, Carol. Had some work stuff that pulled me away from the conversation about as soon as I started it. Thanks you for the kind words.

  I'm not alluding to comments, etc. Just the general feel and community. I guess it seems like this community sometimes exists solely inside itself. I rarely hear from members here outside of these virtual walls. That seems strange to me, you know?

• 
  Carol Reid

  Aug 14, 01:10am

  Yeah, I know. There just isn't the same kind of interaction/conversation as there was. It's probably a cycle, like most things. ( and pardon my crankiness, I'm a bit sensitive today because of so much talk about suicide and depression after Robin Williams. Wish there was less pain of every sort in the world)

• 
  Henry Standing Bear

  Aug 14, 01:23am

  No worries...with that in mind I'm publishing a great essay by Ryan W. Bradley about Robin Williams's death tomorrow at Revolution John. You should swing by and check it out!

• 
  Gary Hardaway

  Aug 14, 03:04am

  The energy comes and goes, like sunspots.

• 
  J.A. Pak

  Aug 14, 03:10am

  Sheldon, are you on Twitter? Sometimes that's an easier way to connect with Fictionaut members.

• 
  Henry Standing Bear

  Aug 17, 01:30pm

  I'm on Twitter, but it's not the lack of things going on here. I figured out one aspect of what I'm talking about this morning. There seems to be a lot of people here who are not using their real names. Now, I could give a shit less what name anybody wants to use, but it makes me feel like I'm just using some kind of computer program when I'm in here at Fictionaut, not dealing with real people. Cause let's face it, when you're not putting your name to something you're not working with honor or dignity in mind. I don't think those things are lost ideas or stupid or outdated. I think honor and dignity last the ages. There seems to be less of those things here lately. That's one thing.

• 
  Henry Standing Bear

  Aug 17, 09:19pm

  my twitter name by the way, sorry, is @ShelCompton

• 
  Henry Standing Bear

  Aug 17, 09:19pm

  my twitter name by the way, sorry, is @ShelCompton

• 
  Darryl Price

  Aug 18, 12:03am

  Fictionaut isn't strange, people are strange, and like everything else, the site is in flux. It changes, expands and shrinks. Lights up and goes blank, but always exists. Look in the mirror. No, wait. Don't. I think that's part of the problem. We're hoping to see ourselves, but it's a crowded universe. Have a little faith. Someone said a mustard seed is about the right size to make things happen. I suppose we could try it.

• 
  Henry Standing Bear

  Aug 18, 01:33am

  Pretty sure the atmosphere here is still just strange, DP. Not every endeavor is touched by the hand of a supreme creator. Some things just start getting strange, and that's okay, too. I was just kind of wondering if anybody had a notion as to why it was happening :)

• 
  Ann Bogle

  Aug 18, 05:56am

  Are there any specific presences whose added participation would light it up if it's unlit? I really love the web site, I cannot say it enough. I said it on Fb today where women writers who had left the site were expressing their relief at not needing to comment or participate in fav'ing. I think I never had fav anxiety. I enjoy high fav's as much as anyone, yet what I really love are the capacities of the site itself, the page layouts are superior. I just sent a *.pdf version of one of my off-line stories that I have saved on Fictionaut to an editor who requested it for inclusion in a coming print fiction anthology. That is a great, underscore great, way to present the story visually. I try to keep a hand in and read and comment. Maybe it would help to name a few names. Who seems missing? Alley-alley income free!

• 
  Ann Bogle

  Aug 18, 06:10am

  Here's another memory of a thought. One couple that I know of formed here, Cherise Wolas and Michael Dickes. They are still honeymooning. Anyone else meet here? Friends, yes, so many I am likely to travel to NY, just to see a few of them separately over coffee or lunch, Sara Lippmann, Julie Innis, Patricia Eakins, Gary Percesepe, Christopher Allen, Michelle Elvy, Marc Vincenz, Dan Harris, teacher Jim Robison, Deb Oestreicher, Bill Yarrow the list goes on! I hope Fictionaut people who attend the AWP in Minneapolis will be in touch. I live in Mpls and can guide.

• 
  David Ackley

  Aug 18, 01:30pm

  Jane Hammons, Stephanie Bobo, L. Lee Lowe ( Check out her stories in the Backlist.)Shelagh Power-Chopra.Kathy Fish. Pia. David Erlewine. Julie Innis. Marcus. Jack Swenson. John Riley. J. Mikel Collinz. Stephanie Schroll Guz. Kari Nguyen. Kevin Myrick. To name a few.

• 
  Carol Reid

  Aug 18, 01:48pm

  I don't think I realized how much I enjoyed and miss so many of those listed above until now.

• 
  J.A. Pak

  Aug 18, 05:13pm

  The problem with all these nostalgia discussions about how wonderful Fictionaut used to be and about all the fantastic people who used to post here is that all of us newcomers feel rather like interlopers.

• 
  Carol Reid

  Aug 18, 05:39pm

  That did cross my mind, J.A. Sorry, yeah, obviously I like being in today's Fictionaut since I hang out here so much.

• 
  Henry Standing Bear

  Aug 18, 06:45pm

  Things aren't really all that different, J.A. Having thought it over, I think the big difference I was searching to define is that Fictionaut now seems to exist within its own world. I don't see the staple people here very much on the "outside" so to speak, and I look for them because they're fine people.

  So, as far as that goes, it's likely a strangeness I feel all of my own. When I'm here I feel like I'm visiting someone's house who doesn't go out much. But, then, that feeling, of being at someone's home, isn't exactly a bad thing :)

• 
  J.A. Pak

  Aug 18, 07:58pm

  Carol, you're probably one of the best examples of someone who makes people new and old feel welcome here, and of someone who reaches out beyond Fictionaut.

  Sheldon, where are you looking? Or more importantly, what are you looking for?

• 
  David Ackley

  Aug 18, 08:12pm

  Missing seeing someone's work doesn't disparage anyone else's. The more the merrier, what I say, J.A.

• 
  J.A. Pak

  Aug 18, 08:47pm

  David, that wasn't what I meant at all. Sorry if you read my post that way.

• 
  Charlotte Hamrick

  Aug 18, 08:53pm

  You know, many of the writers mentioned have websites. I interact with Kathy Fish and Christopher Allen on theirs as well as social media. They both publish their writing there quite often.

• 
  Ann Bogle

  Aug 19, 10:30am

  My apartment is alive with welcome, though I do not go out much or even shower much or change into something more substantial to wear. I like the attempt on Sheldon's part to put his finger on the feeling. I feel J.A. is a presence here whose leaving would be missed, as is David's, Carol's, and anyone's reading this. I like David's list. I feel in reading journals a stasis less as a visit to a trapping home and more to a home where no one is (to extend Sheldon's idea), where I may nibble the writers' food without suggesting I was there.

• 
  J.A. Pak

  Aug 19, 08:25pm

  Ann, I like your way of thinking about this.

• 
  Darryl Price

  Aug 20, 12:32am

  J.A.,aNN.cHARLOTTE,dAVID,cAROL AND sHELDON AND gARY AND oLIVER, i THINK IT'S AN AMAZING SITE SIMPLY BECAUSE YOU'RE INVOLVED...and, Shel,"DP. Not every endeavor is touched by the hand of a supreme creator"...is funny, don't know if you meant it that way or not since that statement's open-ended, but I would argue that the above mentioned writers on Fictionaut are indeed all supreme creators, if you ask me. Just check out their work. Seems pretty supreme to me.Just because writers sometimes inspire other writers doesn't mean you owe them something. You've got a bunch of writing to do and precious finite time to do it in. If you feel like being supportive, be supportive. If you feel like being strange, be strange. But please don't stop with the supreme creations. They're fun to watch.

• 
  Henry Standing Bear

  Aug 20, 03:40pm

  Thanks for the helpful and lively discussion, good people. Much appreciated!

• 
  Adam Sifre

  Aug 26, 03:39am

  I think it's obvious to everyone here what the problem is, but no one wants to say it.

  One word: Obama.

• 
  Meg Pokrass

  Aug 27, 04:29pm

  It feels too insular here. So many wonderful writers have left. We needed them to stay. This is why I left.

  Favorites are currency, and it makes me sad. It feels like a group of buddies more than writers.

  I hope this makes sense.

• 
  Chris Okum

  Aug 27, 04:33pm

  If favorites are currency then they are the type of currency you use while playing Monopoly.

• 
  Jerry Ratch

  Aug 27, 05:50pm

  Sheldon,

  is there any way to make the site go open to entire public, instead of just members. the way authornation.com used to be. that way you have people outside just our little world reading, and maybe joining.

  Jerry Ratch

• 
  Charlotte Hamrick

  Aug 27, 06:02pm

  People other than the members of this site do read it. When I tweet a piece from here I can see the numbers on that piece jump. You can say what you will about social media but it's how to REACH READERS.

  And, I'm sorry, but I don't get why old members don't want to interact with new members. Very odd to me. Quite discouraging. And if favs are going to continue to be viewed as negative, just do away with them.

  I think I need to do what many of the writers I admire here do: don't participate with some of these forum discussions that go round and round.

  Have a good day, all.

• 
  J.A. Pak

  Aug 27, 06:36pm

  I agree with Charlotte.

  Thanks to sites like Twitter, most of the people who read my Fictionaut pieces are not members.

  I'd go further and say that we should get rid of the recommendation page. It just fosters strange hostility/competition/thinking. Favorites should be like the "like" button on Facebook with it having no importance beyond a reader's desire to say an easy "liked this".

• 
  Jerry Ratch

  Aug 27, 07:05pm

  don't do twiiterface and the like.
  we need people commenting and reading from the "outside" world.

• 
  James Claffey

  Sep 02, 04:28am

  I've not left, but with teaching high school, raising a toddler, distance parenting an 8yr-old, and trying to write/edit a novel, the time I used spend on here (thanks to a sweet work gig) isn't what it used to be. Still interact with plenty of FN folk around the interweb and suchlike. Maybe life will slow enough to allow me to return with gusto?

• 
  Michelle Elvy

  Sep 02, 03:34pm

  Same here (what James just said). I'm always lurking around the edges. I know a lot of FN folks outside these here walls -- and it's great seeing them both here and elsewhere. And I love dipping back in, when I can. I read more here than I ever post these days, but I for one am glad to know the 'older' generation AND the 'newer' -- and whatever one calls the in-betweens. I've met some surprising and wonderful writers here. Oliver Hunt comes to mind, as one example of several whose work I first read here. I may not have crossed his path any other way. So many others, too... all fine individuals and writers.

  As for strange, Shel -- well, maybe. I think it's expecting too much for a site like this to feel right at all times. The community is always changing and stretching - and that can be viewed as a good thing, too. Right now I'm struggling with keeping Editor's Eye on track, for example. But on the other hand: what an amazing thing it is to see how the community keeps generating new energy, and new work. I'm all for that.

  I also reference Fn all the time to the 'outside' world. I also know for a fact that plenty of good editors from beyond this community pop in here for a good read, and even serious review of material for consideration in forthcoming publications.

  I think this place only becomes insular if you let it. I could care less about Faves and all that -- the best thing is to find good stuff and let it move you. Write your heart out and post your work here, there, wherever you like. Read your heart out, too. Be inspired in by what you put out there, but also what you take in. We all love to quote the saying that best way to be a better writer is to read, read, read -- and there is no end of excellent material here. When I need a good read, I can always count on the writers here at Fictionaut.

• 
  Gary V. Powell

  Sep 02, 07:36pm

  I've been here a couple of years and rarely comment in a Forum. I don't know what Fnaut used to be like, but it's always seemed a little strange in the sense that it's not a workshop, really, not a publication, really. It's hard to say what it is. Maybe a place to showcase already published work or try out something new before trying it out on an editor. Maybe a place to hang out with others with similar interests. My sense is that there is enough new blood flowing that insularity is avoided. I could do without the faves, take em or leave em. What I want, and maybe what most of us want, is to feel as if our efforts are acknowledged by those we take the time the time to acknowledge. I don't see that as either bad or strange.

• 
  Ann Bogle

  Sep 03, 11:14am

  I'll add a note here about Books at Fictionaut. I have enthusiasm for writing a review column and have many books in queue awaiting their 500-word valuation. I expressed from the beginning a desire to write about the books as literature more than to help in sales. I feel the sales model when it comes to books is likely flawed. Books by deceased authors sell themselves if all goes well, and they are gold for the publisher who owns their rights. Dan Harris let me know that _The Great Gatsby_ sells one million copies a year. If you consider the way and age at which Fitzgerald died, and the state of his family, splintered by his inability to help and support them, it starts to seem he had been taunted to a tortuous demise. He died in bankruptcy yet left behind a store of wealth in dollars and real effort's words. I hope to resume the column. I hope to write a review once monthly again. Payment for the column would help my resolve and release my pent up enjoyment in it, that I withhold in lieu of monetary accord, not profit per se, but incentive like the small and big hands of a clock. Let's see.

• 
  whatwouldbukowskido

  Sep 06, 07:19pm

  Sheldon--

  Grow a pair.

  Ann--

  Learn to speak Humanese.

• 
  James Lloyd Davis

  Sep 06, 07:34pm

  Henry... it's a rare bit of irony when a man who never seems to use his real name when criticizing others tells someone else to "Grow a pair."

• 
  whatwouldbukowskido

  Sep 06, 07:38pm

  Ah, James, my old friend...

  Matt Dennison
  903 3rd Ave. South
  Columbus, MS 39701

• 
  whatwouldbukowskido

  Sep 06, 07:47pm

  (662) 549 - 4500

  mattdennison@cableone.net

• 
  whatwouldbukowskido

  Sep 06, 08:18pm

  (but seriously, Sheldon...

  stop whining about how people here aren't stroking yer balls enough to satisfy you.)

• 
  Carol Reid

  Sep 06, 08:26pm

  Matt, if you met Sheldon in the street, would you say to his face what you've said here? And would you say to Ann, "learn to speak Humanese"?

  I'm not being snide. I'm really wondering.

• 
  whatwouldbukowskido

  Sep 06, 08:27pm

  Yes.

• 
  Henry Standing Bear

  Sep 07, 01:21pm

  I'll give you a call when I get back from visiting my folks this morning Matt. Talk to you then bud.

• 
  Henry Standing Bear

  Oct 03, 02:27pm

  I just got around to giving you call, Matt. Got your voicemail and left a message for you to call me back. Looking forward to talking to you and sorting this out. That's what people in the real world do, you know. We talk it out until someones gets some satisfaction. Ball's in your court, man. No reason now to get on here in an online forum and keep talking about stroking my damn balls. That's just strange, and it pisses me off in a pretty fierce way. Step back, give yourself a minute or two to shake off this whole online persona you've built for yourself, and do something real and honest. Let's talk.

• 
  Mathew Paust

  Oct 03, 05:21pm

  I was thinking of saying something, but have decided I prefer not to.

• 
  Adam Sifre

  Oct 04, 01:54pm

  When I first got Fictionaut, I was told that it had belonged to a woman who ended up drowning her children and killing herself. I didn't believe it, of course. I enjoyed posting my stories here. At first.

  Then one day I posted a story about two cats and pornographer. The story got 72 views and six comments that day. Not too bad.

  Later that night, I woke up from a nightmare. For some reason, I had to log on to Fictionaut and look at my latest story. There was just something that kept nagging at me. I was careful not to wake my girlfriend, got out of bed and logged on.

  Four comments. Two comments had disappeared.
  At first, I thought I was mistaken and that I probably only had four comments to begin with.

  I turned off my computer and started to return to the bedroom, when the screen lit up again.
  There was my story. With three comments.

  Fear settled in my stomach, like a sister-in-law who says she's going to stay for "as long as I'm needed.'

  The next day, I stayed off the computer, watching instead a Deadliest Catch marathon.
  Then had a nice dinner with my girlfriend. I didn't tell her about what happened the previous night, feeling a bit silly about the whole thing.

  If only I did. If only I had warned her.

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