Post-issue notes and a reflection
Thank you to everyone who contributed to cornerflag, be it as a writer, reader, or all-around cheerleader. I haven't been as present this time around as I usually am due to RL issues, for which I apologise profusely, but as always it's been a pleasure to work on the issue.
I'd originally planned to have a retrospective issue next time (tentatively planned for January/February), but thanks to this post, I'm considering "alternate universe" or "speculative fiction" as the theme instead.* No minimum word limit (so you can write a drabble if you want to!), which may also be a good thing given that the 2010 World Cup threw cornerflag's publishing schedule terribly out of whack, so we may have a pretty short timeframe for signing up and writing for the upcoming Issue 7. Bring on the tentacle fic! :P
When I first opened cornerflag in 2007(!!!) with thepianopoet, I honestly didn't think about whether I'd still be at it in 2010, or even whether it'll draw in people to read and write for it beyond a one-shot issue (in fact, it did begin as a one-shot). Both of us started out with a reader's desire for more variety in people-as-characters and genres. I thought about how to encourage more gen fics and stories featuring women footballers without too much intervention from the editorial end, and we put a cap on the number of sign-ups per club to try to promote diversification. While I don't think cornerflag has been successful at sourcing stories of women footballers, something lovely did happen: writers were writing and submitting stories of footballers who weren't quite so popular, and unexpectedly, stories of earlier generations of footballers.
People, seriously. You are all awesome.
Some notes on the order of stories as listed per issue: the short answer is that no, it's not random. After a read-through of all the stories, I usually pick two stories to bookend the entire collection, then arrange the rest into what feels to be an order that flows most naturally. I usually insert a shorter story in-between two longer ones, or a longer story after a number of shorter stories; and sometimes (where it doesn't feel too jarring) put a more light-hearted story right after a heavier story. These aren't hard and fast rules, however, because readers will generally pick stories they are more likely to enjoy and read those first. But the process soothes my persnickety soul. :D
-- lemongrasstea
*A caveat, people: it's the editorial policy not to pass judgement on content and I have no intention of changing that, but if we're doing this AU theme, please please please don't be the one to write the equivalent of that appallingly failtastic J2-in-Haiti AU. I'm begging you. I mean, cornerflag will still (probably) post it as a matter of policy, but as a person who is 1) indigenous and 2) from a Southeast Asian nation too often described as "exotic" in travel literature, it will not be a happy occasion for me.
I'd originally planned to have a retrospective issue next time (tentatively planned for January/February), but thanks to this post, I'm considering "alternate universe" or "speculative fiction" as the theme instead.* No minimum word limit (so you can write a drabble if you want to!), which may also be a good thing given that the 2010 World Cup threw cornerflag's publishing schedule terribly out of whack, so we may have a pretty short timeframe for signing up and writing for the upcoming Issue 7. Bring on the tentacle fic! :P
When I first opened cornerflag in 2007(!!!) with thepianopoet, I honestly didn't think about whether I'd still be at it in 2010, or even whether it'll draw in people to read and write for it beyond a one-shot issue (in fact, it did begin as a one-shot). Both of us started out with a reader's desire for more variety in people-as-characters and genres. I thought about how to encourage more gen fics and stories featuring women footballers without too much intervention from the editorial end, and we put a cap on the number of sign-ups per club to try to promote diversification. While I don't think cornerflag has been successful at sourcing stories of women footballers, something lovely did happen: writers were writing and submitting stories of footballers who weren't quite so popular, and unexpectedly, stories of earlier generations of footballers.
People, seriously. You are all awesome.
Some notes on the order of stories as listed per issue: the short answer is that no, it's not random. After a read-through of all the stories, I usually pick two stories to bookend the entire collection, then arrange the rest into what feels to be an order that flows most naturally. I usually insert a shorter story in-between two longer ones, or a longer story after a number of shorter stories; and sometimes (where it doesn't feel too jarring) put a more light-hearted story right after a heavier story. These aren't hard and fast rules, however, because readers will generally pick stories they are more likely to enjoy and read those first. But the process soothes my persnickety soul. :D
-- lemongrasstea
*A caveat, people: it's the editorial policy not to pass judgement on content and I have no intention of changing that, but if we're doing this AU theme, please please please don't be the one to write the equivalent of that appallingly failtastic J2-in-Haiti AU. I'm begging you. I mean, cornerflag will still (probably) post it as a matter of policy, but as a person who is 1) indigenous and 2) from a Southeast Asian nation too often described as "exotic" in travel literature, it will not be a happy occasion for me.