Bonus Side Content - Current Format Considerations
Hello, everyone!
As I mentioned in the brief, tiny, very short
Start Of Year Newsletter, I come to all with my current plans for how the bonus side content stuff might work out.
First, an explanation for those who are unaware of what I'm talking about:
Prompt Polls have been halted for an indefinite period of time. The reason is simply because I've got way too many ongoing Subscribestar-exclusive series and want to prevent any more from starting out. Plus, I'd like to reopen for sequel commissions soon, so something's got to give somewhere.
My goal is to replace them with a worthwhile alternative for as long as they're halted, hence the idea I discussed in
December's Newsletter: bonus content shorts associated with ongoing/finished Subscribestar-exclusive series.
The way I described this before was as brief side-stories that are not part of the main chapters of a series but could be just as canon, or even what-ifs. By definition, we're talking very short stories/scenes without the usual scope/detail I put in my writing. Otherwise, I'm just worsening my workload.
Below are absolutely random examples I included in December's Newsletter:
- A peek at Sona's research on total neuronal activation of Black males (The Black King Piece);
- What does Carrie visiting Ross looks like over the years? (Something Is Seriously Wrong With Carrie);
- Joshua's and Erika's wedding (Passing The Sin Along);
- A peek at Azula & Zuko or Azula & Mai before the events of Azula Has Changed take place (Azula Has Changed);
- A peek at Pyrrha's periodic collaborations with the FaunusBurpNetwork (The Pride Of Mistral Gets Blacked);
- That one time Zoe accidentally took Ritalin and ascended (Blacked By A Toxic Futanari In America);
- What if Laura's plan does not go so smoothly/Sophia spills the beans to Claudia? (Christmas With The Devil And The Beast);
- What if Rebecca had successfully domesticated Deshaun? (Adding A BBC To The Family);
- A peek at Melinda reminiscing over the therapeutic conclusion of former patients (Gaslighting Therapist);
- A peek at the five freaks' first group gooning session to Rachel's dad/Rachel's first solo gooning session to her own dad (The Sisterhood Of The Green Cock).
As you can see, even the 'canon' ideas don't fit a 'main content' scope. In other words, they're perfectly skippable for anyone who only wants the main stuff. Maybe they could be better described as brief OVAs, for those familiar with anime terminology.
This could give everyone a little more content of their favorite series, as well as allow me to explore more 'side stuff' that isn't/wasn't possible or worthwhile when writing the main story. Moreover, it shouldn't add much to my workload, making it a good replacement for Prompt Polls while I tackle the quadrillion series I need to slay.
How Will It Work?
First of all, this is still in the trial run phase. I want to see how it'll feel in practice before making it a permanent thing.
Here is my current idea for how to structure it:
Every month, I'll make a post to gather everyone's 'bonus side content' suggestions. This post will be exclusive to the Fighter and Merchant tiers. I think it probably lasts no longer than 48 hours. As for how the gathering/suggesting works, it's simple: you leave your ideas in the comments and I'll gather them from there. For those Fighters or Merchants who are more timid or want to stay anonymous, you can send me DMs too.
After the time period has elapsed and I've gathered all the valid ideas, I'll make a Merchant-exclusive post with all the ideas in a poll. Merchants will vote for their favorites, probably with multiple voting allowed. The winner will then be turned into a short-form side-story. Depending on my availability, I might take multiple winners, or handpick a favorite or two myself. I might also include some ideas of my own in the poll.
I'd like to run these early every month, aiming to release said side-stories still in the same month. However, theory always works better than practice with me, so we'll see how well that actually goes.
As for the release of the shorts itself, I haven't yet decided between keeping it exclusive for 30 days or posting publicly right away.
Let me answer a few questions you might have entertained during the reading of the above.
- How exactly will you 'gather' the suggestions, and what if there are too many?
I'll go through the comments and sort all the ideas I'd be willing to write should it win. If an idea is too bold for a short-form side-story or is something I don't want to write for whatever reason, I won't include it in the Merchant-exclusive poll.
As for 'what if there are too many?', I might favor those that received the most likes (the thumbs-up button in the comments section), though I haven't really decided yet. Additionally, if there are too many suggestions that are 'similar', I may bunch them up into one for the Merchant-exclusive poll.
- What might lead you to refuse a suggestion?
If it's something too complex, since it would require a lot of 'mental work' even if the writing itself would be 'short';
If it's something I already intend to include in the main chapters, so I don't want to make it side-content;
If it's something I'm just not willing to 'explore' for whatever reason - most what-ifs, probably;
If it's something waaaaay too bold for a short side-story, and would require too many words or absurd compressing/lack of detail;
If it's something too continuation-coded instead of being a simple 'post-ending' side-story or epilogue.
These are the main reasons that come to mind right now.
- Will these include AI images?
Probably yes, but hardly more than one or two.
- Why not the reverse? Have the Merchants suggest ideas, and then Fighters + Merchants vote.
I think having a greater number of highly intelligent degenerates making side-content suggestions lends itself better to great smut ideas. At the same time, I do want to make this a perk for the highest tier. So, this appeared to be the best structure.
- Will you be basing the winning side-stories on the prompter's ideas for it?
This format of taking into account the prompter's view for their prompt made sense with Prompt Polls, since we're talking full stories. Now that we're talking short-form side-stories attached to ongoing/finished series, I don't think it makes as much sense.
What I was actually thinking of doing is having a final post where Merchants can suggest their ideas for the winning side-stories. I half-want to say that we'll finally use the Emporium of Degeneracy channel in Discord for something, but not everyone is there, so it'd be best to at least have a post here too.
But, in the end, I'll direct it myself as always.
- Will these get posted as drafts along the way too?
Very likely, but the drafts might already come out at 100% completion since the idea is to keep it short-form.
- Can the side stories be entirely new stories? Can they be about commissioned stories?
For the first question: big no. Plain and simple.
For the second question: I am not opposed to side-content about ongoing/finished commissioned stories I've written, but I'd have to make sure the commissioner of said story is down with it first.
Regardless, for now, let's keep it focused on Subscribestar-exclusives.
- Any fancy names for all this stuff?
Not entirely sure. I accept suggestions. Some ideas I've had were:
- The side stories could be 'Degenerate Addendum' or 'Addendum of Degeneracy';
- The poll could be called 'Backroom Ballot' or 'Special Orders Poll' or 'Inventory Vote' or 'Degenerate Auction';
- The post where everyone suggests ideas could be called 'Bazaar of Degeneracy', and thus we murder the Emporium of Degeneracy channel and call it that.
You can probably tell that none of these are final. I remain open to feedback.
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I believe this is all I had. Assuming no great change of plans comes to mind, I want to say we'll be trying this out for the first time by this weekend at most. After seeing how it goes, I'll know if changes are needed or not. Then, I'll update the wording around the page to reflect this.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments below if you have any thoughts!
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