Friday, September 14, 2007

Archiving the Friday 20

This week I want to get some feedback from you all and finalize what to do with the Friday 20 archives.

A couple of the RSS Feed people out there asked for the Q&A to be copied to a new post so they could read them more easily. I think it's a good idea. What if I copy the comments to a separate blog devoted just to posts with Friday 20 Q&As?

Also, I'd like to index the questions that have already been asked by topic, so that we can avoid some repeats and have an easier way to find specific Q&As. Here's how I thought I'd do the index, with topic headers and the questions listed by date order (the Q: is a link to the original question, and the Answer is a link to my response):

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Characters

Q: What do you do when your characters don't want to behave? Answer

Dialogue

Q: Any suggestions on how to practice my dialogue writing skills? Answer

Plot

Q: How much do you plot out before you write? Answer

Self-Promotion

Q: How did you figure out what works for you and what do you suggest to help me figure out what works for me? Answer

The Writing Life

Q: Is there any advice you can give me about getting negative feelings out of my head, so I can get those last words on the page, and submitted, etc etc. Answer

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It'll take a while to get everything sorted out and linked for the index, as there are currently 64 Friday 20 posts to go through, but once I catch up to the present, I can add new Q&A's to the index weekly. I only have to create a Friday 20 archive blog and cut and paste everything over there.

Time for feedback: Are the above the simplest/easiest/most useful ways to do the RSS Feed and the index, or would you guys rather see it done differently, or not at all? Let me know what you think in comments.

11 comments:

  1. Looks great to me Lynn. That'll help a lot of aspiring writers out there (*cough*me*cough*).

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  2. Anonymous12:43 PM

    I don't do the RSS feed so it doesn't matter to me, but I love the idea. It'll be really helpful.

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  3. Anonymous12:45 PM

    Have you considered a wiki? They are much more editable than blogs, which makes them good for FAQs and similar stuff.

    Traditionally, wikis allow others to edit them, but you can limit that to just yourself and/or trusted assistants.

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  4. I don't use RSS so I'm easy. I'm just glad you keep doing the 20!

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  5. Anonymous1:00 PM

    I think it looks great! Should be easy to use and navigate.

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  6. I think it's a great idea. It should be easy to find things when they're grouped by category.

    Thanks for doing this.

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  7. Katherine wrote: Have you considered a wiki? They are much more editable than blogs, which makes them good for FAQs and similar stuff.

    I am not a huge fan of wikis for a couple of reasons, not limited to the fact that I'd have to learn how to make one, while I already know how to do it on Blogger. Which really means, I'm too lazy.

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  8. I don't read the RSS feed, either, so whatever's easiest for you!

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  9. I'd prefer anything that doesn't force me to go from one page to another to see the answer. Slow internet = total frustration waiting for the answer on the next page to load.

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  10. I agree with the others. I don't use RSS, so whatever is easiest for you.

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  11. Anonymous5:05 PM

    Don't really read the RSS feeds. However...have you considered adding a forum to the blog? This isn't directly related to your question since others pretty much said what I was going to, but I thought I'd throw the idea out anyway. There are a number of advantages to having a formal BBS. :)

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