PoppyWriter wrote:

Should I contact her on her profile?

Yeah, that'd probably be best

Just contacted Jori!

My post ended up being ridiculously long (of course). It has bolded headings and a TL;DR at the end, for (hopefully) easier reading. ;0

Magazine

Dawn-Bellastrom wrote:

I second this. What roles should we have? I personally would say we ditch the AOTW for a bit as it's hard to update without the studio description

Agreed, I think at this point it's on the lower end of the priorities list. :0

…we might also need to think about who should work on the magazine.

I think ideally, we'd split this up, since none of us have ever really taken the lead on the whole thing? But maybe appoint someone to be “in charge” of it, since after all, someone would have to post it and actually code it and stuff. So having a leader for that for sure, but we should all do some of it to take some of the pressure off. :0

Also for the magazine, we need to fill quite a few slots. I think one of the most difficult parts to fill would be the article section, so the earlier we decide that the better. Does anyone want to do that in particular? I could do it, of course, but if anyone else wants to, please feel free. :0

As a side note: We REALLY need a system in place for when other managers are unavailable in the future. Half the time when Jori is gone it's a mad scramble to figure out what happens next; we need to figure out (at least when Jori gets back) who gets what role, what do to with the QotD/AotW, the magazine, ect.

Yeah, I can't believe none of us ever thought of this as a possibility, Jori being gone really showed how much we depend on her. You mean like, come up with a contingency plan, right? When she gets back especially, maybe we can present whatever we manage to achieve now as a baseline and work around that as a way to move forward in the future. But you're right, we'd need to be better prepared for the next time Jori is unavailable. The whole studio can't just collapse because she's busy. :(

QOTDs

PoppyWriter wrote:

I've been meaning to say something here too, but I've just never really plucked up the courage to do so- so thanks so much, Derp!

Of course! I'm just glad everyone responded so quickly, I was worried everyone was offline! :')

But I suppose maybe all of us were stalking here waiting for someone else, lol. :]

I agree that we should definitely try to do the qotd in the comments. I'm available to write those if needed!

Really, you can just go ahead and assign me to anything. I'll be happy to do it! ^^

I try to be online as much as I can, but I'm definitely not every day. If you wouldn't mind, the QOTD would be a great thing to get back up and running first! Should we compile a list for you to pull from?

Dawn-Bellastrom wrote:

Unity_and_Cq wrote:

Dawn-Bellastrom wrote:

(#1235)
(and I'm assuming Jori won't be able to transfer the host position for a while given how long she's been gone), and we might also need to think about who should work on the magazine.)

Jori logs on ever so often to change the QOTD. Maybe we can catch her attention?

Does anyone know when she comes on exactly, or do we just depend on luck?

PoppyWriter wrote:

Just contacted Jori!

Awesome, thanks! :D

Completely hypothetically, though, if Jori were to agree, should we pre-pick someone to recommend, or let her decide? This might be a silly question, sorry if it is, lol, but only because it might be easier if we have an idea of who, should she ask (it might be overwhelming to have to make such a decision on the spot?), or we can just leave it entirely up to her. Or maybe I'm overthinking it. :00

Something to note
Way back in the beginning of September, Carmen suggested doing a Secret Santa / writing exchange, which I think it a great idea. However, since we're currently playing catch up, I don't think we should do anything about it just yet, but it might be a nice thing to think about once we're all back up and running. Just to put it on our radar again as a possibly upcoming event to maybe mention in the magazine / try to plan. :0

Though, of course, if we were to do this, we'd need to announce it, probably in a November issue of the magazine, so that the writers could know about it in time for the event to take place in December. There are a few workarounds I can think of, like

• Releasing the magazine a bit later, like, beginning / middle of December (a bit out of the ordinary, but not too terrible) to give us time to actually work on it
  
• Doing the exchange in January rather than December (not technically during Christmastime anymore, but also not terrible) to give us more time to plan
  

But that's very far, and very much a hypothetical. Just writing it down so I don't forget, in case we ever get that far.



December Roles

As we all know, the roles are QOTD, AOTW, Magazine slots, and Off-Duty. Does anyone want any particular role for December?

As I said above, we already know Poppy's willing to do QOTDs, so I'll put her down for that for now (just to keep track of everything)

Roles for December / the rest of November :
• QOTD: @PoppyWriter
• AOTW: None
• Off duty: None
• Magazine Slots: None

Yes I stole the format from Jori, I figured using the one we're all familiar with would make it simpler to follow.


TL;DR, since I can't seem to write concisely to save my life, lol:

Magazine - We should decide on who's going to post it (also when should we post it? Should we skip November's issue and prioritize working on the next issue, or try to meet the deadline of about a week?), and whether or not we'll split it up or let that person handle it all. Also who wants to write the article? :0

QOTD - Poppy volunteered to do this, which is awesome, thanks! She'll be posting them in the comments section of the studio.

Host transfer - I think we could just ask Jori on her profile wall about the topic, unless I'm missing something?

Possible Writing Exchange - Just putting this on our radar :0

December Roles - Does anyone want to volunteer for any role in particular?

Ok, here we go-

Thanks so much for the post!

Magazine-

I think that it's hard to do the magazine this month at this point, since we're in a bit of disarray. Furthermore, I lost whatever coding skills I used to have, so I think I'm probably not the best person to code/share the project. Because of that, however, I'm fully open for the article slot! ^^

QOTDs-

I can write them in a few minutes- it may take a while since I'm used to 15 and not 31 XD It'll be fine though! I'll get back to you soon on those <3 I'm willing to post them in the comments for now- I'll set a reminder on my phone so I don't forget!

Host Position-

This is just a personal opinion, but I think we should let Jori choose. She's been running SWOW for so incredibly long and so well, so I think she should be the one to decide who should host, whether it's temporary or permanent.

Writing Exchange-

For now, I think we're really just trying to get back on our feet after so much time inactive, so it might be wise to hold off for a while- but that's just me. Whatever you guys think is the right choice!

So glad to be back in action!! Thanks again, Derp <3

QOTDs-

(Note- these are all purposefully made to be posted during December so that dates line up and all that <3)

1- What sort of genre of music would your character listen to on a daily basis?
2- Have you ever made yourself laugh out loud with your own writing? When?
3- What is the strangest story/poem/etc. you've ever written?
4- Is there a book or movie that you feel helped impact your writing the most?
5- What would your dream writing nook look like?
6- Would you ever consider publishing anything you wrote in the last couple years? Why/why not?
7- What author would you love to co-write a book with? Why?
8- What is the scariest/most stressful part of being a writer?
9- What would your character's dream home look like?
10- What kind of stories do you love? How have these types of stories affected your writing?
11- Happy International Mountain Day! What is the biggest writing ‘mountain’ you've had to overcome?
12- If you could get advice on writing from any author, who would it be and why?
13- What is the hardest thing about being a writer?
14- What gives you the most inspiration- music, other books, something else?
15- What is the pet peeve of one of your characters?
16- If you could give any advice to a fellow writer, what would it be?
17- If someone asked you what it's like to be a writer, what would you say?
18- Is there a story you gave up on? Why?
19- What time of day do you feel most inspired? Why do you think it's that time?
20- Would you rather write poetry or write a script (like a play/movie)? Why did you pick that one?
21- How often do you get writer's block? How do you handle it?
22- Is there anything about other people's writing that annoys you? Cliche plots, certain tropes, etc.?
23- What sort of cover would you want for your novel? Art style, colors, etc.!
24- Is there a genre you'd never want to write? Why?
25- Who do you think is an underrated writer, and what do you love about their work?
26- What is your favorite thing about the project you are writing currently?
27- How do you get the motivation to write? What do you do to drive yourself?
28- What is something you admire in other people's writing?
29- What does creativity mean to you?
30- The year's almost over! Reflect over your writing over the year- what are you most proud of?
31- Happy New Year's tomorrow! Any writing goals for next year?

PoppyWriter wrote:

(#1240)

Dawn-Bellastrom wrote:

Does anyone know when she comes on exactly, or do we just depend on luck?

I think it's a luck sort of thing
Should I contact her on her profile?

I think so

^-^::#ff70d2 cap

Magazine-
If we're keeping with the magazine, I'd be willing to write an article (though I'm not going to be the one coding- I can't code to save my life). Any suggestions on what it would be about?

Host Transfer-
I agree that Jori should be the one to choose.

Writing Exhange-
We should probably wait until later in december or in january for this, given how much we still need to smooth out.

Quick side note-
Do the members of the studio know what's going on, or have they just kinda been on their own? If nothing's been posted yet, we should probably at least let them know that things will be a little different for the next little while.

I'd admit I was another person who was stalking and waiting for someone to tell us what to do…
Glad you took control, Derp! It's good to finally be doing something again.

Dawn-Bellastrom wrote:

Quick side note-
Do the members of the studio know what's going on, or have they just kinda been on their own? If nothing's been posted yet, we should probably at least let them know that things will be a little different for the next little while.

I agree that we should probably let them know. I've seen one or two complaints about the QOTD/AOTW not changing, so we should probably let them know that we're working things out and that we've contacted Jori.

I haven’t been getting notifications, sorry this is late—I’ve read everything above, I agree with everything said. I’m somewhat available at the moment, as I’m on break from school, so if someone needs anything, just ask :)

Edit: Forgot to mention, I’m going on vacation soon so I might not be as active, but still available ^^’

gh0stwriter wrote:

snip

Thanks for the update, Peggy!! Hope you have a good vacation

IMPORTANT: Sorry about the sudden disappearance guys!!
I've been gone for the whole of November due to a bunch of irl things happening all at once, so I'm gonna try to keep this as short as possible. I've also skimmed over most of the stuff you've been posting on here to keep up to date, so here goes nothing:

Studio Host
I definitely think this will have to change from me to someone else, since I'll probably only get busier from December and going into 2024 (wow, I can't believe the year is almost over-)

If there's anyone who is online fairly regularly and reckons they can take it on, please volunteer (⁠^⁠.⁠_⁠.⁠^⁠)⁠ﾉ If nobody is online regularly enough, but is still fairly active, we could possibly put a system of changing studio host every too /⁠ᐠ⁠｡⁠ꞈ⁠｡⁠ᐟ⁠\


Magazine
Too many things to deal with, let's ditch it for this month and focus on everything else instead (◠`ᴥ´◕ʋ)

Backup Managing System
I can't believe we haven't made something like this already! ヽ⁠(⁠｡⁠◕⁠o⁠◕⁠｡⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠. I don't have a lot of ideas for this right now though — does anyone have any suggestions for it?

Writing Exchange
I think we could plan it during December and present it as a kind of gift for New Year's ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯ Any other thoughts?

December Roles
Let's talk about the above ASAP and based on how quickly it goes I'll get the role rotation done between tomorrow and Sunday

Quick Note
Thank you and well done everyone for stepping up and trying t figure things out even though I kinda vanished into mid-air U⁠^⁠ｪ⁠^⁠U Let's try to get this stuff sorted out!

Hiya Jori!!

JollofRice123 wrote:

IMPORTANT: Sorry about the sudden disappearance guys!!

I've been gone for the whole of November due to a bunch of irl things happening all at once

No worries, real life is always more important than Scratch. <3

Studio Host
I definitely think this will have to change from me to someone else, since I'll probably only get busier from December and going into 2024 (wow, I can't believe the year is almost over-)

If there's anyone who is online fairly regularly and reckons they can take it on, please volunteer (⁠^⁠.⁠_⁠.⁠^⁠)⁠ﾉ If nobody is online regularly enough, but is still fairly active, we could possibly put a system of changing studio host every too /⁠ᐠ⁠｡⁠ꞈ⁠｡⁠ᐟ⁠\

I'm a part of a really large studio, and it has multiple managers. They do host shifts, changing the host every day or two. Maybe we could do something like that! Make a schedule / order?

Or if any one person wants to host, that's cool, too. I'd be willing to, but I honestly think taking shifts would be better. :00

Magazine
Too many things to deal with, let's ditch it for this month and focus on everything else instead (◠`ᴥ´◕ʋ)

Okie doke!

Backup Managing System
I can't believe we haven't made something like this already! ヽ⁠(⁠｡⁠◕⁠o⁠◕⁠｡⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠. I don't have a lot of ideas for this right now though — does anyone have any suggestions for it?

I'm not 100% sure. Maybe if you even anticipate being unavailable for a period of time, you can host transfer to someone predetermined? Or even just whoever, we can always figure out the rest after the fact. If you know beforehand, then maybe we can do something better planned out, but in a pinch, just whoever was active most recently, or something?

It's not really an elegant solution, though, so if anyone has any better ideas, please share them. ;0

Writing Exchange
I think we could plan it during December and present it as a kind of gift for New Year's ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯ Any other thoughts?

This could work, it'd just mean we'd need to plan it and get word out during December, without the use of the magazine. Which is doable, just something to consider. :0

December Roles
Let's talk about the above ASAP and based on how quickly it goes I'll get the role rotation done between tomorrow and Sunday

Having removed the magazine entirely, the only roles left are QOTD and AOTW, and Poppy volunteered to do the QOTDs. Though there's nothing wrong with having multiple managers to alternate days.

I'm fine with either role. :]

Quick Note
Thank you and well done everyone for stepping up and trying t figure things out even though I kinda vanished into mid-air U⁠^⁠ｪ⁠^⁠U Let's try to get this stuff sorted out!

Yep! Forums went down at such a terrible time, really the worst timing. So hopefully we can get back to figuring all this out. :]

Hey everyone!!

Glad you're back Jori!! And we get it- irl stuff can be overwhelming, *especially* this time of year.

Studio Host:

I think, like Derp said, a studio host rotation would be great. I'm active every single day, so it would definitely work on my part. In the end, I think Jori should have the final say in how we handle it

Magazine:

Okie!

Backup Managing System:

I think I agree that it really does come down to who's active at the moment. I'm a little bit fresh out of ideas for this one XD

Writing Exchange:

I'm fine planning it during December, but how would the timeline for that work out? Like, would we plan in december, release it in January, and have a deadline for it in maybe mid-January/early-February?

December:

I've got qotds done already

Really glad to be back with all of you!! <3

Studio Host
I volunteer as tribute! Okay but seriously, I don't mind being added on to the “list” if there is one.


Magazine
Alright. If you are unable to, I think we could pull it together to make a magazine for December.

Backup Managing System
Hmmm. Maybe if Jori thinks she may be inactive for a period time could pass it to an active manager? I don't know.

Writing Exchange
That idea sounds fun! Maybe we could make it “New Hope” themed?

^-^::#ff70d2 cap

Hey People

Studio Host: I do think a studio rotation would be good, but I don't know if I would be best to be on the list- I'd probably forget to update the QotD or something

Magazine: Fair enough.

Backup Managing System: I'm not exactly sure. Just as a side note, we may also need a place to chat in situations such as the forums being down.

Writing Exchange: I have no idea what to add to this, though I will agree with Carmen in saying that we could make it ‘New Hope’ themed

Okay, thanks for pitching in! Here's what I'm liking the sound of so far:

• Studio Host Rotations — we'd of course need a schedule of sorts for it, or to figure out how we'd do it, but over all I think this would work best!
  
• New Hope themed Writing Exchange — I like the sound of this Carmen! Like Poppy said, we'd need to figure out a timeline for it. We're planning it throughout this month, so maybe get it started in early January if possible?
  
  Everything else needs a bit more fleshing out — any thoughts for the backup managing system, or are we all kind of struggling with ideas for that? (⁠≧⁠(⁠ｴ⁠)⁠≦⁠ ⁠)

Hey! So sorry I didn't reply yesterday, we had a Christmas fair and I was making stuff for our (my friends and I) stall.
Studio Host:
Host rotation sounds like a great idea, but I don't come on Scratch as often as I used to, so I won't make a good one. I'm also in a different time zone to the majority of the curators, so updates would be quite different timings for them if I were to be the host.
Magazine:
Okay, that's fine.
Backup managing system:
I don't really have any ideas for this, the only one being having a backup studio (which is waytoo much work).
Writing exchange:
Sounds good! I've got nothing else to add, but Carmen's idea is nice.
December roles:
I could do some AOTW's. I might as well do them here, so here they are:
1. Create a surrealism collage character and then write a piece of writing about the origin of the character.
2. Write a paragraph filled with the most romance cliches as possible.
3. Simplify a book's plot into short sentences and comment it. Let others try to guess which book you're talking about.
4. Try free writing, which is a technique in which the author writes their thoughts quickly and continuously, without worrying about form, style, or even grammar.

chocolatefrogs13 wrote:

AOTWs

Wow, thanks Ada! ฅ⁠^⁠•⁠ﻌ⁠•⁠^⁠ฅ

Since that means that both the QOTDs and AOTWs are taken care off for this month, and considering there weren't roles assigned last month, I think this volunteering basis works quite well as a one-off. That being said, is there anyone who would like to/has time to write a magazine article this month? ʕ⁠·⁠ᴥ⁠·⁠ʔ

For starters, hi everyone! It's been a minute since we've used this forum, over a month now. So welcome back, and let's see if we can fix the inactivity. x]

I had the somewhat questionable idea of backreading the forum, and arbitrarily chose to start with when I personally joined as a manager (January 8th, 2022 :00).

I figured that in the time that I've been here (almost two years, woah), we've left a lot of ideas behind in our constant moving forward, so it was time to go back and pick up the scraps, see if there was anything good. Hidden gems and all that, y'know? So here's just a list of all the interesting things I found, mostly in chronological order, but I also tried to rearrange them to be as coherent as possible.

Fun Facts

1. @LadyofBooks is the one who came up with the idea for the SWOW magazine.

Here was the initial post she made, way back in January of 2022. :0

LadyOfBooks wrote:

Hey! So I had an idea since there is a lot of stuff happening, e.g this new MWD promotion thing, nanowrimo and the promptober/whumptober thing so maybe once we've ironed out the dates and details someone could create a project that explains what is coming up with SWOW to let the curators know could be coming and possibly, have the comments be suggestions since the suggestions forum is kinda empty.

So that's kinda cool!

2. The writers prefer certain types of QOTDs

Slightly random, but it was noted by @QuirkyPROgrammer_101 that “Questions related to violence, death, romance attracts more audience as our audience comprises of people above 12.”. Somewhat interesting, maybe something to be kept in mind I guess?

Though obviously, we can't always do such questions, which are kind of on the edge of violating Scratch's Community Guidelines. :0

3. There was an idea to have a SWOW account

But it was decided against because of the email needed to make an account, and the fact that shared accounts are discouraged on Scratch. :o

Also, the reason it was even being discussed was because we were at the time unsure of where to put the SWOW Magazine, and the easier solution was simply to make a studio for it. :0

4. SWOW's follower count

Around August of 2022, we reached 200 followers on SWOW! Now, a year and four months later, we have more than double that! :O

5. SWOW's Age

I think most of us knew that SWOW's birthday is August 9th (and if you didn't, then bonus fact!), but it only turned 1 year old in 2022 (so it’s only 2 years old now). :o

(Which also means that it was made in 2021, and will be having its 3rd birthday this year! :D)

Ideas to Maybe Bring Back (Or just consider)

1. Writetober / SWOWtober

The basic idea was that it’d be an event similar to Whumptober, but we’d come up with prompts, possibly even have themed weeks, and the writers of SWOW would participate. It got overshadowed by NaNoWriMo, and was never revisited. :0

2. The Fiction Funfair

To use Jori's summary:

JollofRice123 wrote:

Fiction Funfair: a writing festival that uses the idea of rides at a theme park to encourage different activities within writing and collaboration etc. between writers

And we needed to further discuss:

what each ride will be and how they would encourage writers, when it will take place, how long it will last changes that will be made from the previous FF, signing up, how it will be run etc.

We never really got much further.

3. Writer's Bazaar

In May of 2022, Jori made the following suggestion:

JollofRice123 wrote:

A 'Writers' Bazaar'

• Held once every two months or so, maybe?
  
• Would use a studio, which could close comments at the end of each bazaar(?)
  
• There would probably have to be a consistent main event each time
  
• Maybe a new theme each time? Not a priority, though.
  
• Open to all with 2 main jobs: keep SWOW curators engaged and get more people to join SWOW
  
• Focuses would include: writing tips and advice, sharing writing, giving critique, hanging out with other writers, exploring areas of writing, maybe character trades (e.g. writing a story with someone else's character), maybe getting artists involved too — but all that's definitely a bit ambitious XD
  
• Any other ideas?

I think it's a good idea, it's just another one that was kind of forgotten as time moved on. (I can't link the post, because I'm on my school chromebook - and inspect element is blocked - but if anyone wanted to go look for it, the original post is post #555 on page 28, if anyone's curious)

4. National Poetry Writing Month

Is in April. That's really the entire note, lol.

But basically, if we wanted to plan ahead, that'd in like 3 months, so if we wanted to do something, we could for that. Maybe it wouldn't necessarily be an event per se, but some kind of acknowledgement would be cool. Maybe specialized AOTWs, or something, if we wanted to be silly (and I can write a related article for that month's magazine :D).

To go on a slight tangent, that's another little thing we can do to spice up the magazine or the studio in general, is to note writing “holidays” and mention them to the writers. I think that'd be nice. :]

5. Writing Exchange

This idea was much more recent, if you go back just a few pages in the forum, we were talking about it in around November, I believe.

But to summarize, the general idea was to set up something where the writers can, as the name implies, exchange their writing with each other. I believe we also had wanted to add an element of critique to it as well, so the writers can get feedback, but we never really decided exactly how we'd go about doing that (there were around 3 similar ideas floating around, and we never settled on one).

6. Having a recurring event

I think that having an event that happens regularly would be good, so that the writers can know when it's coming, and we'd be well-versed in said event after a while. Nothing crazy, like a monthly writing contest, but maybe every 2 or 3 months or so, we can have that contest. Or maybe Jori's Writer's Bazaar, or some other (relatively) simple and “re-doable” event. It doesn't necessarily need to be scheduled in advance, or assigned a specific time of year, either. Just something we can do whenever activity's low, or we don't have any new event ideas. Kind of like an ace up our sleeve, one could say, or a backup. :0

Suggested Changes / Important Things

1.The SWOW magazine was always supposed to rotate who posted it

The SWOW magazine was originally supposed to rotate who posted it anyway, but it ended up all falling on Jori. I think we’ve all gotten kind of comfortable with how it’s been operating, but maybe we can take advantage of this break in its publication to try to revisit how we’ll work on it behind the scenes. It's been mentioned multiple times, but still never implemented. :']

2. The Suggestions Forum

The Suggestions Forum has been dead for a while (though we did get a good suggestion - more on that in just a moment), maybe we should link it in each magazine issue like Jori originally suggested (It’s post #431 on page 22 of the Manager Forum)

JollofRice123 wrote:

WriterDerp wrote:

On a completely separate note, I feel like we should do a Suggestions Box or something? Like a place where the writers can drop an idea for the studio. Should probably be a project, though I dunno if it should be coding or just comments. I could try to whip something up and see if I can figure it out. (Even if we don't implement this idea, I think it'd be cool to try :0)

We do have the Suggestions Forum already, but it's majorly inactive and has very little on it. Most people either don't know it's there or just don't have suggestions (since we're relatively small in regard to active members). I don't know if you were saying this as something that should be in the magazine, but in that case, maybe a link in the project description?

That way we can hear more from the curators, at least let them know the option exists.

Speaking of, the suggestion I was speaking of was to include more interviews in the magazine, which i think is a great idea! Maybe we should interview the person who suggested it first, lol.

PoemFlower wrote:

Hi! I'm Tris, and have a suggestion. We should post more interviews on the studio magazine, it would be so fun reading and learning about other authors. I also volunteer to interview people, if you need someone.
But remember, it's just a suggestion.

They did volunteer, lol. x]

3. Host Rotations

We had a brief discussion about this the last time Jori was unavailable for a while, the idea that she could transfer host privileges to someone in times where she's unable to be online much.

This isn't 100% necessary to the studio's function, but I think it's a pretty important discussion to have just dropped like that, so I'd like to bring it back. :p

The Committee

I gave this its own entire section, because I do think this is really important. :0

1. A description of what the committee is supposed to be

ShadowSayaka wrote:

PoppyWriter wrote:

WriterDerp wrote:

That's unfortunate. Can someone remind me what the committee is responsible for? I thought they were so the “voice of the community” could be represented, right? Should we ask for their input more often on things?

Yeah; we also contribute in promoting competitions and such.

Did somebody say cOmMiTtEe?
The committee is responsible for assisting you dictators managers with community relations (as we feel we are a part of the “lower rank”) and taking work off your LaZy backs. Our positions, unlike yours, don’t rotate, which allows us to get comfy and perfect our jobs, which are often more community oriented than management. Our mixed skills and @$4# excellent teamwork allows us to aid you in practically any task — we can even run the studio while you guys have other work!
In recent times, the forum has been a ghost town, and we would really appreciate it if we were allowed to help with the funfair idea you guys were working on. We’ve had no new applications to join the committee, and I think that it’s because other people think that we don’t make a difference. If the funfair is a huge success — which it will be, if your little construction workers are given permission to do the finest of fine details — then I’m sure the community will be reinvigorated, not only in activity by in people who want to join us.
We want to help and make a real difference — that’s what we do!

See how I subtly changed the subject, and then flipped back? >:)

Shadow isn't currently on the committee anymore, but at the time of this, he was. I think this is a great description of what the committee can be. It'd be awesome if we could bring this back. The committee and the managers haven’t really worked together much (to the fault of no one in particular :00) in the time I’ve been managing, and I still think they can be a great asset.

In a discussion about this, Jori had said

JollofRice123 wrote:

…originally the committee were supposed to be the ones coming up with the ideas, and the managers building off of those — somewhere down the line, probably due to activity levels (or lack thereof), I think these roles kinda switched? :P

It might also be because the committee took much longer to form than the management team, meaning it never really had a solid starting point.

and during this discussion, she linked an even older post, in which she stated

So like, we come up with (an) idea/s, the committee develops on the idea and fleshes it out, then passes on the newer details to us so we can work on fully implementing it in the studio (or something like that~)

It'd be a good way to share the load, halve the work and double the benefits for all of us, especially as I'm hoping to leave the committee with a little more to do in the future.

Basically, it sounds like a great way to utilize the committee, to keep them in the loop on all our ideas and let them discuss them (a great way to work on multiple projects all at once, rather than let some of them fall to the wayside), as the manager team tends to focus on one project to completion and just forget about all the rest (not necessarily a bad thing, but definitely something to keep in mind).

If only we had a way to easily collaborate with the committee. Oh wait-

2. The SCAMS forum

The SCAMS forum was a forum that Jori made way back in 2022 for the purpose of communication and collaboration between the manager team and the committee. It ended up only lasting around 8 months before falling into disuse, and even in the time, there wasn't much progress in any particular projects.

While maybe we don't have to use this specific forum, per se, I think it was a really good idea that just unfortunately failed. We could try using the same forum, or making a new one, or even a whole new system entirely. But I think having a collaborative space for the committee and the manager team to discuss projects is a great idea, for all the reasons I said previously.

We would be able to at least double our productivity this way, easily. They’re basically our support, a second management team almost, in terms of planning and behind-the-scenes work.

3. Committee Applications?

On the subject of the SWOW committee, because they’ve been pretty much forgotten (RIP SWOW Committee, we’re all very sorry ;o;), maybe we should do a round of promotions? Or whatever the term is for bringing people into the committee, unless we still have more than 0 active members. :’)

I did a quick scan of the SWOW Committee forum (most of the work was actually finding it) and it was last active in December of 2022, so I have no idea on the status of any of the members.

To my knowledge, pretty much every member of the committee is inactive, so I suppose we could consider the entire group effectively gone. To try to utilize them now would pretty much mean having to build it up again from scratch, so I do believe this would be something to tackle a bit further down the line (once this forum is back up and running again).

4. The Magazine

Way back when, the committee had been asking for the SWOW Mag, which we kept putting off giving to them. But I still think it’s a good idea to transfer that over. It was always an idea, similar to how we wanted to rotate the posting responsibility, but again, we all kind of settled into letting Jori do it all. x0

We could even have the committee’s entire and only responsibility be the magazine, or just make a whole separate group for the magazine?

Though that's a lot of groups to keep track of, and an entirely different discussion.

And wow, what a great transition to-

SWOW Magazine

I know I already mentioned it a few times, but I'll leave those in their respective sections, and just put all the rest of it here.

1. Summary of (Possible) SWOW Mag Content

While I’m sure most of us understand the magazine pretty well, I think this list from Jori summarises it pretty well in terms of content

JollofRice123 wrote:

Potential Magazine Content
A majority of this is based on your previous suggestions

Key:
✯: Every project
☆: Most projects
✭: Some projects

• Upcoming events ✯
• Polls ✯/☆
• Prompts ✯
• Book Recommendations ✭
• Writing Tips and Advice ✯
• Fun Facts ☆/✭
• Puzzles/Games ✯
• Notices/ Recent News in SWOW ✯
• Recent News about writing irl ✭
• Excerpts (from curators) ☆
• AOTW and MWD related stuff ✯

This is one way I think it could pan out. Things like puzzles and games aren't a necessity, per se, but they will become expectations as well as likely improve the overall quality of the magazine. Same with prompts, writing and advice and other things. However, this is a list of potential content, so nothing is set in stone until, well, it is.

Let's keep brainstorming! (◍•ᴗ•◍)

Just for future reference and stuff, I think it's a good list to have (especially when the goal is for other people to be able to manage the magazine as well. :])

2. Articles

Just thought it'd be interesting (?) to mention how getting content for the magazine was quite literally always difficult, but the most of all was articles! We never have enough articles. They're the rarest contribution we get.

More of an observation than a call to action. ;0

3. List of Article Ideas

Not at all to toot my own horn, but more to bring it back to a more recent page of the forum, I had made a list a while back of possible articles I (or another manager, if they wanted! :0) could write for the magazine. To refresh everyone's memory (including my own x]), here is the list:

• A workshop / article on how to get a full plan / plot from an idea /
  
• How to get a plot when you only have characters and a world?
  
• For some reason, I keep thinking about writing memes :')
  
• I've been writing a lot of poetry lately for this program I'm a part of, I could do something explaining different types of poetry, or
  
• A thing about how to write a particular type of poetry? (Haibun, golden shovel, etc)
  

(I crossed out the one I already wrote)

And this does, of course, also come with an offer to write for the magazine. :D

(I'll probably do this sometime soon. Mayhaps for the April edition, I can write something about different types of poetry! :D)

Links and things

SWOW Suggestions Forum
SCAMS Forum
SWOW Committee Forum

And that's all my findings! Sorry for the super long post, but I figure any one of these things could spark a new discussion, so no pressure to respond to all of it (it is a lot ;0), but anything you think is important or should take priority would be cool! :]

This post is 3157 words long- ;0

*is too not motivated to do all the fancy reply stuff*

Fun Facts

That's really cool! I think that the things about the QOTD are really cool- we should definitely use that info in the future.

Ideas

I always thought the Fiction Funfair thing sounded really fun, but we eventually got busy. I think it would be really fun to bring it back! Any other events you guys are particularly fond of?
I also think that the exchange would be really fun and relatively simple to put together, so long as we stay organized in swapping stories. I think maybe, if we do it, we could have the critique element be sort of optional? Like in the sign-up form, the members could say whether or not they'd like critique on their story. Just an idea, since I know not all writers are comfortable with getting feedback, especially if their story is in an early stage.
I think that the Bazaar would definitely take more planning, but like Derp said, we could redo it multiple times, which could make the effort worth it. Any opinions on this one?

Committee

I really loved working with the committee while it was still up and I think it could definitely help give some more life to the studio. Considering that we're talking about bringing some events back to life, it may be useful to bring the committee back? I'm not super sure, since we've got a lot going on, but it could be an asset at the moment. Any opinions?

Magazine

I agree- we've always tried to make the articles the center of the magazine, but they always tend to get pushed to the side. Whether it just means dedicating ourselves to it more, or asking a person outside of the managing team to contribute (whether that be asking members of SWOW or a committee member if we decide we want to revive that), I think we might want to pick up a little bit on that.

Sorry, I just kind of skimmed and added a few ideas here and there! ^^'