Critical Mass

If you’re reading this, you’ve probably already figured out that this website, Critical Mass, is up and working, so there’s no point in my saying so. However, a couple of annotations are in order.

Firstly, I was not aware of Novelr’s “Blooking Needs A Community” when I began this project, but I’d spoken to someone who was and I fully agree with it. I am going to repeat (slightly edited) the comment that I made there:

I think that it is entirely true that there is no one good universal point of entry for blooking or webfiction. Nor is any one site capable of being our community. But you know what? Pages Unbound is a good point of entry for some people. An individual story is for those who like it, assuming that it’s got an adequate links section. And you know what else? Novelr looks like a bit of community. So does Pages Unbound, in a different way. And I’m trying to set up my own bit of community right here. No one site is going to do everything, but put together we’re pretty good. The community exists, or is starting to, it’s just not connected well enough to be obvious yet.

Secondly, I’d like to give a quick rundown of the posts already here:

1. There are a lot of post templates. These are largely for the use of people writing posts here (guest submissions encouraged!) and can be safely ignored by everyone else.
2. There is an editorial about webfiction explaining “Why I Care (and You Should, Too).” It was adapted from a preexisting piece, so it’s not in quite the same style as future editorials.
3. There is an article on terms such as blooking and webfiction, “No Uncertain Terms.” It is accompanied by an editorial sidebar full of unanswered questions, “Priming the Pump.”
4. There is a review of the story Othar’s Twitter by Phil Foglio et al. accompanied by an interview with the man himself.
5. Last but not least, there are a couple of database entries on stories that I’ve read through. I’ll be adding to these as I read and review stuff, and anyone who writes something is free to add their own.

Hopefully this gives you some idea what to expect from Critical Mass. If I’m really lucky, it will even give you an idea for something to write for Critical Mass. In any case, feel free to leave a comment below giving suggestions, encouragement, or whatever else comes to mind.