The Sleeper's Den

I really don't have the slightest sense of when to post what, or of how to promote my stuff. From what I gathered from a recent discussion on schemingreader's journal, there are good days and bad days for posting, and the worst thing you can do, if you want your stuff to be read, is to post during the weekend.

Why do I post on Saturdays? Because 1) I draw on weekdays, during my train journeys; and because 2) on Saturdays I have the time to scan my images and compose my posts. BUT if Saturdays are really inconvenient, then maybe I have to figure out a way to post on a weekday.

schemingreader's question was about fanfic, specifically, but I guess reading webcomics is not dissimilar to that. So what do you think? Does it make a difference for you if the comic posts on weekdays? Or have you got used to Saturday updates and think it's too late to change?

Please let me know your practice/opinion/preference :-).

[Poll #1745431]

Thank you!

The Sword of Kings has NO cliffhangers. It's so short that it is its own cliffhanger. todayiamadaisy and Cabepfir have pointed out the difficulty of judging this short comic when it is being posted in ittie bitties. So I have been wondering whether it would be better to post the rest of the story in one go instead of two.

What do you think would be best?

[Poll #1618672]

Thanks! :D

At Sectus last July, _vocalion_ asked me to consider writing a tutorial about individualising characters (if I didn't understand that right, please do correct me, K!). I'm not sure how to go about that, and I certainly don't have time for it at the moment, but I am mulling the idea over in my head.

So - I'm not promising I'm definitely going to do something with this - but the possibility exists *g*. Now, I was thinking that since the tutorial would supposedly be about the development of a character's facial features and such, it would be fun to do, perhaps, a (few) character(s) I'd never done before, and I was wondering whether you had any suggestions. It will have to be a character I know, but we'll worry about that later; also, for obvious reasons I'd ask you not to pick someone from a comic :P.

[Poll #1044495]

Feel free to specify or otherwise elaborate in a comment :-).


ETA: Okayyy... I should be capable of drawing people who sprouted from other brains than Rowling's, you know... And I, sort of, really don't object to those. Srsly XD.

pennswoods left me a comment at Artistic Alley in which she suggested that I write an art tutorial sometime. Now, I'm not sure I should be tutoring anyone about anything art-related, seeing as my methods aren't really based on any expert knowledge or skill; but if some of you think I could be of any help somehow, I could give the idea some thought. Hence, a poll! ;)

[Poll #913093]

I am celebrating a sad sort of fandom anniversary this month. It is one entire year ago that my last fic, Monkey Business, made its début at Mugglenet. Since then, I have written three miserable drabbles, one of which I never even took the trouble to post. I started to think about my lack of fic-production because last week, Potioncat, my earliest friend in HP fandom, gently nudged me and let me know she would like me to write more. She has a point. There has been a year of silence. Well, of course there is the pr_snape saga that I started in January and which is now drawing to a close, but that has some ten readers if I’m lucky (mind you, they’re great readers and I love them :D!); and I did write and present a paper at Lumos.

The thing is, when I looked at my fandom participation of the past ficless year, I realised that I have been way more active on the arts front instead. I have drawn some ten pages of the comic; I have enlarged my character repertoire with Eileen Prince, Luna Lovegood, Pansy and Narcissa; I drew three pictures for snape_the_hbp’s Fest (Troubled Sleep, A Desperate Mother and a breast-feeding Eileen Prince); I have completed my first commission; I drew my very first picture with pen and ink, Sleeping Ugly; and most recently I completed my submission for kinda_lush, This Book…. I am not counting my first dA kiriban (for which I had to learn how to draw cats), my showdown picture and todayiamadaisy’s cat, (attempt at) Japanese style.
*whew*

I’m not sure I have an explanation for this shift from writing towards art. I have come across several plot bunnies on my way, but they have all been channelled into the direction of that WIP of Doom that I keep going on about but of which nobody except todayiamadaisy and _vocalion_ has ever seen more than a shred. It’s strange for me to think that when I turn to fic again, I’ll be writing one long thing instead of short stories, but it looks as if that is exactly what’s going to happen. For some reason, HBP has given me inspiration that drives me back to the characters’ past, not the present of Book Six or the future land of Seven…

One impression I have – but I may be wrong – is that the shift from writing to art largely coincides with my existence in LJ land. I don’t know – I have the feeling my drawings are more appreciated here than my fics; most people have friended me for my pictures, I think. But then again, that may be because I post my stories in archives rather than directly in my journal…?

So, um, because I have been thinking about this, and also because I like making polls, I’ve drawn up a poll that should help me assess what sort of things people like, and like to see me do more.

( Take the poll... )

I suppose I am so proud of myself because I finally finished my very first commission that I have started to think about offering to do more. These days I am far too busy, but within a few months I will be without a job and without an income (hopefully not for long, gah), and I will have time to work on order. There are a few things to figure out, though, like subjects (fandom only or not?), prices and shipping and stuff; but before I even start to think about those, I would like to know whether there would be any interest at all... So please take the poll!


[Poll #751976]

Thank you! :)