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Echoes Ch29 . . .
Mon, 03/30/2009 - 06:35 — moshpit
The first half, a fully self-contained chapter for most authors, has moved into the next beta stage. Whew. Between real life (travel, plague, etc.) and plot entanglements, that took longer than expected. This component weighs in at 18+k words.
The second half should be in full beta this week.
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Are you going to post this
Are you going to post this as one fell swoop, or as two separate chapters?
Whenever one is ready . . . it'll post.
Are you going to post this as one fell swoop, or as two separate chapters?
Well, that's not quite true. Of course 29a has to post first, but if 29a is ready hours or weeks before 29b, then it'll post when it's ready. I usually try not to sit on ready material just for the sake of sitting on it. It looks like at least a two-week delay between 29a and 29b if I had to guess.
"The Contract" is a bit of an exception, since much of it was previously posted here. The edits have added new material (small or large bits), and tightened up a few other details . . . but the new material won't post on that until it's caught up with what was already posted, modulo editing.
You know what would be handy?
…if the title page of a story was able to highlight unread chapters like the tracker page does.
I know I'm in the middle of re-reading this to try to catch up, but I'm having trouble recalling just how far I've got. Since it's one of those stories which bears reading several times anyway, I've been even more lazy than normal keeping track of where I am. I think I was up to Chapter Eight…I'll just have to read those first seven chapters again to check ;-)
Erm . .
Let me get this straight. You want to be able to selectively toggle chapters as read or not read? That is, you want a little checkbox to toggle the read status? That can probably be arranged.
I could offer you a short-cut guide. You know, re-read chapter 9, 14, 25, that sort of thing. But it might not help much, as it depends on how paranoid you are and how many little bits you remember in context. Dave has suggested writing "Cliff's Notes for Echoes" in the past. I think there was even mention of an "Echoes for Dummies" version to follow. You could ask him to start work on it now... :)
Well, actually...
...I wasn't thinking of anything quite so complicated. Thing is, I originally read this over at SIYE, so I have at least seen almost all of it before, but that was a long time ago. When it was reposted here, I started re-reading but didn't manage to keep up sufficient momentum. It's taken me a couple of tries to get up to Chapter Eight, but I haven't been pushing it since it's fun to read and I have plenty of time between updates.
So no, I wasn't thinking of anything nearly so complicated as toggling "read status", not in the least. I was merely thinking that since the Tracker knows whether I've read a given chapter, and shows a little red "!" if I haven't, it would be nice if that were reflected on the story page where all the chapters are collected together rather than interspersed with other content, not to mention being hidden under weeks of more recent updates.
If there were possibly an option to mark a whole story "unread", that might be handy for re-reads, but not individual chapters. Well, maybe if it were possible to "back up" and mark that most-recently-read chapter unread again, but it wouldn't make sense to be able to just toggle a chapter in the middle.
Come to think of it, doesn't the system already do that, if a chapter you already read was updated? That's the only time I can think of that you'd want that to happen.
I'm getting the feeling I started this sub-thread in the wrong place now...
Will we be finding out what
Will we be finding out what is really up with Ginny and the Malfoys in the coming chapters? Sorry but I'm curious as hell.
Mostly yes, a bit of no
Will we be finding out what is really up with Ginny and the Malfoys in the coming chapters? Sorry but I'm curious as hell.
It depends on which answers you're looking for. Some of the major ones will be answered during Part I, particularly the primary issue behind Ginny's situation. The ramifications thereof, and the secondary issues, less so. Regarding the Malfoys, there are several balls in the air. Some land, some don't, and some make a lovely crater when they get dropped.
moshpit wrote: Some of the
Some of the major ones will be answered during Part I, particularly the primary issue behind Ginny's situation.
Ooh good! I'm eager to see how far off my guesses are. ;-)
Chatmandu wrote: Ooh good!
Ooh good! I'm eager to see how far off my guesses are. ;-)
You realize, of course, that Josh's definition of 'answer' may not match ours in the slightest.
Echoes
I'm very pleased to hear that 29a may be ready soon and 29b in 2-3 weeks after that! Thanks for keeping us posted, and most of all for keeping on with this great fic despite all the real life obligations.
At last!
You realize, of course, that Josh's definition of 'answer' may not match ours in the slightest.
It brings a tear to my eye to hear someone publicly state this. All grown up, our Dave is. He's just not quite paranoid enough about the material, though. Then again, neither are the betas . . .
and 29b in 2-3 weeks after that
I'd like to promise that, but obviously can't. Even 29a has had a longer loop than expected in the beta cycle, though not without merit. I'll do my best to keep that estimate correct.
I'm more curious about the
I'm more curious about the primary issue. Damn time for me to read the story again. Not at SIYE though....
Nevertheless....
I wrote "2-3 weeks" only in an indefinate and hopelessly optimistic sense......I'm sure the beta work for lengthy chapters is a lot of work and is quite time consuming. Nevertheless (never pass up an opportunity to use that word), it's good to know that a new chapter may appear in the near future as opposed to the distant future.
freshwater wrote:
Nevertheless (never pass up an opportunity to use that word), it's good to know that a new chapter may appear in the near future as opposed to the distant future.
Hopefully the near future.......although getting both parts close to each other would be better.
Much of it . . .
. . . is an issue of the lives involved. Ch29a is in late beta, where it's been for a bit. Ch29b is with me, needing a few fixes before going for a full torture session. Even with a truncated beta team, it's still a random delay function.
Of course, if someone wants to throw around some serious cash, I'm sure the entire team would be happy to give up our day jobs and do this full-time. Then you'd have them very often indeed. :)
You can think about it if you win the lottery.
Lotto.....
Of course, if someone wants to throw around some serious cash, I'm sure the entire team would be happy to give up our day jobs and do this full-time. Then you'd have them very often indeed. :)
You can think about it if you win the lottery.
If I ever hit the lotto, I can assure you I'll pay you, Chatmandu, Sovran, bransfolly, Jonathan Avery, a few others an all the betas you would need to put a serious dent in the progress of most of the stories here. I promise you that. I've been unlucky so far but you never know.....
You gotta play to win...
If I ever hit the lotto, I can assure you I'll pay you, Chatmandu, Sovran, bransfolly, Jonathan Avery, a few others an all the betas you would need to put a serious dent in the progress of most of the stories here. I promise you that. I've been unlucky so far but you never know.....
I can't speak for the others, but me? Hey, you've got a deal! ;-)
In the spirit of full disclosure I must warn you that I may be easy but I'm certainly not cheap.
For those keeping track . . .
. . . the chapter's stalled in very late beta. Real Life has struck a part of the team that's usually been very fast, but it's been a few weeks. Due to posting at multiple sites, this stage cannot be bypassed, or it can't be posted in some places.
Carry on.