HINTS & TIPS
Newsy websites are a goldmine for publicity. People like myself, Kristi, Cate, Lucky, Lyle, Steph, and Marie-Eve are always on the lookout for news, and will often help you out with a bit of a write-up. Don't make a nuisance of yourself, but dropping a line every now and then with an update won't hurt. We're always glad to know when new things are happening in the fandom, and between us, we're seen by thousands of people every week.
Write a characterisation guide for your writers. Don't insult their intelligence, but if you're elaborating on some relationship only hinted at onscreen (eg, Skinner's working relationship with Kersh), spell it out for them. This is especially important if you're alluding to a backstory that bridges where the show ends and your series begins.
Who are your readers? Are there any "problem" readers - readers who might be interested if you filled in some blanks or explained some things? When advertising your series, consider whether your ads will be read by your ideal reader or your problem reader, and tailor your publicity accordingly.
If there is an established virtual series with similar aims or a similar storyline to yours, consider lending them a hand first. Possibly your efforts would be better used within an existing project, and even if you do go ahead with your own, you will have learned a lot from being involved.
Other virtual series are not your enemy. Don't get sucked into politics. Pool resources when you can, and ask them for help or for pointers. No-one's in this to get rich or become the queen of the fandom. Most people are more than happy to give you the benefit of their experience - all you need to do is ask.
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XINE 06x2003 (JUNE/JULY 2003): VIRTUOSITY
Virtual Series For Producers
I am indebted to Holly and msk, who generously shared their time and experience while I was writing this guide.
A virtual series is an extraordinarily demanding and challenging venture. Be very aware of what you're getting into before you commit, and make sure you have staff - lots of staff. There are small teams who pull off series almost by themselves, but they're the exception and not the rule, and usually they're the writers as well. Work out in detail what needs to be done, and hand-pick people to attend to those tasks, before you go public with your intention to proceed.
Organisation And Planning
If you want to attract writers, you're going to need to offer a lot of help and promotional support as a trade-off for the loss of creative control. That means getting a PR strategy in place, and probably involving artists and fellow webmasters. You're also going to need checks and balances to be sure that what they produce matches your vision for the series. You will need betas who are fast, watchful, and willing to become familiar with the continuity and stylistic demands of the series. If you aren't skilled as a webmaster, you'll need one of those, as well.
Have a timeline for achieving what you want to achieve, and be realistic. Launching your virtual series the minute you have your first episode and trying to come up with one every week is a very good way of going mad. Have at least a few in hand, or better yet, give yourself a few months lead time and have the first drafts for the whole season.
Be very clear with your staff about who has the final say in case of dispute. You will need strong leadership to carry a virtual series off. A democracy is great in theory, but in practice, someone needs to be willing to make the tough decisions and get on with things. You're not going to have the time for a drawn-out conciliatory process when things go wrong. If you feel the need for democracy, make it democracy at a policy level rather than case-by-case. Decide between you, ahead of time - when this kind of dispute arises, this is the procedure for dealing with it (as opposed to everyone getting into the fray when an actual dispute arises).
What's Your Story?
Before you make any decisions about staffing, promotions, and the like, tease out in your mind exactly what your vision is. Why are you running (planning to run) this series? Who is your audience? What assumptions are you making about your characters or your audience? Do you have a source of either writers or readers in mind? Will your series have a linear story and character development arc? What is it? Or, will your characters be timeless constants in a series of self-contained stories?
If, as is more common, you want a linear arc, tease that out. Nail it down. Write an outline for the arc and stick to it. At the same time, though, there's no need to sweat the small stuff. If Doggett and Reyes need to be living together in time for an attempt on her life in the Season 1 finale, it doesn't really matter whether he moves in with her in episode twelve or fifteen. Work out what your really crucial points are, but be flexible about the smaller pointers leading up to them.
Know how your characters tick. If your series branches off from, say, Empedocles, Scully and Monica will not have the fairly intimate friendship we saw in Season 9 (unless you develop it some other way). If your series is set some time after The Truth, the events in the backstory you've drafted in between will have effected subtle, or not-so-subtle changes in your characters. And your planned arc will probably effect further changes again. Look over your arc from the point of view of each recurring character (not only the leads) and their history and work out how they see it and what it does to their relationships with the people around them.
Try to be aware of your biases when you work out your storyline. If you're a Scullyist, but your story is supposed to be about Scully and Mulder in partnership, be sure that Mulder's development gets the treatment it deserves as well. Be aware of how each character sees their own place in their world. Krycek sees himself as knowing more and taking a more responsible path, and Mulder as being misguided. So he isn't going to change his ways because of Mulder's example. If you need him to change his ways, you need to find a reason for it that makes sense in light of his view of the world. You need to have all these things straight in your mind, because writers will challenge you on them and try to work around you if they don't agree with your position, and you're going to need to be able to defend it in your own mind in order to withstand those pressures.
Dealing With Writers
Get to know your writers and be aware of what they need from you. Some writers like to be left to their own devices. Tell them what they need to include, and they'll go away and come up with something, get their own beta to look at it, and come back with a finished product. Writers like this may perceive premature enquiries as intrusive or as a sign that you don't trust them to deliver. But others like to have their hand held. They like someone to show an interest in their work, to bounce off ideas, and so on. If you're dealing with writers who are new to casefiles, or whatever genre, you may need to talk them through the process a little before they go off and do it. You may even need to invest a little thought and give them a complete story idea to work with. Get to know their quirks, and work with them rather than against them. Try to give them the continuity information they need in order to get it right first time, and keep rewrites to a minimum.
Be aware of your writers' biases, just as you are aware of your own. Watch for writers who try to slide in extraneous story threads about their pet characters. Sometimes these are harmless, but sometimes they can be distracting or harmful to your ongoing story arc. Conversely, the same writer can be a valuable resource when you need someone to write an episode centered on that character.
Give your writers avenues for discussion of their day-to-day problems and frustrations - perhaps an email list or a point of contact. Try to avoid drama being played out in public forums. Aim for a united front. All publicity is not good publicity in this fandom. Scandals deter people. Quiet achievers get more respect and more loyalty from readers and writers alike.
Have A Safety Net
As far as possible, make contingency plans. The tighter your schedule, the more plans you should have. Have a couple of betas on standby who you can call on in an emergency, if a writer delivers her episode a few hours before the scheduled "broadcast." Have a handful of reserve story ideas in outline, or roughed out in draft or script format, and a couple of good, fast writers willing to make one into an episode if someone pulls out at the last minute. Find out who works well under pressure and who's likely to drop the ball, and make sure you know what to do if something goes wrong. Make sure someone else is there to do what needs to be done if real life comes along and does a number on you, as well.
A Quality Product
However you do it, aim for a quality product. Know the rules of writing and the norms of writing in this fandom. Know your craft, and know yourself well enough to know your own weaknesses as a writer. Then make sure there's someone watching your back, someone to catch those weaknesses in your own work and that of your writers. If you aren't a good beta, recruit someone who is. If you aren't a good web designer, ask for help. If you need a researcher, ask around and find one. This fandom is full of people who love to be involved, and not all of them are the big names in your own niche of it. People will cross genre lines to help if your project is known to be civil and drama-free. Lurkers will come out to lend a hand if they feel it's safe to do so. Know when to pull rank, but just as importantly, know when to delegate to the people around you. Extend trust to people who earn it. Prize quality in the people around you, and not the politics or the publicity. A quality product will stand on its own.
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