Great to see some responses here, guys! I figured I'd post my answers now that there are some answers here, so I can also reply to what you guys have to say. One thing I -would- like to address, however: I know Ambage is for the entire library, I meant to phrase it as saying the Ambage headquarters was inserted into the SS forum, not to mean that it was just for the SS forum since everybody mentioned my phrasing, haha. So, yeah, sorry about that, I should have said that clearer, but note, I did mean to say it in the way you guys stated. I just wanted to clear that up. =] (however, I didn't know it was for both Epics and Comedies, so to be honest, you can either get rid of the question, or allow me to rephrase it. Since I know this, it'd probably be better to just eliminate it. =/ I'll let you guys decide, though.) Onto the responses!: @AEA: Thanks for your comments! ^^ @Velox: I totally agree with you on Comedies. I'll post my comments to build further on what you said a little later in this post, but for now I'll say I agree, haha. (by the way, thanks for the mention. =3) @Meiko: From what I deducted from your post, you obviously are not very into what's in the Library. However, I can understand that, because honestly, a large fraction of the members here aren't even aware of most of the wonderful stories in the library. I really encourage you to get more involved - you know, try your hand at writing and maybe post a story. But hey, you don't have to write to become more involved. Try reading a story or two, review some stories. There are a lot of writers that really want encouragement and critique on how they can improve. But not just a "hey this is really good 10/10" is enough. The most appreciated reviews are the longer reviews - sure, one over two thousand words long can be outrageous, but it can definitely be appreciated because one person took the time to review a story in detail. All I'm trying to say is, get more involved! Whether it is writing or reviewing, the people in the Library would greatly appreciate contributions as simple as that. =) @HH: Epics I actually think is one of the better subforums of the three. It seems to be doing pretty good, and I don't think that any changes should be made. Activity has seemed to increase to me - before I remember when nothing was there. The overall quality of the writing also seems better - but more reports coming from there? I'd think there would have been more from comedies, surprisingly. Honestly, I disagree with you. In comedies, though those 'high-brow' stories, as you call them, are allowed, they stick out like a sore thumb, as Velox said. I prefer the more serious comedic styles to the 'crazy-fic' stories, because those tend to have more wit. The crazier selection of slapstick stories in comedies now don't really have wit, which is what I'm looking for in the comedies. Comedies, although inviting slapstick at times, should posess a certain amount of wit - what I see now doesn't. Recently I decided to take a look at the stories there, and I didn't see anything witty of the kind. That probably is a very harsh comment, but that's what I saw from my eyes. That's not just stereotyping the stories and saying they're terrible because they're all slapstick. Comedies can be all slapstick, certainly, and even though what is being done now is all slapstick, it isn't even well done slapstick. I didn't even think you -could- screw up slapstick, but sadly, it's done both poorly and lacking any decent grammar. A decent story would make it so I could look over the spelling errors, but frankly, with nothing to support either, I can't see anything that would make me find anything there even remotely appealing. (Unfortunately, the crazier stories would stick out in the regular Library forums, too. They stick out as it is in their own forum because they are unlike any other comedic format I've seen, but that can't be changed, I guess. =/) Plus, I noticed things seem a little jumbled, despite what you said. Since I posted a story there awhile back, I decided to read a few stories there, but I wasn't necessarily impressed - so, I'm not just saying these things to knock the comedies forum in any way, this is truly what I saw. I'd like to see a lot more actually go into that section, if it is going to exist, after all. I sound harsh, but I really don't mean to be. I'm trying to be moreso honest than cruel, but if cruelty is injected into my words when I'm being honest, so be it. That's certainly just me, though, haha. iBrow: Thanks for the comments! Onto my answers... Q3: Should the entire Library have a 300 word count minimum? Why or why not? (old question) No. Mostly because I can see it would stop people from posting poetry. Sure, usually I would say "no" because of the very small amount of poetry in the Library, but having dabbled in poetry in the past, it is not necessarily nonexistant in the Library and, obviously, uses a lot less than three hundred words. I seriously doubt the moderators of the Library would go to the extent of making poetry the exception, but I suppose it depends on their views. If you exclude poetry's existence in the Library, I'd probably still say "no" - Velox's reasoning explains my answer. Q4: Should comedies be merged with the rest of the Library? Why or why not? (old question) Unfortunately, I said before that I'd say something here when responding to Velox's comments, but I guess not, haha. My resposne to HH's comments should just about sum up my thoughts, though. In short, yes and no - it's difficult to actually give a definite answer, since either way you slice it, the comedies, both 'high-brow' and 'crazy', wouldn't fit in either forum. Q5: What are your favorite themes to write about? Do you feel there are some that could be better expressed through your writing without the influence of Bionicle? I'll edit and post later. I procrastinate too much, but ahh, well, just as long as I get back to it, haha. Q6: How often do you tend to post stories? How often do you review stories? (old question) Definitely not as often as I would like to. Make that a second for the second part of the question as well. =/ Q7: Have you ever made use of the critics clubs? Do you often find them helpful? (old question) Yes, and I have always found them helpful. If I will go so far as to name some of the critics, some I've often found the best were Velox, Eponine, and Cederak. Even when I don't use the critics clubs, I can still see when reading reviews to other stories that these critics are always very helpful. ^^ Q8: Ambage is the newest writing club that has been inserted into Short Stories forum. It's a community of writers attempting to help each other, and holds flash fiction writing contests. Do you think something very similar to that should be made for the Epics forum? Maybe also for Comedies? Why or why not? I'll skip this question, mainly because I got half of the question wrong when mentioning Ambage. *sneaks away humiliated* Q9: Who are your favorite authors on BZP? Do you feel any specific ones inspire you more than others? Now, -this- I want to answer. There are definitely a few that should be mentioned, and, unfortunately, some of them will be forgotten, but note that it's not like I did it on purpose. Anyhow, to begin with the inspirations: Lady Kopaka -- Recently I wrote her a review of her old epic, Glitch in the System, to properly review it and tell her how much the story and her writing inspired me. I honestly felt like I was going on a trip down memory lane when I was reading through the old chapters, almost communicating with those characters she had created...when I was younger, it was like she had made a whole world for me to explore and have fun in, a world I could envision clearly in my mind. I craved learning about these characters, until it got to a point where I knew that I could not rely on someone else's characters and story. I wanted to create my own, and her story inspired me to do so - I am proud to say that I have created two epics that have delved into the world that I created. Her writing, in all honesty, introduced me to new worlds that I would not have known or created myself had she not written her epic, or written at all for that matter. She helped me indirectly to appreciate writing, to write on my own, and to help me imagine my own worlds, not just hers. I owe everything to her. ...Well, maybe twenty to twenty-five percent goes to a few other people that I'm about to mention, but at least seventy-five to eighty percent belongs to her, nonetheless. Velox -- So, honestly, this was a guy that I haven't really come to know better just in the past few months, and though I've always known he was a terrific writer (he denies it, but, Andrew, it's the honest truth. =]), I've come to respect him more than I ever did before since he's worked very, very hard with Ambage and other projects. I always did respect him and his wonderful writing, but having seen what he's worked on with Ambage (specifically a book with a collection of stories from him and other Ambage members known as X:15, I can see that he has a lot on his plate, but I think it is amazing he's been able to handle it all. But hey, it's not just that. Let me get on to the more inspiring part (though that is in itself...). He's always been a very talented writer, and his writing, like others, has inspired me. But one of the nicest things he's done for me includes writing a very, very detailed review of my failure of a comedy, Unity, Duty, and Stupidity. It was a big boost for me and a motivator, and truly helped me continue to write my comedy, although it still did go down in flames. It still meant a lot to me, for him to go out of his way to write something like that and let alone even walk into the Comedies forum, since he has a good knowledge of what's actually in there, haha. Still, in all, thanks, Andrew. =) Eponine -- Mix equal parts crazy, awesome, and huggable (or cat if you prefer, it will get you a similar result, but if you want specifics, try huggable), and you get Eponine, or Aderia. She's a great friend to have around, and has been there for me when I needed her. She's an absolutely amazing writer, and she should never forget that. ;-) I've always felt her writing was very, very inspirational for me, and the majority of her reviews that she's given me have been encouraging. So, just wanted to say thanks, you crazyawesomehuggablecatamazing person. =3 Annnnd this leads me to just listing some names, since I've obviously gone on long enough. Zarayna, Grant-Sud, Tifosi 92, Ezorov, GaliGee, Inferna Firesword, Yukiko, Taka Nuvia (yes, guys, she's a writer, too, and a good one at that), and others that I unfortunately forgot. Darn this stupid memory... Q10: What are your favorite stories on BZP? To make this brief, any stories written by the listed authors above. Specifically speaking, Glitch in the System has always been one of my favorites, if you haven't already figured that out, haha. Q11: Do you feel the activity of the Library has decreased recently? How do you think it could be increased? Decreased, definitely. How it could be increased I'm not sure, I'm leaving y'all to give me some input there, since I don't have enough energy to conjure up some suggestions at the moment. Q12: Do you think that Round-Robin writing should be allowed? Why or why not? I have mixed feelings on that. On the one hand, I've never understood why it wasn't allowed in the first place, since it could be great for building a community spirit in the Library, but on the other hand, I realize that it really would just clutter the place. But honestly, by how much? A lot say it would turn into an RPG. If well-organized, I think it would work out well, but the thing is, it seems like it would turn out to become horribly disfigured in the end. For the people of Ambage, I really like the idea. Actually, it's a suggestion that I think should be taken into consideration by Ced and Velox for Ambage, because that, being a tightly knit together writers group, would really make something amazing out of it. Whether flash-fiction pieces would make up a story or something else, I think it would really work out well. That's just a random addition to my answer, though, apologies. Q13: Do you think there are a sufficient amount of Library-related questions here? Why or why not? (note, if you do have ideas for other or better questions, please post them and I will be glad to add them to the main topic post) That's for you guys to decide, haha. If this post seems jumbled, that mainly has to do with the fact that I've been writing this throughout the day and adding on extra tidbits while editing it. So, it's kind of messy in some parts, and if some responses seem out of order, then that should explain it, haha. By the way, I strongly encourage those posting here to follow this topic, since it would be nice to keep this alive. I'd really like to see some more opinions about things in the Library, any things that should be discussed, et cetera. So, in all, I really appreciate the comments so far, and I hope to see more! =]