Write Wise's next iteration
I think the Write Wise has been a great thing. It's allowed us to write stories and share them amongst friends, in a manner that encourages those friends to read and leave feedback. That's a privileged thing. Many writers only benefit from feedback either by being published or by forming writing clubs/meetups.
We have hit a lot of issues lately, however. The current structure of the site, which has been on the go since its formation in 2011, which encourages us to write towards deadlines ('challenges'), is incompatible with how we now live.
We are all busy. Challenges have imposed on us deadlines which had resulted in challenges with missing entries or, even worse, rushed entries. I love writing. I always will, I imagine, but the Write Wise has felt more like a chore than an opportunity lately.
So it's time for a change of system.
In the coming month or two, a new Write Wise will be unveiled. This site will be much simpler than the current one, with control placed firmly in your hands, the readers.
There will be no challenges. Instead, you will post stories at your own pace. The site will allow you to advertise to the community that there is a new story, as the current system does, and you will still have the benefits of a clean profile, comments and so on -- but you will not post to a challenge. You will post when you are ready.
Hopefully, this keeps our writing-club style community, but removes the pressure.
Let me know what you all think. This is your site, and soon it will become even more so.
The Future of Write Wise
Tomorrow's challenge has only one entry, contributed by Falcon. I have the beginnings of a story formed, but (not for the first time) other projects have held me back this month. I fully intend to enter in Christmas, but didn't want to rush an entry and regret it.
I'm looking forward to reading Falcon's entry tomorrow and the Christmas 2014 Write Wise will be going ahead, but I wanted to get your feelings on our challenges.
Do you think they have passed their time / have become a hassle? Do you think we should have less? Or do you think it's okay that we have varying numbers of emtries and that we should keep the system as is.
Write Wise is your site as much as it is mine, so I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Happy reading tomorrow!
Sorry for the delay!
Posting was meant to begin two days ago, but I've been so busy that ... well ... my Write Wise duties were neglected.
Sorry for the delay, everyone. Posting begins now.
- 3rd of July: Aaron
- 4th of July: Falcon
Write Wise v3
Version 3 is the next version of the Write Wise website. It is a major overhaul, with the codebase being completely re-written. There are some major architectural changes to the design of the application:
- It will use the Python programming language rather than PHP.
- There will actually be two separate applications: a data service and a web front end.
Both of these characteristics work in Write Wise's favour. The first will allow cleaner, more-concise code to be written which will speed up adding new features and the maintenance of the application.
The second means that the Write Wise data can be harvested not just by the default UI, but also by other front ends. It would be possible to create mobile apps that could harvest the information from Write Wise, for example.
Exciting times ahead! The main focus of v3 development is currently to get things working, rather than add any new shiny features. If, however, you have any suggestions -- please drop them in the comments.
