The Writers Guild Presents #49 - March, 2015

Welcome to the 49th issue of WGP. Yeah, last day of the month again. Sorry, folks. Not much to say this time around. I want to feature some group libraries this month. Yes, they're groups that I do the libraries for, so yes, I'm making it easy on myself, and yes it's because I'm down to the wire here, so quit interrogating me! <pant> <wheeze> <gasp>

In all seriousness, even though yes, I do the libraries for the following groups, I've got to say that I think this is a fantastic group of writers. Collectively, there's a lot of heart, talent, and ability here. I'm amazed at what comes out every time a new group starts. I think their works deserve a closer look, and I thought it would be cool to gather links to their libraries all in one place for your reference. Why? Because...

If your group isn't here, it's only because I'm not your librarian. You can see more of the groups that I've read from in my Fan-Fic Long Box: Groups. So enjoy checking out the following libraries, and afterwards, a few words.

Who started it? As far as I know, it was Joshmightbe and/or Batkevin74 (if I'm wrong, let me know guys, and I'll fix this through the magic of editing).

Premise: Some 200 years in the future, a virtually ageless Stryfe has taken over the world, and it's not a good thing. Very few remain to challenge his rule and try to free the world.

My take: The sheer mass of titles and stories in this universe is almost as overwhelming as the iron tyranny of Stryfe. This is a seriously massive collection of stuff to read, and I've barely touched it. There are sixteen writers and well over one hundred titles in this group. Titles. So the issue count is even higher. The iron gears of this group have ground to a rusty halt, but there is plenty of great reading to be had here.

Who started it? None other than Dngn4774.

Premise: I couldn't state it better than the man himself, so here's the description that Dngn' gave us:

A year ago, Indigo City was ravaged by a mysterious explosion that released a blue gas, spawning both a brief "Blight" zombie invasion and a new race of superpowered humans known as "Carriers." What was the blue gas? Where did it come from? How will the populace react to this new carrier race? How will the carriers adapt to their new lives? and most importantly: What comes next? You'll have to read to find out. Welcome to 5th Column Comics.

My take: This is some really fantastic writing, and I personally find it to be one of the most fun groups on the forum. Simply because it's all original characters. In fact in a recent Character Creation Contest I couldn't resist having my own character, Heironymous, do a brief walkthrough in an unknown corner of Indigo City.

Now I will say this: part of my love for this group is that the premise is very close to a sci-fi novel series called Wild Cards, which I hold in the highest esteem. The execution is completely different, but being able to compare made this a really fun ride for me.

This group has slowed down a little lately, but I think that has more to do with newer projects taking the writers' attentions than anything else. There are nine writers and sixteen titles in this group, the longest running being TommytheHitman's Wind Duster. Trust me: read it- it's a blast.

Who started it? TommytheHitman - a classic horror in his own right.

Premise: Pretty simply, the idea was to play with the classic monsters, and just have a good time reinterpreting them for today.

My take: I've read a fair amount of TommytheHitman's stories, but this is the first time I recall seeing him as group leader, and...it did something for him. Something good. I had dealt very little with Waezi2, Johnny_Blaze, or YoungJustice, so getting to read stories from a group of writers that were mostly new to me was seriously refreshing.

So were the stories. Horror isn't often my thing, but they managed to find interesting directions, and I have to confess that Waezi' managed to make Mr. Hyde creepy for me again. Great fun.

This group had four writers, four titles, and a horrifying thirteen issues. Unfortunately, this group was pretty much built on the excitement for the then approaching Halloween. So once Halloween had passed, this group pretty much passed too, in favor of the next projects. Maybe we'll see a revival this coming October?

Who started it? Turbinail.

Premise: Much like Horror Classics, the idea here was to have fun with a genre, in this case the Western.

My take: A surprising choice, but what fun!

I have to give Batkevin74 credit: he was first out the gate, and he tried to play it straight with the half-breed bounty hunter, Morgan Fogg. Alas, it was just not meant to be. As can only be expected on a comic site, this group turned almost immediately from Wild West to the Weird West. "Weird West" is a true genre, and is simply defined as "Western plus any other genre;" usually sci-fi or horror. Think cowboys with laser pistols fighting zombie dinosaurs, and you've got a good idea of just how weird Weird West can get.

So Wild Western has plenty of vampires and werewolves running around, and even one Confederate witch spy. The stories are spread out over a decade of the Old West (give or take a little) and seem to be building towards...something. This group currently has five writers and five titles, with a current total of thirteen issues.

Batkevin' has been trying to get me to jump into the group pool for awhile now, and went so far as to dare me to write a four issue story for Wild Western. So soon...ish, I'll be throwing my trail dusted hat into the ring, and we'll see what I can come up with. I have yet to decide which way I'm going to play it, but the idea is there. Now that I've told you about it, I have to write it. So yeah, look for that soon, I suppose.

Who Started It? Dngn4774.

Premise: To be a showcase for writers on the Fan-Fic Forum, hopefully drawing more attention to their stories.

My take: Lest I forget, I do the library for this baby too. WGP has gone from Dngn4774 to The Poet to me, as far as who hosts it. It has had fifteen writers with eighty original stories. Most of the installments before me were all-new stories. Since Dngn' let me take over, I opened it up to showcasing stuff already on the forum. Partly because that allowed me a little more freedom in getting things ready, but mostly because I think there's a lot of great stuff that has gotten missed here.

Like I said, so far, there have only been fifteen writers, but another change that was made is that everyone is a member of The Writers Guild. All you have to do is decide you want in, have a story you want featured, and bam, you're in. Check out some of the back issues here, and see what these folks managed to throw down for your entertainment.

I don't know how to say this now that I've just hyped the WGP Library, but...well, let me be blunt: I'm going to do one more of these. After WGP #50 though, this is either shutting down or getting handed over to someone else (that's really up to Dngn4774). I've had a blast with this. I really, really enjoy it when I finish an issue, but it's also a time-sucking monstrosity that I made difficult for myself. I committed to editing every story I featured here for better presentation, and to making logos for each and every chapter I featured. This stuff takes time. Unfortunately, almost as soon as I started this, my free time dwindled, and almost every month I've found myself scrambling to get this done on the last day of the month.

There is more that I wanted to do here. I particularly wanted to collect the chapters of ImpurestCheese's Patron Saint of Crime, and KnightoftheChronicle's Let It Rain and Chronicles of Argus (only a little because I'm proud of their logos). I also wanted to mine some stuff from the forum, like Wildvine's Knight and Dae, several ideas of Batkevin74's, and oh my gawd how I wanted to get Joshmightbe's Hungry and Cutlery in front of you guys! So much good stuff, and even more from folks I didn't mention...alas, I am just out of time.

I got on Comic Vine to share my love of comics, and I came to the Fan-Fic forum to get myself writing again. Outside of the CCC and WGP, I've done very little writing. I'd really like to get back to that goal. Batkevin' has pushed me to do something for Wild Western, and I have plenty of other stuff I want to get to, so I think it's time I started using my free time for that.

I really hope that someone takes this over from me though.

***

In the meantime, thanks for reading, thanks so much for stopping in, and I'll see you next month for my final Writers Guild Presents. -cb

to be edited.

@bumpyboo: Will you please pin this and unpin WGP #48? Thanks so much. -cb :)

@cbishop: Sure.

Cool

Couldn't do it without you @cbishop. thanks for all the help

I hope this keeps going,move found a couple good things to read because of you!

@bumpyboo: Thanks. :)

@cbishop: If I make a group myself,would you help me with it?

@waezi2: 'Fraid not, Waezi'. I'm going to give up the WGP so I can focus more on my own writing. I don't want to replace it with another project. Sorry. I do encourage you to do your group though. :)