Discretion and contacting others *PLEASE READ*

[Guest bassclarinets]

(NOTE in advance) I know that there are a few members here who are in contact with artists, designers, authors, etc, and those members have permission from said people to remain in contact with them. (this message does not apply to those members, because it would be highly inappropriate for anyone to ask you to stop contacting your friends... - this message is for everyone else who is thinking of initating contact)

 

BEGIN PSA :

Recently it has come to the attention of some people, that members of some boards have been taking slight advantage of the generosity of artists, designers, authors, etc, and have been interrupting the creative process by asking for more details from said artists, etc..

 

below is a message from Karen Traviss (an extraordinary author who has been very kind to costumers in the past). Please read this carefully and do not judge her for asking for some privacy in her creative life. It is difficult to understand complex storylines, and I cannot imagine how difficult it is to design and create these lines without having continuity problems.

 

SO - if you have a question about a costume, a character, etc and stumble across an email address of the designer, artist, author, etc. who may know more about the costume - BEFORE you shoot off that email that your fingers are itching to send out, post up here (or on another appropriate location) and see if someone else may know the answer to your question (because if it exists in current material, someone will probibly know something about it)

 

Thanks for your time and discretion.

 

Jen

XO - Flagship Eclipse Detachment

 

*** With full permission to copy in its entirety ***

 

Folks, I'm getting a *lot* of mail from costumers asking for detail

on various characters. This is from all sorts of places, but I

mention it here because some of you have links into costume groups

and might get word out.

 

I can't give detail that's not in the books. Sorry, I want to help,

but this is causing me all kinds of problems. Nor will I share my

thoughts on what I might do with characters' costumes any longer,

because it's just made a rod for my back. I made a mistake helping

out one or two people in the past, and it's now getting in the way of

the stories - not through volume of mail, but because it's asking me

to pre-empt quite a complex worldbuilding process.

 

If it's not in the books, inventing it solely to fill in costuming

gaps causes real problems. Remember that long thread we had about

random continuity, inventing detail for the hell of it to "tie up

loose ends" and then finding some time later that it's cut across

some story further down the line? Even small detail can do that. If a

character carries a certain kind of bag, it's not just cosmetic -

they may well have a whole story to go with that about how they got

the bag and what it's made from. Imagine if someone had hassled to me

to find out what kind of gloves Jaing wore, and under pressure, off

the top of my head, I said blue.

 

Actually, Jaing's gloves ended up being grey, because what they're

made from and how he acquired them is a huge element in the plot of

the RC books.

 

Do you see my point? This is not actually small detail, however much

it might look like it. Detail has to grow organically from

storytelling. Otherwise it's the tail wagging the dog, and that kills

the books.

 

I love the costuming community, but I need folks out there to

understand why I can no longer give them any unpublished detail or

suggestions. Any help you can give me in getting word out will be

appreciated.

 

You may reproduce this message if you need to. In fact, it's probably

better if you use it, because paraphrasing might end up making it

look as if I can't be arsed, when in fact I have a very valid reason

for not providing information that has nothing to do with spoilers.

 

Thanks!

 

KT