Well, I have been enjoying it, and I should have posted in this thread to say so earlier than this. I've been a few days behind, so I just quickly read through to catch up, and I probably missed out on some of the details. I haven't been participating in the story thread because I haven't had a single solitary suggestion to date, but that doesn't stop my enjoyment of the story, and I've been glad that there have been others to jump in.
It didn't disturb me personally that you broke character to let us know that this was indeed a story, but I can understand why others might not like it. Since this has happened, AltClark, I am addressing my comments to you as the author as opposed to the character.
I'm now editing my post, as I just reread your initial post in this thread. So it seems that you have less of this mapped out in your mind than I had initially thought, although you do have certain other "key" elements that you'll obviously need to introduce at some point. And then of course you are responding to suggestions from your audience. Obviously it is then a problem if someone poses as a character that simply wouldn't fit into the story at that given time, but how is your audience to know that?
I actually had no idea, until reading your most recent post, that you weren't in fact also writing as the AltLois character. I'm sure that whoever was posing as AltLois was not trying to bring the story to an early end - I assume that he or she was simply trying to bring another random element into it. The same with this most recent suggestion that could have ended it all very quickly.
I think you did a very good job heading them both off, and that it's a credit to you - and your imagination - that you can essentially write solutions and answers to the suggestions that your audience is making, whether it's heading it off at the pass or running with it for a while. I imagine that's one of the reasons that you started doing this in the first place: to challenge yourself. From my viewpoint, at least, I doubt that these suggestions were made out of any malicious attempt to end the story prematurely or cause you difficulties. They were simply suggestions.
Now that you've requested that "major" things be floated by you, that will probably help. You say that you would welcome the addition of other characters, but if there is anyone that you would not want to see suddenly appear in your story, perhaps you should say so.
As an often-clueless bystander, that's my take on it, anyway...
KathyM
