Deciding what to "Propose"

[jwalton]

Okay,

So, I'm currently beginning to work on getting my Proposal ready for that magical April 1st moment when the clouds will split and the discerning gaze of Skotos will fall on my game concepts and ... I'm coming across a few problems with the Proposal Form.

It's too small.

Now, I know brevity is the soul of wit and all that, but there's just so much depth and detail and layer upon layer of things in my head, and it's hard to figure out what exactly to put down on paper. I know there are somethings that are not critical to the world concept, but some of those ideas are the more interesting ones. Heresy and rumors are exciting, but not really crucial enough to warrant making the Proposal Form.

So, basically, I guess I'm asking 2 things:

1) Would it be bad form to attach a bunch of additional pages to my proposal (either literally, or by sticking on a URL), further explaining my story world?

2) How in the world do you go about deciding what's critical and what's not? (I guess this second question is more aimed towards the Skotos Several guys, since they've been through this, though other advice would be welcomed too.) The little blanks are so small, even if I decide to print out my answers in 10pt typeface, and it's hard to weed through stuff.

Thanks for any thoughts you have.

Later.
Jonathan

[JCrook]

Originally posted by jwalton:
How in the world do you go about deciding what's critical and what's not? (I guess this second question is more aimed towards the Skotos Several

What defines your game, what makes it unique, how do you intend to implement it? As to how much to include, I guess I would say, how much would you be willing to read yourself?

That said, I included in my proposal links to 140-odd pages of pdf files that I had already written about the game, some of which I have been offering in the articles I have been posting. I don't know if they actually read all those files at that time. I kinda doubt it, considering they were looking at seventy-something other proposals. But I think it helped.

[ShannonA]

Originally posted by jwalton:
1) Would it be bad form to attach a bunch of additional pages to my proposal (either literally, or by sticking on a URL), further explaining my story world?


Jeff Crook is right: the fact that we knew he had a huge background for Qigung already written did help us pick his game.

However, we didn't actually read all of the extra information he sent. We do want brief descriptions that fit into the little sections that we've laid out, because they'll help give us the big few of the game without having to figure out all the specifics.

Shannon

[GaioMacareg]

I'm looking at the same problem. Would 5 pages of extra text be to much or about right? I know that no one wants to read everything I've worked out for my world, it's just way too much text.

[jwalton]

Personally, I think I've finally decided to fit as much as I can on the form, and then just post the rest on my website, in it's own little isolated section, unreachable from the main page. Skotos could then be made aware of it's location in my story proposal, and could peruse it if the initial idea interests them.

That way, if the proposal is accepted, I can just revise the site later to become the "semi-official" site of the stage/theater/whatever. Or, if it isn't accepted, I'll still have something to show for it, at least to people who might be interested in what my proposal was.

So, initially, I'd only give the URL to Skotos, and then, if it doesn't make the cut, it can just be absorbed back into my main website.

Anyway, just my solution.

Later.
Jonathan

[ShannonA]

Originally posted by jwalton:
Personally, I think I've finally decided to fit as much as I can on the form, and then just post the rest on my website, in it's own little isolated section, unreachable from the main page.

An excellent idea. Then you can make sure you can actually tell a good, short story about your game and at the same time let us know that there's more information available.

Shannon