(Anna) 21.50 EST and it’s approaching 3am my time…
I write this as we wait for chapter 22 with weary fingers and a weary heart. Whilst not as frantic and draining as #3D1D, this live-writing (and alongside liveblogging) malarky really does take its toll on you. The whole “having chicken pox” doesn’t really help matters, I suppose, and neither does my brother’s complete and utter disdain for the whole thing.

You see, unless you’re involved in the thick of these things, typing furiously away, cursing at the breakable console as you try to get demented answers to the chapter questions into the stream, and, for us backstage-pass holders, discussing tentacles and physics in a secret chat room with MCM, well, you’re not really going to get it.

But I love it. I love that sense of community that can build across the internet. It’s not something the “normal” people understand, but, well, they’re lame. Fine, that’s a lame insult, too. I’m tired. Give me a break.

As for how things have been backstage… it’s almost like being in a VIP area of a club, you know? All these exciting people milling around yelling nonsense, the true stars (in this case, MCM) only popping their heads in now and then before running away to somewhere more hidden from us crazies e.g. the dinner table.

Anyway. It’s been fun.

So. For the last time. The outline:

Lucas asks Jyi if she is okay. She lies about getting the antidote, and he accepts it without question. They finish processing the Tobors, have call with Orillians, who [THREATEN OR PRAISE]. Jyi makes not-so-subtle threat that the Tobors may give up the masterminds, and the Orillians laugh, say Tobors are famous for not having masterminds…
Darvey furious. He wants to pursue Orillians, but Jyi admits there’s no real evidence tying the two sides together. All the same, the Orillians won’t be going after Earth again any time soon… the active genocide plot has triggered more active Confederation protection for Earth, meaning the planet is relatively safe…
Relatively? Well, the last time someone asked for better protection on a non-spacefaring planet, it brought all the scum of the universe down on them, looking for easy marks. [BIG CRIME PROBLEM] Safe from military incursions, not criminals.
Jyi asks Darvey if he’s going to stick around, or if they can interest him in an accidental needle to the brain or {Najela:[A WAY TO KILL SOMEONE]}. He says he’s going to have to put off his suicide for a while longer, because if the Earth is going to be at the mercy of this kind of opposition, they’re going to need more competent protection than Jyi and her band of losers can provide [UNDERSTAND OR MISS THE POINT].
They eat a modest but filling meal of {Najela:[THREE WEIRD FOODS]} and have a toast of {Najela:[ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE]}to a job well done, and discover the food and drinks have all been spiked with {Najela [POISON LIQUID]. Darvey’s more than anyone’s. Things are looking good. There are {Najela:[THREE THINGS YOU MIGHT SEE IN AN ACID TRIP]}
And then an explosion rips a hole in the hull,a [Najela: [A LARGE ITEM]] gets sucked out and things go black.

And can I just do one more tired little dance for having 3 (three!) of my answers picked in this last chapter? The insertion of “janoda juice” was just to get her back for the “Anna brain juice” thing from earlier on. And the three weird foods, rok, golli and jan? Based off of the backstagers here with me.

Anyhows. As MCM would say, thanks for being part of the problem.

Over and out.

(JAN 9.23 pm EST // 3.53 the next day at me) Anna writes lovely, even when she’s close to death. I loved many things about this event. Some were the same as before (like MCM having dinner really early, even when he only has 1 more chapter to write) others were new, but it was all great fun. Yet I feel it can still be better. Ideally the Backstage shouldn’t be backstage, because it is so much fun being silly together, fighting sleep together, making it until the end together.

#2D1D was lovely, the people behind the scene were even more so, and the console was very sci-fi, as it didn’t do what we espected :p

As for the last chapter, I loved it. It was funny, (some truly genious lines!!) I was referred to as normal ( okay I admit, I also caused hallucinations, but Aphid was my girl already anyways!) and we end with a BomB.

I quote:

MCM
04:03
HA!
there have to be 3 explosions
Jan Oda
04:03
so there will be more stories?
MCM
04:03
yeah, this is the first of a series

Some things will never change Rests us only 2 more questions. Why was the girl kidnapped?

And how will we call our team? All superhero teams have a name, so I say th same goes for aliens. SUGGESTIONS ARE VERY WELCOME

Over and Out!

(Mike G, aka ‘mjgolli’) 8.08 am ET the next day, 7 Dec 2009…
It is hard to believe that 2d1d is over! I miss it already, even thought I wasn’t really active during the whole thing and didn’t really add much chaos to the already terrific outline that MCM had up. But, was it fun? Oh, absolutely! It was a treat having an invite to the backstage festivities and getting to sit in on the shebang in real time.

Speaking of real time, I think that MCM has gone and taken the act of writing to a new level. Web fiction, even though it is in its relative infancy, has been the forefront of new ‘interactive’ media where authors can connect and collaborate with others, fans and fellow writers alike. Not only that, but web fiction authors can actually publish themselves to the world and get noticed whereas paper-bound authors previously could only do so at great expense for self-publishing or by submitting endless copies of works to publishing houses so they can get coveted prizes like rejection letters.

But 2d1d, like 3d1d before it, really did take the art of writing and make it a real time art form. Usually one thinks of a writer toiling for long hours behind an old, beat up manual typewriter with a million-billion miles…er, characters…on it. This project has shown that writing can be truly interactive performance art. It is something that not only gives the writer an interesting challenge to bring different elements in to their story, but also to find away to work around the seemingly impossible bits-n-pieces and monkey wrenches that readers can throw in. It also give the participants a vested interest in seeing the result of their participation. If they like what they see, they will be quite likely to sign on for more and follow along with other works of the writer…er, artist.

I, for one, am in awe of web fiction writers in general. I’ve written some fan fiction, but I don’t like to talk about that because I don’t write well at all and am very apprehensive to share anything. These writers are in a class by themselves! They put their work on display where the whole world becomes your editor, commenter and critique-r. I’m not sure that I could handle that!

If you haven’t already, definitely check out the result of the 3d1d project at http://3d1d.1889.ca/typhoon. You WILL be amazed!

In regards to the 2d1d story, I thought it was great! I was quite pleased that my suggestions were picked a number of times. (In the immortal words of Dr. Zoidberg from Futurama, “Hooray! I’m helping!”) It was wonderful to see the number of people chiming in and having their interesting choices picked. As far as the characters are concerned, MCM gave them a lot of personality which is, in my opinion, the hallmark of great writer. Darvey’s feelings regarding what happened in the first chapter were quite palpable, the devastation felt real. I think a great many people were cheering him on at the end, having redeemed himself. I think he’s going to fit in nicely with the rest of the intrepid crew.

The only thing is that it really didn’t portray the Tobor in a good light and only showed their bad side. Not all Tobor are bad and not all of them are stupid, either! I think there should be a good, kind Tobor that helps out our favorite CSA crew! ;D

That’s just my opinion, though. What say you!?