REVIEW: Russell's Reviews Volume One # 1

[Tom Russell]

On Jan 5, 8:41 pm, Martin Phipps <martinphip... at yahoo.com> wrote:

> What happened here was that the story I plotted didn't fill the entire
> issue.  Even with the two extra plots, the issue was surprisingly
> short.  (It seemed full length when I typed it so perhaps it seems
> full length when people read it but it only comes to 18k as a file.)
> If the A plot wasn't satisfying in itself then perhaps it is good that
> I introduced a couple of B plots.  I thought the double cliffhanger
> was a good way to end the issue.  Your mileage obviously varies.

I don't think the unsolved alien plot qualifies as much of a
cliffhanger, but the "jumping into the computer" thing was clever.

> As for passage of time, note that Edward and Mary started dating, got
> engaged, got married and had a baby over the course of the first two
> seasons.  Michael and Lana also met in season one, got married in
> season two and will presumably have a baby this season.

And I did enjoy the Edward-Mary subplot, and I will concede you did a
pretty decent job of unfolding that over time.

>I've
> thought about doing a story with a serial killer like they've done a
> couple of times on CSI but there's the danger of making the detectives
> look incompetant if they can't figure out who did it right away.  And
> as you said it's unsatisfying if they can't find the killer by the end
> of the issue.

Well, each approach can potentially be satisfying in its own way,
depending on its execution.  I think your level of execution for this
series varies somewhat wildly, with some stories that really hit the
mark and some that don't.  I'm only trying to explain one of the
reasons why a number of stories might miss that mark, for me
personally.

==Tom