Jenny Everywhere and P.S.I. Message Board

Actually I meant you to skip to the one I mentioned, but OK

I said:

I stopped paying attention to that board because noone ever goes in there I assume you may be talking about the board linked to through TheShifterArchive.com or JennyEverywhere.net correct? If so... yea.. go elsewhere. I've been kinda leaving that whole place to die I guess. The whole thing needs a re-vamp, I may redo it completely when I get the time. Sorry about that.

The Webcomic List forums are the only forums I frequent, so I could not tell you where else to look for a writter's forum... sorry

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Actually, I just reset the board right now. I still may completely redo it, but for now, I'll keep an eye on the cleaned-up old one. Still, I never really had much activity on there.

Also, I'd be more than happy to look at what you've got as well.

good luck!

-Fes

Okay, here's my first Jenny Everywhere piece, Second Date.  It's a light, silly little thing that let me get some use out of ideas for a Jenny RPG scenario that never quite jelled correctly.

I'm still working my other story through the format grinder; it should be along in due time.

Website note: the attachment is omitted, but the story can be seen here.

I'm glad you liked it.  Yes, Jhenni is not mine - but if the cameo isn't what Mort had in mind, that's okay; after all, as a part of Jenny Everywhere, there are logically uncountably many versions of Jhenni, too.

No, I wasn't hoping to have these turned into comic stories (although anyone who wants to do so is welcome to); I was looking for people who know Jenny Everywhere and will appreciate new stories.  I work in prose, not sequential art; I admire it but it isn't my medium.  I'm thinking that when I have a version that satisfies me I'll put it up on my website, but a copy on the Jenny Everywhere Archive would be a good idea.

And, as you observed, I was hoping for some feedback on the pieces.  If you aren't into that, it's okay; I can do this myself, it just helps to have an outside opinion or two.

Your email reminds me to stop procrastinating; I have TWO Jenny Everywhere stories and I only sent you one.  The other, titled Parallax, should drop into your mailbox soon, once I get it reformatted from word processor file into html.  I think I've got a cool new take on Jenny Nowhere, and am trying a different tone than the earlier piece.

Okay, here's the second of my Jenny Everywhere stories.  Much of this got slammed out very quickly; you know how it is, sometimes you just get inspired...

I'm not terribly happy with what html does to the formatting, but I'll live.  Likewise, I wanted to put in another few paragraphs here or there for various reasons, but it's better to send off an early version than screw around.

This may or may not be the same Jenny Everywhere who was in the earlier story; as Jenny herself would say, continuity is overrated.

Website note: the attachment is omitted, but the story can be seen here.

Thanks!  As an author, it was very interesting to tackle the subject; I knew my antagonist needed motivation, and once inspiration for Jenny Nowhere's origin hit the rest followed.

You don't often get a chance to create a sympathetic protagonist who wants to kidnap your protagonist and do involuntary neurosurgery on her...  Also, Jenny Everywhere has usually been a light and fun adventuring character; this gave me a chance to try existential horror as well.  That's not my usual mode of writing, and it's not something I've seen done with Jenny Everywhere, so the experiment was very interesting.  Jenny Nowhere can be handled in a straightforward manner as a kidnapper, but she casts doubt onto Jenny Everywhere's very nature.  She really does have our protagonist's best interests in mind!  Conflict arises from the very different views the two Jennies have of what's best for Jenny Everywhere.

On the subject of her appearance, it's my opinion that the Jenny Nowhere that I wrote about is not the same Jenny Nowhere that Nelson Evergreen drew in Hostile Takeover.  They both wear tight fitting leather, but that's about the extent of the similarity.  Maybe another Jenny Nowhere is a peroxide blonde?

Checking, I find that the Hostile Takeover script was by Joe Macare, who I don't know.  Perhaps he's got a plan for (his, original) Jenny Nowhere.  As for me, I read the webpage FAQ entry, and pondered the comment: "I like the idea that in each universe there's a Jenny Everywhere who's recognizably Jenny Everywhere in name, character and appearance... and somewhere in each universe there's a Jenny Nowhere who's recognizably Jenny Nowhere in name only."  That's about where I started thinking about Jenny Nowhere (one as a teleporter, another a computer hacker, etc), but it didn't stay there.  Maybe I'll follow another path on Jenny Nowhere sometime.

Personally, my view is that anyone who finds inspiration in another creator's Jenny Everywhere should be allowed to riff on whatever themes they come up with.  Copying another's work is uncreative and not cool - but if I can inspire another person with an idea, like various Jennies getting together at a restaurant, by all means let's pool our creativity and enjoy the results!  The open source concept seems to encompass associated concepts, yes?

Sometimes the connection can be pretty vague.  For example, Name's Not Down ends with Jenny Everywhere and her friends at a nightclub; Parallax begins with Jenny Everywhere and her friends at a nightclub.  It's not the same club, the same Jenny, or the same friends, but the similarity can be observed.

Anyway, I'm running pretty long here.  I hope to get my act together and put my draft versions on the web somewhere in the near future; I'll drop you a note and/or post to the board when that happens.

I was going to upload them to a new folder on my website, but I'm having access issues and the sysop is away.  So for the moment the two stories are just sitting on my hard drive.  I am attempting to cultivate patience.

As for Jenny Nowhere, I'm not sure how a unique Nowhere would work.  (Assuming anyone who gets close to Jenny Everywhere can be considered 'unique' - many Jennies could find someone similar but not identical to someone they knew in some other universe, right?)  If nothng else, wouldn't Nowhere eventually figure out that she was hopelessly outnumbered?

Since Joe Macare thought up Jenny Nowhere in the first place, though, I'd be especially interested in his interpretations, should he ever revisit the character.

On the subject of origin stories, though, it isn't really that Jenny Everywhere doesn't have one - but rather that she doesn't have ONE.  Tom Miller's script brings that out well, don't you think?  The Death of Jenny Everywhere is an origin story, too, though also being a conclusion.  If I ever tackle a Jenny Everywhere origin story I'll take a different tack than I've seen elsewhere - I may or may not ever have anything to say about Jenny's mother - but every other writer and artist can also essay that subject.  And we can all get it right!

On 7/13/08, fesworks <fesworks@gmail.com> wrote:

Well, everyone can always do their own thing. But I really like that Nowhere would be unattached to the rest of her other Nowheres (if any). Opposite of Jenny. So she feels more alone. I pictured her as wandering aimlessly. Seeking out Jenny Everywhere... perhaps not really grasping that there are many versions of her, but  maybe just one version that can GO anywhere... whereas Nowhere can't go anywhere but to where Jenny *might* be.

    Also, Jenny is not the kind of girl that would enlist the aide of another Jenny unless absolutely needed... because that would be too easy. She loves the Adventure and Hero role too much (as far as I have gathered).

Well, why should she need to?  After all, she's Jenny Everywhere; two of her would be redundant!  Besides, there's only about one Jenny Everywhere per universe, and lots of adventures in every universe.  Any particular Jenny is probably busy already.

I think we talked past each other in the last exchange; if Jenny Nowhere didn't understand the infinite nature of Jenny Everywhere she could well think she could defeat Everywhere once and for all.  It could make an interesting story, since Nowhere might keep meeting up with Jenny Everywhere but not be able to see how Everywhere could be seemingly immune to continuity and consequences...

Well, these are my interpretations, and this is something I would do.

On the subject of origin stories, though, it isn't really that Jenny Everywhere doesn't have one - but rather that she doesn't have ONE.  Tom Miller's script brings that out well, don't you think?  The Death of Jenny Everywhere is an origin story, too, though also being a conclusion.  If I ever tackle a Jenny Everywhere origin story I'll take a different tack than I've seen elsewhere - I may or may not ever have anything to say about Jenny's mother - but every other writer and artist can also essay that subject.  And we can all get it right!

Personally I like NOT knowing Jenny's origin story. I like it shrouded in a bit of mystery myself. They seem to "individualize" the Jenny's too much. I kinda see them as entirely separate from the other stories. Technically, everything done on her, after her creation on that forum, is "Fanfiction", but again, I've said all of this in the FAQs

Hm, that's an interesting point; I like it.  On the other hand, the origin story of one Jenny doesn't necessarily mean anything for any other Jenny, so it doesn't bug me too much.

Well, keep me posted! If you ever want me to place a notice on the site if you are looking for an artist for these scrips, let me know. Though I can't say that the site gets that much traffic for it to be likely... but still

Getting my stories illustrated isn't my goal, but anyone who reads them and feels inspired is welcome to go right ahead!

This conversation WOULD be good on an open forum board.  Would you like to move it there?  I can't doctor the Fesworks Forum to set the source attributions correctly, but perhaps you can.  It would be interesting to see what other people had to say.

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Forum note:  That's pretty much the conversation caught up, right there; the rest of the emails were pretty much Fes and I agreeing and working out how to post.  Anyone who'd like to chime in now should feel welcome.

I know Amake has been here at least occasionally.  The view counts keep going up, too.  Is anyone else here?

Ooh, activity!

Yes, I've seen the revised website, now that I've popped in again.  It looks good - and I'm happy to see I'm not the only one doing Jenny Everywhere things, because that would be a bummer.

I'm kicking around a third piece, which may or may not ever get released.  I tried a first-person-singular PoV for this one, and I don't like how it came out.  My narrators tend to be more snarky than I envision Jenny being; she's more a happy-go-lucky type.  I'll whack it around the playing field a few times and see if it congeals into anything presentable.

I've got enough story ideas that I'm tempted to start a 'nonexistant stories' list on my Jenny Everywhere page.  If nothing else, it can remind me of The Absquatulation of Jenny Everywhere - the concept and title were cool, but the plot has remained stubbornly absent.