"What's my motivation?"

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

While making the Lockdown card, I came across one key problem:

 

I don't know what's going on.

 

Now, this isn't a statement about my real life, where I often walk through screen doors or drive through glass plates in the street without a second thought. That's a different kind of incompetence.

 

I know I joked about it on the card, but when I said that I really didn't understand A Portrait of Mike Van Siclen, I meant it. Subsequently, I have no idea what Operation Atlas is, though it sounds really cool. I don't know if I should throw Wild and Dangerous into a tag match with Justice & Rule, or if they're planning something big that I don't want to smush.

 

What this leads to is me throwing out Craven vs. MVS part Nine Million when I'm not sure that's what either wants at all. I love creating fun matches and scenarios, but I don't want to be stepping on your plans inadvertantly. At this point, I have pretty much zero knowledge about your behind-the-scenes stories. So here's what I'm looking at: I want to create a little database that lets me know what the writers--and their characters--want.

 

Storytelling is a key part of our organization, and everyone here's already been involved in at least one good tale or another. Particularly big here is the element of surprise: we love it when something shocks us, when someone swerves, or when something absolutely unexpected but great goes down. I guess what I'm trying to get at here is that you don't need to swerve the booker.

 

PM me. Hit me up on AIM at Friar Funk. I want to know what you guys are looking for--what your characters are seeking in the immediate and somewhat protracted futures. Mark and King are running the booking/marking show fine here, and with my head added in I'm basically just helping take off some of their workload. Now that I'm on CC, though, I'd really like to do something special.

 

If you have storyline ideas or character goals, let me know. If you have a goal for the next PPV--abstract, or concrete--let me know. You guys are the writers, but we're the editors and the stage managers, the guys who give you your cues. You don't have to give away all your secrets, and you don't have to meticulously plan out everything in advance, but I guarantee that you'll get better booking and more satisfying stories if you bounce your ideas off of me and let me work them into the cards. I don't plan on giving away your surprises or your ultimate ends, but as a booker, I feel much more confident in working with a sort of frame that I know will give the writers what they want, not what I want.

 

Hope that makes some sense. In any case, what I'd really like if you guys can swing it is a PM from everybody that lets me know how their character's doing and where he's headed in the short term. I can read between the lines on the shows, but only so much. If you don't have something in mind, maybe this is a good time to think about it. Although I think the 3 shows every 2 weeks and expanded PPV cycle has made for much better regular shows, I don't think we've entirely mastered the protracted builds or smaller transitional storylines that a month and a half between big shows creates. I think that a little more writer/booker awareness might be a big step in helping that out. We don't need to lock everything down (pun!), but some general directions could be very, very useful.

 

Don't hesitate to hit me up with a story, an idea, or a target. That's what I'm here for.

 

And the free crystal meth, but that's an entirely different story.

[Guest Mr. Slim Citrus]

Extended winless streaks have a way of derailing your immediate plans, especially when your immediate plans were to build up to a title match. As soon as we think up a Plan B, we'll let you know.

[Guest Grand Slam]

I second Edwin on this. Believe it or not, although King and I see each other in real life like 4 times a week, we don't talk about the SWF unless something really important is going on. Thus, I am usually guessing what matches you guys are looking for, which I think is part of why I have been a little defensive about my cards recently.

 

If there is something you want or need, ask. I rarely turn down requests for matches or angles on my cards. We are CC, we are here to work with you not dictate to you (at least not where angles and story are involved).

[Guest Edwin MacPhisto]

Let me take this opportunity to thank everyone who's sent me info thus far. It does a world of good even to have just a general direction--I am suddenly way, way more in tune with the tag division, for example. I'm going to collate everything I've gotten together and send it to Mark and King before tomorrow's show, so Mark can take into account a few of your more specific character goals when he pulls together Smarkdown. If you still have some directions in mind and you want it to be noticed, don't hesitate to fire off a PM.