Shortly after I posted about the Underground Library on HTMLGIANT, Ravi Mangla emailed PH Madore and me with an idea to set up a writer ‘buddy system’ of some sort. His idea, as I understood it, was to encourage more personal interaction between those who might not have originally sought each other out. I liked this idea, and will be helping Ravi Mangla put this together.

Ravi Mangla has written up specifics after the break.

Introducing the Underground Library Writers Project (trumpets). Here’s the basic idea:

a) a writer sends his/her name and email to the *Underground Library at this email address: sysops [at] undergroundlibrary [dot] info
b) UL pairs the writer with another writer
c) the two writers interview each other via email or some other way
d) the results of these emails are used to compose entries on each writer
e) these entries are posted to the Underground Library by the writers

The goal is to establish the Underground Library as another resource for writers, editors, and readers alike, as well as strengthen bonds within the literary community.

Think HTMLGIANT’s Secret Santa meets Michael Kimball’s postcards, only you don’t receive an actual gift and the bios won’t have the artistic merit of Kimball’s postcards (am willing to be proven wrong on this).

What are the benefits of the buddy system?

a) writers get to know each other
b) bios are written by a neutral party;  egos are set aside
c) writing your own bio can be awkward and isn’t much fun
d) you can search Underground Library for basic information on others

To what Ravi Mangla has written, I should add that we both interviewed each other and have posted examples of what our entries look like here and here. If you decide to do this, you can simply go to the ‘Edit’ page for one of our entries, and copy-paste the code so that you can reword it appropriately. The entries are a bit thin at the moment, maybe look a little weak, but I think they work as good beginnings. The idea is that they will grow as others add to them.

Finally, I guess I should point out that once an entry is published, it is subject to revision by anyone who accesses the wiki. So keep that in mind. PH Madore and I will do our best to check to be sure things are in order, and we ask for everyone’s help as well, but realize there is a certain degree of chaos involved.

There is no deadline for this project; we’ll be randomly pairing everyone as emails come in until further notice. This is open to anyone who is interested.

*Please don’t send emails to HTMLGIANT about this project.