Behind the Scenes with VertigoArt

Welcome to our newest initiative, Behind the Scenes! Each month, StormBringer23 and Edges-to-Everything will be taking you past the Admin Area with a member of our team to catch a glimpse of how DailyLitRecognition is run. Our first interview is with the original founder of DailyLitDeviations and key member of DailyLitRecognition - VertigoArt!

Questions

1. You started the original DailyLitDeviations. In a comment to the new team members you wrote, "This will be greater." Are you satisfied that the new group meets this expectation?

DailyLitRecognition has just begun, but what has begun has exceeded my expectations. DLR has been founded with the same principles that the original incarnation was founded upon: To showcase literature on deviantART, bringing our community to the forefront of the larger artist community. This time we will be expanding on community involvement with weekend events and grander features. SilverInkblot and I got the group up and running as fast as we could and considering it took me two sleepless weeks to get DLD going, I am happy. So, I am satisfied so far and I expect the group to continue to impress.

2. You began the original Daily Lit Deviations when you'd been on deviantART for about a year. This was about five years ago. What motivated you to create DLD, then?

A pointless secret: I signed up for deviantART to look at something that a friend of mine posted a link for on MySpace. I looked at that thing (which was a mature deviation and required an account to view) and forgot about the site. About a year later I was writing a lot and wanted to put my work somewhere. I had three blogs, but I was not satisfied so when deviantART came up in a search, I checked it out. Trying to start a new account, I found out my email was already associated with an account, so through some poking around I went back into the old account. I posted some of my writings and a couple pictures (I had stolen a camera and was taking pictures because I “wanted others to see the weird shit I was seeing”).

I started visiting chatrooms to find companionship as my wife worked all the time and all my friends and family deserted me after my second psychotic break. I found a crazy s.o.b. Eloquent-Weapon. He and I discussed a lot of things, but mainly psychosis and literature. He found a piece of literature that spoke to both of us so we decided to suggest it for a Daily Deviation. It was denied so we tried another piece. Five piece later we realized that literature wasn’t getting a fair shake as, not only were they not hearing what the other artists wanted, they were only featuring one piece of literature (sometimes) every day. So we had a grand dream and decided to change that.

I created a group and called it DailyLitDeviations adding the “LIT” to emphasize that we were only interested in literature. First we featured different categories of lit, featuring about 10 pieces a day. Many people flocked to us, those we featured and their friends (people have a lot of friends). 10 proved to be too many for not only the readers, but for Brandon and I as well considering we were the only ones doing this thing. The 5 pieces we feature now came from pruning down. I was all for only 3 pieces, but watchers made me realize 5 was a good number.

3. The new group maintains much of the look and feel of the original. Was a complete design change considered?

I wanted to change completely to be honest. I wanted to put DailyLitDeviations to bed and wake up a new group: DailyLitRecognition, but others involved helped me see that familiarity was important.

4. You have stated that your role is as an overseer. SilverInkblot took the helm at DLR. Although you had not been active at the former group for some time, was the decision to let others lead the new group still an easy one?

Yes. I have poured into these things and I cannot put all of myself into it anymore. I have a family. A wife, kids, responsibilities. I will do everything I can to make this succeed, but my personal life comes first now. So, yes. It was an easy decision.

5. Several original volunteers made the move to DLR, and several new faces have been added. How were the teams assigned to make the best use of talent?

Well … I had very little to do with who went where. That was SilverInkblot. As far as what we were doing, we chatted for 3 days and talked to whoever wanted to talk with us to figure out what the community wanted. We have tried to fit everything in. SilverInkblot is a great juggler.

6. You are an active part of LitRecognition, accepting Prose suggestions primarily, working on weekend activities and covering other areas as needed. Is it good to be back in the game again, not having to run the entire operation?

Yes. I role-play (table-top D&D and the like) and I sometimes run the game ,creating the world and such and while that is fun and exercises my mind, it is nice to not be running the show sometimes. I still do quite a bit of backroom dealings, but I let SilverInkblot make the big decisions.

7. DailyLitRecognition and LitRecognition are two separate dA destinations each with a distinct purpose. The original group was also set up in this manner - a Profile and a Group. How do these compliment each other?

In the beginning there were no groups so it was setup as a profile page. It was convenient and easy to work with. We were offered the opportunity to port it over to a group and I decided against that as I am not fond of the unknown. The group is great for contests and communicating with the staff, but the profile page offers a lot of advertising opportunities that the group does not offer. It is more customizable.

8. On your Profile you wrote, "My personal writings are angsty and sometimes dark, but my professional pieces are a bit lighter." If someone wants to suggest a deviation to you for consideration, what are you looking for in that piece?

I read nearly every genre of literature. What I am looking for in a piece to be featured is a solid piece of writing, a clear plot, good verbiage, accurate punctuation, and an overall good flow (be it prose or poetry). I write, but do not read, erotica. I have an issue with FanFiction, but I am getting over that and I am hoping to do a feature in the future dedicated to FanFiction, however, we will not be featuring it in the daily recognition features.

9. Your Profile's Interests section is spare - music and writing - but it says a lot about you through your varied selections in both categories. How much does your chosen music influence your writing, and do you listen to music as you write?

I am always listening to something. Right now I am listening to a standup routine by Jim Breuer. I hate silence. The sound of silence eats in my mind and screams nothing in my eyes. Music is what keeps me going. I don’t get too much literal inspiration from it, but it soothes me so I can think about all the other facets of my life and what goes on around me. Inspiration is all around us. Finding it is not an issue, applying it can be.

10. LitRecognition has a Chat Room! Are there some Chat events scheduled? Is Chat open for conversation at any time?

We have an event that is open to all members of deviantART scheduled for May 17, 2014 at 10:30 pm EST (GMT -5). I am in the chatroom most days and betwixtthepages is usually there keeping me company. Both of us would like to invite you to come in any time and chat with us. I only have so many drug and psycho stories.

11. The Group Info section at LitRecognition states: "We strive to recognize the literature community here on deviantART." That is really what it's all about, isn't it?

The community is it.

12. What goals do you have for the future of LitRecognition?

More involvement of the literature community members in, not only features, but contests, events, and interviews of the deviants who make up the community and of the staff at DailyLitRecognition. SilverInkblot has my ideas and she is implementing them when she feels it is time. All I can say is watch your message centers for what we’ve got coming.