Introducing Cartoon Gravity Pro

This post is going to be kind of boring, so allow me to soften you up with this clip from the new Joachim Trier film, "Sentimental Value" which stars Renate Reinsve who is, for my money, the best actress in the world right now:

Right. The Norwegian psycho-drama box has been ticked. Onto the main event. I've been noodling with this idea for a while, and it is finally starting to come to something resembling fruition...

The Problem

Let's start with the problem, which has several parts:

• There is the Cartoon Gravity site, which is my online journal/scrapbook/notes repository/whatever. Until recently, I also wrote the Development Hell column on Substack, which was about writing and matters that might be of interest to writers.
• In an effort to consolidate, I moved Development Hell off of Substack and set it up as a paid subscription on Cartoon Gravity. This was my attempt to minimise confusion, but it seems to have caused more confusion.
• I enjoy writing about writing, but it's a niche topic and the amount of people who want to subscribe to that stuff seems pretty small.
• I would like to nurture a community here, but one group of people who seem pretty allergic to the idea of community (possibly because they are legitimately wary of distraction) are professional writers.

In summation, Development Hell seems confusing and far too niche. I certainly don't want to stop writing about writing, but I would like to devote the time to one of those pieces when the mood (or more likely, the anger) takes me, rather than be honour-bound to deliver something a bit "mid" because I have promised regular pieces.

The Solution

What I actually want to do is write what I want, when I want, how I want. I've been doing this for long enough now to be reasonably confident that most of the things that interest me are equally of interest to subscribers here.

At the same time, I want to build something sustainable, both in terms of communal interaction and in terms of covering costs. And by "costs" I don't just mean the literal cost of maintaining and paying the bills on this site, but also the time costs - I don't devote as much time or energy to Cartoon Gravity as I would like because I have to work in the TV and film industry to pay the rent. But, as I was discussing yesterday, recent experiences with Kickstarter and with the Cartoon Gravity Club have opened my eyes to the possibility that building this site, and this community, is likely a better, more fruitful, creative outlet than pitching yet another Netflix show.

I'm a huge fan of Austin Kleon's "Show Your Work" philosophy, and I would like to do more of that here. I would like to punt ideas around, share short fiction, write about writing, write about something I saw on the internet, discuss notebooks and stationery, and the possibility of life on other planets, and concepts in weird fiction, and on and on. I would like to continue to post bitesize chunks and to write longer pieces that might be weeks or months in the making. I would also like to branch out into podcasting and do some interviews. And I think video seminars for writers, or aspiring writers might be useful. As might online courses. And I would like to open an online store where I could source interesting bits and pieces from around the world and sell them at a reasonable price and with a sustainable and responsible shipping model... I have plans...

Existing members of the Cartoon Gravity Club know that I'm there every day and that I devote a fair amount of time to maintaining it and to showing work on there. The community we've created in a short amount of time is really quite extraordinary, it's what social media ought to be; curious, kind and collaborative. It's free to join (and will remain so) and nothing on there costs anyone any money because it's all funded by subscriptions to this site and to the Pleasant Green site.

If everything I want to do here depends on subscriptions, then we need some subscriptions. And that's where Cartoon Gravity Pro comes in...

Moving forward, there will be two subscription levels for this site:

Free Subscription - This is what most people have. It gives you access to the site, email newsletters, access to the Cartoon Gravity Club etc. The majority of the people reading this have that subscription. It's not going anywhere, it's not changing, and it's staying free.

Cartoon Gravity Pro is for anyone who wants to give a little something to help out the site and get a little something back in return. This is a rebrand of the Development Hell subscription, but it's no longer JUST a writing newsletter. Think of this more like a Patreon, or similar; your subscription payments allow me to spend more time with the site and to do more with it. In addition to the warm, fuzzy feeling you'll get from helping out, there will also be...

• Exclusive posts; longer-form pieces, occasional short fiction, and musings that feel like they're better kept to a smaller audience
• Access to the Development Hell archive - all the pieces I've written to date that are paywalled, including everything that used to be on the Substack.
• Advanced word on new projects, crowdfunding etc.
• Exclusive access to the Cartoon Gravity Pro Lounge in the Cartoon Gravity Club. This area will be built out to include writing courses, story seminars etc.
• Discounted monthly membership to the Pleasant Green site (and to any future storyworld sites I build).

Essentially, Cartoon Gravity Pro is a little more personal, a little more behind-the-scenes and a little more in-depth. Really it's an attempt to generate sufficient income from the site to be able to devote more time to it, so the more subscribers, the better it becomes.

But that income isn't generated by whopping great payments, it comes from subscriber numbers. The cost right now is £5 per month/£50 per year - very little to the individual subscriber, but a good whack for the site if there are enough of you. And I'm hoping that the accompanying discount on the Pleasant Green memberships makes it even more attractive to those who have both. (The idea of a universal membership has been floated by a few people, but it doesn't work because the sites, and their backends, are separate, so there is no way to have someone automatically join both).

This is not an urgent thing, it's not a one-time-only offer, there's no deadline on it (and I'm aware that many people pledged to the Kickstarter and I must be the absolute last person they want to give money to right now). This is just a restructure for clarity and to put this site on a better footing for the future. If you're a free subscriber, nothing will change. If you want to help out and participate a little more, well now that opportunity exists too.

Anyway, this has been FAR too much admin for a Sunday afternoon. Thank you for your time, I'm sorry this wasn't more entertaining. Normal service will be resumed etc etc.

Please enjoy this trailer for Guillermo Del Toro's new Frankenstein movie as a palate cleanser.

Fuck it. Send.