How does your source material impact your shrine?

[Robin]

This definitely affects me--it's one reason I have a lot of minor character shrines and shrines to paper media stuff. TV shows and video games are very hard for me to shrine because I can't just quickly refer to paper/digital pages when I want to fact-check something or expound on a plot point--I have to rewatch a whole ep or replay a whole section again, and UGH. So much wasted time. To top it off, brief summaries made by other people are often lacking the depth I need for shrining, so I end up just doing it myself (and hating every minute).

(Case in point: I'm kicking myself for not writing up notes on Sam Stewart from Foyle's War while I was watching through it the first time, because each episode is like 1 1/2 hours and there are 28 episodes. And most of the eps on IMDB do not have good summaries at all. But I got caught up in the series and didn't want to be distracted by taking notes...orz *bangs head against wall*)

[Mikari]

I don't think you're "obligated" to cover everything. You can cover what stands out and make it a more personal tribute where you talk about your experiences and your "relationship" with the franchise. Just write as much as you're comfortable and happy with writing. If you want to inform people, but don't want to write about a particular movie/version you can always offer links for additional information, so people can go to those sites if they want to see more.

[Laura]

I agree with Mikari! :D You aren't obligated to cover absolutely everything in your shrine! If you want to add more at a later date, there's nothing stopping you. :3

I actually had a lot more planned for my Kyo shrine but the amount of work was just overwhelming so I scaled back some sections that I plan on adding at a later date, when I feel a bit more energized. The bonus there is that viewers have something new to see when they come back later. XD

A lot of my sites are shrines to characters from series that have 50+ volumes of manga. 9_6 It IS daunting, but you can set limits for yourself! A lot of series have story arcs and you can say, "I'll do story arc 1 through 5" at first, and then come back and gradually add content when you feel like it. Breaking it up that way helps a lot! :3

I also focus on the original source material too... which usually means the manga or novel. I'll then add separate sections for other adaptations where applicable.

[Lethe]

What Larissa said, including source material size having quite some influence on the order in which I tackle shrines. When I made the shrining resolution topic a few months ago and looked at my project list, I sat down and wrote what kind of shrines I'd consider making this year, and listed each of them by anticipated size of the shrine along with the biggest hurdle in making the shrine. And I thought to myself "maybe I should just go ahead and shrine whatever has the least source material, that way I'll end up granting myself more wishes". :|

A lot of manga I like are over 20 volumes long, and video games, especially JRPGs, take a LONG time to replay... I love rereading manga and do it all the time, but some series I have to stay away from for a while due to the things they do with my emotions, and when those happen to be long series on top of that, yeah. <_<

Even if I adopted the "selective" approach - which I really think we should be considering more often - in that I don't attempt to say "everything" about the character, I'd still want to reexperience the entire source material first. And of course, the temptation is always there to have a shrine detail "everything" about a subject, just because of your immense love for the subject alone. T_T

Of course, nowadays it's, in some ways, easier to shrine certain things... There are Wikis that you can refer to, or Let's Plays and HD videos for video games, but... It's not the way I shrine, and there are things you don't pick up on (which, to me, may just be the interesting things) unless you play the game again yourself. (Most obvious example: When you want to discuss how to best use a party member, how you personall use them, or what they bring to the party.)

I also can't imagine ever shrining a long anime or television series. I heavily work with bookmarks in my manga or make a selection of scans I have on the PC so that I can quickly refer to things I'm shrining and go back and forth between them. I can't do that with video files. :|a

[Lysianthus]

I already have this problem even though I haven't finished a shrine yet, which is funny, because this is the reason why I haven't finished a shrine yet. XD

I have always wanted to shrine Wonder Woman. It's my main fandom right now, and I want my first shrine to be about her, since it's the topic I am most enthusiastic about as of the moment. However, I don't know where to begin, because the character has such a vast history! She's been around since the 1940s, and so many stories has been written about her, and what's worse is I am a fairly new fan (2014). Although her origin story has been intact for years, there are always modifications in every "age" (Golden Age, Silver Age, etc.). DC Comics always reboots its multiverse. This means a new history, maybe a new personality of the character, new stories, new relationships... There are so many changes to keep track of. I have 76 (as of 2016) years of source material to sift through.

Fortunately, I came up with a solution of some kind to this problem. I decided to only narrow my timeline from 2011 and onwards, which was the start of the latest reboot of the DC universe. This is better for me, too, since this is the version of the character that I am more acquainted with and know best.

[Robin]

@Lysianthus: GREAT idea! That definitely helps narrow the focus and make it not so overwhelming! (This is sorta kinda the approach I'm taking with some of my bigger character sites, too--mentioning the history, but focusing on the era of the character that I know and love best.)

[Laura]

I have always wanted to shrine Wonder Woman. It's my main fandom right now, and I want my first shrine to be about her, since it's the topic I am most enthusiastic about as of the moment. However, I don't know where to begin, because the character has such a vast history! She's been around since the 1940s, and so many stories has been written about her, and what's worse is I am a fairly new fan (2014). Although her origin story has been intact for years, there are always modifications in every "age" (Golden Age, Silver Age, etc.). DC Comics always reboots its multiverse. This means a new history, maybe a new personality of the character, new stories, new relationships... There are so many changes to keep track of. I have 76 (as of 2016) years of source material to sift through.

Fortunately, I came up with a solution of some kind to this problem. I decided to only narrow my timeline from 2011 and onwards, which was the start of the latest reboot of the DC universe. This is better for me, too, since this is the version of the character that I am more acquainted with and know best.

WONDER WOMAN. YES YES YES!!! I would LOVE to see this! <3 If I'm thinking right about the timelines, the 2011 series is what really hooked me too. I wasn't so much of a fan for what came afterwards but I haven't given it much of a chance~

It's hard when you have 10, 20, 30 years worth of materials to work with, but 70 is unfathomable. XD I think it's a good idea to start with the material you're most familiar with and then work backwards from there. It might be cool to even just have one page that talks about her origin and you can even say how it may or may not differ from the 2011 version! (Rather than talk about every incarnation~)

I think the hardest part is just setting the shrine up with enough information to make it "worth" being online... but once that major hurdle is over, it's so easy to go back and add more whenever you feel like it. <3

[Lysianthus]

@Lysianthus: GREAT idea! That definitely helps narrow the focus and make it not so overwhelming! (This is sorta kinda the approach I'm taking with some of my bigger character sites, too--mentioning the history, but focusing on the era of the character that I know and love best.)

Yes! The "load" is more manageable now. It only makes sense that I focus more on the version of the character that I know and love best, because that would be the point of the shrine in the first place.

WONDER WOMAN. YES YES YES!!! I would LOVE to see this! <3 If I'm thinking right about the timelines, the 2011 series is what really hooked me too. I wasn't so much of a fan for what came afterwards but I haven't given it much of a chance~

It's hard when you have 10, 20, 30 years worth of materials to work with, but 70 is unfathomable. XD I think it's a good idea to start with the material you're most familiar with and then work backwards from there. It might be cool to even just have one page that talks about her origin and you can even say how it may or may not differ from the 2011 version! (Rather than talk about every incarnation~)

I think the hardest part is just setting the shrine up with enough information to make it "worth" being online... but once that major hurdle is over, it's so easy to go back and add more whenever you feel like it. <3

I'm thinking exactly the same! I'll definitely write about her current incarnation - her current origin, for example - and compare it to the previous ones, showing how it's different. Ahhh, I'm already so excited! XD And I really hope that I can write enough for the shrine to make it "worthy enough" to be published as you said. Seeing all these shrines with so much content... it's both motivational and intimidating.

[Laura]

I'm thinking exactly the same! I'll definitely write about her current incarnation - her current origin, for example - and compare it to the previous ones, showing how it's different. Ahhh, I'm already so excited! XD And I really hope that I can write enough for the shrine to make it "worthy enough" to be published as you said. Seeing all these shrines with so much content... it's both motivational and intimidating.

Of course it'll be worthy enough!! XD You shouldn't feel intimidated! It's actually better to start small with what you consider to be the most important details... then work outward from there. Then we get to look forward to additional updates in the future! <3

My issue is that I plan to have so much that it takes me forever to get around to getting it all done... and that's actually pretty discouraging sometimes. There's no right or wrong about how much you need! :)