Skarr: Is this the sort of ensemble piece that has no clear or central protagonist or antagonist? Or is the daughter your protagonist? Is the father one of those ambivalent characters, neither "good" nor "bad"? Or is he on a redemptive journey? I appreciate your thematic intent to keep your focus on the average man, but do you have a strategy for overcoming the obvious commercial limitations this might create? For example, a character who will see himself/herself elevated into a higher social strata? Or perhaps a recurring cameo from a benevolent (or malevolent) aristocrat? Because we all know that outside of academic audiences, the average reader (especially readers of period pieces) lean heavily towards larger than life characters and storylines. I might be wrong, but I think that - statistically - the chances for commercial success of Cold Mountain was akin to winning the state lottery. The usual heroic treatments are what 95% percent of period fiction readers gravitate towards, don't you think? Just curious about your thoughts. An interactive, virtual collaberation is a terrific concept. Any existing examples of commercial success (any genre) via this approach?