In the byline of 63897 you asked how many more "Death of Astras" I was going to write. The answer is - I'm not sure... you see, it is so much FUN!
What I have been doing is searching for basically dead-end storylines, you know, the ones that have been forgotten, that have not been added to. Using the 'search' function I am finding the episodes that have not been added to in quite some time, storylines that have gone by the wayside that nobody has cared to extend. I am bringing them to the surface of everyone's attention and drastically changing one aspect of that storyline. Either my episodes, and the threads they are connected to, will fade back below the surface of the current writers' radars or someone will find a particular idea, plot, set-up interesting enough to add to. The concept for this hunt of mine - searching for old, unused storylines - came to me after reading the whole slew of comments regarding "filling up the sixth level" and how that may or may not provide a flow of creative juices. That is an interesting conversation you folks have had/been having.
I have enjoyed finding different ways of killing off Astra - trying to keep it fresh forces me to be creative! I have also concentrated on the other characters and their situation with Astra and their situation once Astra is no more - yet again, this forces me to think out of the box! Having episodes where our heroes have one of their own ripped from their presence creates a whole venue of possiblity for you writers who want to tackle a shocked or depressed or enraged Fred - or Velus - or Alura - or whatever other character has to deal with the loss. I hope my stories are as fun to read as they are to write! I also hope I am setting up some scenarios that writers (currently and in the future) will find powerful, or shocking, or humorous (as the thread may dictate).
So, to answer your question, JH, how many Astras? As long as I feel the juices welling up within me and the desire to look for and read old, sometimes silly, sometimes stupid, sometimes not half-bad stories, I will hunt down forgotten episodes and kill the Astra therein!
Hopefully I will write this in such a way, or with such words and images, or with consequences not seen before. Yes, I know that some of my death scenes repeat - esp. the knife in the neck (but, as any farmer knows, cutting a jugular leads to instant death - and Killer Astra is no sadist... she doesn't want her mirror self to suffer needlessly!) Remember, her mission is to gain enough power to return home and destroy the evil of the Dragon in her world, my mission is to find old episodes we've all ceased thinking about and bring them back from oblivion!