Jenny Everywhere: the Shifter
May. 2nd, 2023 12:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scott_sanfordNew to the character of Jenny Everywhere? This may help.
The Shifter
An open source character for any author, any setting
Who is Jenny? - Introduction - Suggested Reading - Origin - More Information - The Paragraph
The core proposition is that there are infinite parallel universes - and that Jenny Everywhere exists in all of them. Hence the name. There's a Jenny Everywhere in every universe. Many of her are aware of her other incarnations, can shift between worlds, or both.
Who is Jenny Everywhere as a character anyway?
Who is Jenny Everywhere? What's she like as a person, what draws her into stories?
At the dawn of the character's creation, Steve Wintle proposed:
On the Discord channel in 2023, a user asked “If being a hero isn’t in the heart of the character, what is?” I replied with:
Then Aristide Twain came up with a fuller and better answer:
Jenny Everywhere Introductions:
If you're new to the character you can quickly orient yourself with any of these:
Suggested Reading
There’s no predicting matters of taste, but some stories have been around a while and been enjoyed for a long time. It’s worthwhile to check out the list of Barbelith Stories of course, the first dozen tales; all of them are sequential art.
Where did Jenny Everywhere come from?
Jenny Everywhere was conceived on the Barbelith forums in 2001, as a open source character that creators could use without worrying about copyright restrictions. Various ideas were being kicked around until Steven Wintle posted some sketches and this text, wrapping the whole concept into one piece:
This led to an outburst of creativity which would later be known as the Barbelith stories and launched Jenny Everywhere as a character.
Over time interest in Jenny Everywhere has waxed and waned, but unlike many creative ventures use of the character has never died away. This graph of stories per year illustrates that dramatically. Delightfully, we had a record breaking production of new stories in 2022, and absolutely shattered that number in 2023.
I want more information!
Good places to find out more about Jenny Everywhere and her stories include:
The Paragraph
This paragraph appears in all works featuring Jenny Everywhere, for reasons explained here. Similar disclaimers accompany many of her supporting cast.
An open source character for any author, any setting
Who is Jenny? - Introduction - Suggested Reading - Origin - More Information - The Paragraph
....“Once upon a time there were a billion, billion girls named Jenny Everywhere…” - Jenny Nowhere, Parallax
The core proposition is that there are infinite parallel universes - and that Jenny Everywhere exists in all of them. Hence the name. There's a Jenny Everywhere in every universe. Many of her are aware of her other incarnations, can shift between worlds, or both.
Who is Jenny Everywhere? What's she like as a person, what draws her into stories?
At the dawn of the character's creation, Steve Wintle proposed:
....If I had to compare her to anything, it would be like if Tintin listened to Le Tigre and joined the Fantastic Four. She's excitable, passionate, attentive, curious, and caring. Like Captain Marvel, she's just a really powerful kid.
On the Discord channel in 2023, a user asked “If being a hero isn’t in the heart of the character, what is?” I replied with:
....If I had to give her a sound bite slogan like that, one option is "Infinite Worlds, Infinite Possibilities." We can tell wildly varied stories because there's a Jenny Everywhere, well, everywhere.
Then Aristide Twain came up with a fuller and better answer:
.... In a way, that nearly-epicurian casualness. She's a character who uncomplicatedly loves being alive; who's nice to people, and occasionally outright heroic, because she wants to be and likes to be, rather than because of the kind of sense of duty that other characters might feel burdened by/angsty about.
.... “She could go anywhere in all of time and space at any time, eat any delicacy, kiss a deity, but she is still, uncomplicatedly, unassailably, a person who always gets a smile on her face from a nice slice of buttered toast in the morning.
.... “She's beyond everything without remotely being above-it-all.”
.... “She could go anywhere in all of time and space at any time, eat any delicacy, kiss a deity, but she is still, uncomplicatedly, unassailably, a person who always gets a smile on her face from a nice slice of buttered toast in the morning.
.... “She's beyond everything without remotely being above-it-all.”
If you're new to the character you can quickly orient yourself with any of these:
- The Late Shift, a one page introductory comic by Rob Cave & Nelson Evergreen
- A Shifter Archive introduction, a fourth wall breaking one page introductory comic by Fes Works
- The Mind of Jenny Everywhere by Benj Christensen, a sketchbook which "can serve as a guide to anyone that might want to create a Jenny Everywhere story."
- So You're Jenny Everywhere by Scott Sanford, an in-universe pamphlet Jenny made for younger incarnations of herself
- Jenny Everywhere's Wikipedia page
- When you want to read something, you can do worse than starting with the Barbelith stories, the first Jenny Everywhere tales created. Here's a review of them that will help guide new readers.
There’s no predicting matters of taste, but some stories have been around a while and been enjoyed for a long time. It’s worthwhile to check out the list of Barbelith Stories of course, the first dozen tales; all of them are sequential art.
- Comics: Among the Barbelith stories there’s Name’s Not Down and Damn Fine Hostile Takeover, the very first Jenny Everywhere story and its sequel; there's also Makeshift Multiverse, the first multi-Jenny story; and The Death of Jenny Everywhere, which is not as final as it sounds. Notable later comics include By the Book and Say the Word (early stories that didn't appear in public until a few years later), the unique Insert Quarter to Play, and definitely Tribute by Jenny’s first author Steven Wintle.
- Prose: Somewhere is very short, very cool, and a tiny gem. Parallax took a different look at her nemesis Jenny Nowhere. John Dee, Jenny Everywhere: Round One barely makes sense from one paragraph to the next but it's a rush of intense imagery and evocative prose; check this out for the writing.
....The Hermetic Garbage of Jenny Everywhere is a magnificent rambling mess of a tale in many parts, and maybe not the best jumping-on point. The Tribulations of Jenny Over-There and sequels can be thought of as Jenny Everywhere spinoffs; these stories started as an April Fools' Day joke that grew organically. - Video: Mitigating Circumstances shows Jenny Everywhere in live action
- Crossovers: In Ghost Story Jenny visited the web comic Loxie & Zoot; the story is wholesome but the art is NSFW for nudity. This tale led to several sequels. The story Jenny Everywhere Meets the Crew of the Copper Colored Cupids is exactly what it says on the tin, and the first of many adventures they have together; it's also a good jumping on point for the large and rambling Cupid saga. SCP-JEv is unofficial but fully in character; some anomalies cannot be contained. The Folly of Men is not explicitly labeled as a crossover with anything but readers can fill in the details as they please.
Jenny Everywhere was conceived on the Barbelith forums in 2001, as a open source character that creators could use without worrying about copyright restrictions. Various ideas were being kicked around until Steven Wintle posted some sketches and this text, wrapping the whole concept into one piece:
....This is the Shifter. She has dimensional powers. To her associates, this means she can traverse say 4 or 5 dimensions, whatever taht means. The truth is, she can access all dimensions. Again, not sure exactly what that means (and now you can see why it was abandoned). The part I really liked about her was that she inhabited all dimensions at the same time. Or, to be more accurate, parallel universes. And yes, I was thinking Crisis on Infinite Earths. Basically, she's having an infinite number of adventures on an infinite number of planets. Our story involved her staying on one Earth, but that needn't be the case in this exercise.
....Her past isn't necessarily what you'd call mysterious. She doesn't gripe about it, and so no one pries. Essentially, she's your angst-free, fun-loving, adventurer-explorer. No vigilantism here. If I had to compare her to anything, it would be like if Tintin listened to Le Tigre and joined the Fantastic Four. She's excitable, passionate, attentive, curious, and caring. Like Captain Marvel, she's just a really powerful kid.
....One thing I wanted to do, but would've got shot down by my friends if we pursued this, is that she prefers not to use her powers incredibly often. Part the appeal for her of this ongoing, infinite adventuring is the thrill of the challenge. When she uses her powers, in any capacity, be it big or small, it shouldn't be used often. She'd rather duke it out. Of course, there's no saying what or who she might "borrow" from another dimension, or what knowledge another one of her selves has gained which may come in handy.
....I realize her powers might seem a little unlikely. For instance, if she was on an infinte number of universes, wouldn't she ahve dies innumerable times by now? Or be bored stiff because she's done it all already? Maybe there's a mystery there, or she actually only exists in many, many universes, not an infinite amount.
....Regardless, her powers would at least allow the different creators to throw her in any situation they wanted.
....The sketches in the link are unfinished. Sorry, It's 4:30 here and I can't ink worth shit when I'm tired. I also realize that she isn't what you'd call your iconic superhero type. Them uber-heroes are hard to come by. Hopefully someone else will think of something better suited for an Open Source Hero. Until then… Excelsior!
....Her past isn't necessarily what you'd call mysterious. She doesn't gripe about it, and so no one pries. Essentially, she's your angst-free, fun-loving, adventurer-explorer. No vigilantism here. If I had to compare her to anything, it would be like if Tintin listened to Le Tigre and joined the Fantastic Four. She's excitable, passionate, attentive, curious, and caring. Like Captain Marvel, she's just a really powerful kid.
....One thing I wanted to do, but would've got shot down by my friends if we pursued this, is that she prefers not to use her powers incredibly often. Part the appeal for her of this ongoing, infinite adventuring is the thrill of the challenge. When she uses her powers, in any capacity, be it big or small, it shouldn't be used often. She'd rather duke it out. Of course, there's no saying what or who she might "borrow" from another dimension, or what knowledge another one of her selves has gained which may come in handy.
....I realize her powers might seem a little unlikely. For instance, if she was on an infinte number of universes, wouldn't she ahve dies innumerable times by now? Or be bored stiff because she's done it all already? Maybe there's a mystery there, or she actually only exists in many, many universes, not an infinite amount.
....Regardless, her powers would at least allow the different creators to throw her in any situation they wanted.
....The sketches in the link are unfinished. Sorry, It's 4:30 here and I can't ink worth shit when I'm tired. I also realize that she isn't what you'd call your iconic superhero type. Them uber-heroes are hard to come by. Hopefully someone else will think of something better suited for an Open Source Hero. Until then… Excelsior!
This led to an outburst of creativity which would later be known as the Barbelith stories and launched Jenny Everywhere as a character.
Over time interest in Jenny Everywhere has waxed and waned, but unlike many creative ventures use of the character has never died away. This graph of stories per year illustrates that dramatically. Delightfully, we had a record breaking production of new stories in 2022, and absolutely shattered that number in 2023.Good places to find out more about Jenny Everywhere and her stories include:
- The Jenny Everywhere Wiki is packed with useful information
- Their Jenny Everywhere mythos page is one place to start
- Their Jenny Everywhere mythos page is one place to start
- The Jenny Everywhere Discord channel will let people talk with other fans and creators
- Jenny Everywhere Day every year on August 13th, organized by Benj Christensen
- My Jenny Everywhere stories are online for everyone
This paragraph appears in all works featuring Jenny Everywhere, for reasons explained here. Similar disclaimers accompany many of her supporting cast.
The character of Jenny Everywhere is available for use by anyone, with only one condition. This paragraph must be included in any publication involving Jenny Everywhere, in order that others may use this property as they wish. All rights reversed.
