Creatures Caves

Dear Ask Laura Fans and Readers,

The Ask Laura column is where I, a well-meaning and homely Treehugger Norn, respond to the daily dilemmas of my fellow Creatures, Hands, and Shee alike. Whether they're experiencing relationship problems, caretaking issues, home decoration worries, wanting new snack ideas, facing cheese shortages, defeated by stains that won't come out of their Grendel-hide couch...

Sadly, a lot of the questions I've received lately have been too much for this poor Agony Aunt. Your Norns have taken to writing to me when they're in dire peril, usually as they're hanging upside down over the piranha pool, while being sucked out of the airlock. I've also been receiving questions from characters that don't even exist in the Creatures universe, and who have no business writing to a simple column that should be about simple, daily woes.

Another recurring theme is Forbidden Love. While I have nothing against inter-species relationships, and I acknowledge that love has no bounds, questions about such situations have been so very common that it's becoming a bit of a bore.

So please, try to keep your questions related to the daily life in Albia/aboard the Shee Ark, and try to avoid things that have been asked too many times before, or involve elements from outside the Creatures universe. I tend to regard Ask Laura as an insight into how the Albian/Ark inhabitants might live, with each question and response painting a picture, or telling a story, about their ways and culture. I feel that too many far-fetched, unrealistic and overly-dramatic questions spoil this idea.

Finally, if you?d like to see what types of questions and topics are more appropriate for Ask Laura, I highly recommend that you refer to the archive for inspiration. It may also help to imagine that you?re writing to a magazine's problem page; do this and I doubt you'll go far wrong!

Sorry for the length of this post, but so many... for want of a better phrase... 'less fitting' questions have been submitted during these last couple of weeks, and ideally I'd like to return to answering and enjoying some better ones again.

Thank you if you've read this far, and I hope you can all understand where I'm coming from. Also, temporarily stickied.