A few of us were bouncing around the idea of a sort of "collaborative" writing experiment. Anyone who's read the "Thieves World" books (see Wikipedia for more info on "Theives World") knows the sort of thing we were talking about. Basically, the idea was to create a shared environment for some interlocking characters & short stories.
Now that the dust has settled a little, is anyone interested? I had an idea that would jump-start the shared world, quest is, who's in? :-)
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81,971 / 50,000
Dez 6, 2007 - 18 19
I'm in!
Glad I happened to check the forums lol.
----------As kids we fried ants with magnifying glasses. Now that we are adults we fry characters in far more interesting ways with plot twists
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Dez 6, 2007 - 18 49
This sounds like a a blast! Count me in too!
Thanks, Paul! :)
--Michael
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Dez 6, 2007 - 19 06
I have no idea if I can limit myself to short-story length (seeing as how I can write for pages about absolutely nothing, apparently), or if it will be any good, but I'm interested in entering the fray. Keep us posted!
Peace,
----------Cheryl
Cheryl, a.k.a. Nom de Plume Julia
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Dez 7, 2007 - 08 13
Are you talking about each person writing a separate story within the shared world, or do you mean two or more people working together on each story?
limin-
----------limin-
Co-ML for St. Louis, MO
Flailing Gloriously
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Dez 7, 2007 - 08 30
I'd go for this. It could be fun.
I'm going to hazard a guess that it doesn't matter if you write one story with multiple authors or we end up with many single stories by single authors. Call me on it if it's wrong...
*stretches short story muscles* What I would really love is to be able to get a few short stories entered into contests and such, to up my pub cred. Er, to get any pub cred at all ;) But I'm definitely an epic writer, having only ever written one short(ish) story, so this could be good practice.
~j
----------Co-ML of St. Louis, MO
2004: Artorius Rex Novare
2005: Artist of Heaven
2006: The Sixth Ring
2007: Forging the Forest
aspirations: http://etoiline.com
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Dez 7, 2007 - 08 32
Hmm, well, I dont know! I guess if we followed the original "Thieves World" concept, then folks would write their own stories and it would be the world (characters and evolving environment / plot as a whole) that's shared. My guess is that short story length items would keep things moving and give a sense of achievement. I really hadnt thought about people sharing in the writing process of any given story though!
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Dez 11, 2007 - 09 20
Unless anyone has a better idea:
With pervasive surveillance cameras becoming the norm, another "Cottingley" was bound to happen sooner or later and it wasn't just the faeries themselves that would be "outed" this time but the entire magickal domain running in parallel with human society.
Magickal and Material worlds collided on a security tape posted to YouTube, timed to coincide with the anniversary of the Cottingley incident (a fact not lost on the Twilight Queen.) Further videos surfaced from around the world, all dating from the same night. In a masterstroke the Twilight Queen denied the perpetrators the joy of undermining her rule,and appeared in an exclusive interview on Larry King Live.
For many the Larry King Live interview spelled freedom: Trolls sought employment as night-shift workers, the Paris fashion catwalks laid off the majority of their human models and hired dryads for their waif-like elfin build, and Dwarven mechanics became prized in the automotive industry. Integration of the Magickal and Material worlds has not been easy for either side though and tensions within each community boil just below the surface...
For those who like fantasy, I'm thinking it's a sort of "urban fantasy". For those who like science-fiction, the setting would stretch to being "near future". Hopefully a little of everything is possible. (Just avoid the LKH vampires!)
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Dez 7, 2007 - 13 07
*tosses hat into ring*
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Dez 8, 2007 - 05 10
I think it would be good if we set a meet up to flesh this out and brainstorm. No actual story writing, just define how things work and socialize a bit. Mebbe after Christmas sometime?
----------As kids we fried ants with magnifying glasses. Now that we are adults we fry characters in far more interesting ways with plot twists
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Dez 8, 2007 - 05 16
Sounds good to me. I have an idea for a more sci-fi type story.
----------http://www.quantumtea.com/blog/
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Dez 8, 2007 - 10 53
Hi Paul and everyone,
I didn't manage to make it to any of the events for NANOWRIMO but I have been lurking around the forums, and I am interested in participating if you haven't got too many people already!
Sounds like a lot of fun, I always loved Thieves World.
Jennifer
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Dez 9, 2007 - 10 24
Sounds like fun! When/where should we meet?
----------limin-
Co-ML for St. Louis, MO
Flailing Gloriously
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Dez 9, 2007 - 16 14
Yar, more than willing to give this idea a go. *hint* *hint* There's a new Bread Company in South County... huge... *cough* *wheeze* *hack*
Eh, on a more realistic note, there's Brentwood. Whoo.
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Dez 9, 2007 - 22 39
Oooh, can I play? I'm feeling the post-NaNo blues already, and I need to distract myself. I've never heard of the "Thieves' World" books, but I like the idea of writing stories that take place in the same setting/universe!
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Dez 9, 2007 - 23 26
All of the authors in "thieves world" had their own particular characters, and borrowed \characters that belonged to someone else on the condition that they brought them back in one piece once they were done with them. (or, the 2 writers worked out a deal regarding the character in question and the changes that would happen). The idea for a setting was meant to be flexible without being crazy.
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Dez 10, 2007 - 20 29
I'd totally love to participate, but somebody's gonna have to take notes/relay the point of the meeting back to me, as I'm no longer in St. Louis (but still continue to affiliate myself with it). I love doing stuff like this--keep me posted (yes, I'm lookin' at you Jen).
By the way, Hiya, St. Louis! I traded up the Arch for snow, but I still kinda miss that silver almost-hoop.
----------"If the town's called Normal, why do you have to open a psychiatry practice here, Dad?"
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Dez 10, 2007 - 23 40
Yes, you could talk me into joining. I was a huge Thieve's World fan in college, waiting impatiently for each new book (which sort of gives away my age). Paul makes the critical point that Thieve's World's primary claim to being a shared world was the ability to share each other's characters. After a few miscues in the first few books, there were some ground rules. One of the big ones...if you plan to kill your character off in your story, let everyone know. Apparently, one really cool character was written into several storylines, except that he was dead by the time those stories took place, requiring many major rewrites (and causing several early contributors to leave the anthology). Um....now for the distasteful part....in order to share characters in a bunch of stories that are being written simultaneously...(can you see this coming?)...each author is going to have to provide a fairly detailed character description and perhaps a synopsis of the prospective plot of their story. Just some thoughts on the concept. Sounds like great fun...in a depraved sort of way.
Tom
----------actortommyd
St. Charles, MO
Attempting two novels for Nano 2007!
First Novel: All the Days of My Death (Horror/Thriller) - finished, 51000 words
Seond Novel: The Last Flying Ace (Historical Fiction)
...and now a member of the Trebuchet Club!
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Dez 11, 2007 - 05 58
*peeks in* I might be willing to try it...
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Dez 11, 2007 - 10 57
The Thieves' World stories may have shared characters, but not all "shared worlds" do. It would be easy for various stories to take place within the world Paul described without any characters appearing in more than one tale. Maybe we could go with Paul's idea of flexibility and let individual authors decide if they want to share characters or just create their own. Not that I have anything against sharing - that sounds like a lot of fun and, really, a lot more collaborative. It's just that detailed character bios and plot synopses sound way too much like work to me right now when I'm buried in catch-up, and I wanted to do this just for fun. But if everybody else wants all stories to have shared characters, I can wait for the next project.
Do we want to decide these kinds of details here? I thought that's what our first get together was going to be about.
----------limin-
Co-ML for St. Louis, MO
Flailing Gloriously
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Dez 11, 2007 - 18 14
No one has said it, so I will.
How about 2:00 PM Sunday, January 6, 2008 at the old Clayton Bread Co for our first meeting? Alternately we could do alittle later at the new South County Bread Co, like 3:30 or so. Then maybe meet once a month?
----------Just a thought but we seemed short on suggestions, so there's one.
As kids we fried ants with magnifying glasses. Now that we are adults we fry characters in far more interesting ways with plot twists
50,198 / 50,000
Dez 12, 2007 - 08 58
I did start at story many years ago involving the "near future" world that MIGHT fit into this but I am not good with faeries and magic. I guess it would be more Sci-Fi. I would like to try but have had problems finding time for meetings. Maybe after Christmas. In any event put my name down for now and I will see if I can find that old story I was working on. It probably was in one of several computers that crashed. I have been in middle of moving my computer room to the basement and dug up some old stuff so I think it is in there. I'm old and arthritic so it's hard to keep up with you young'uns but my second childhood is also upon me which helps motivate me.
----------To try is to risk failure. Not to try is to assure it.
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Dez 12, 2007 - 09 27
Sun 1/6 at 2pm would work for me. Could you be more specific about where the S. Co. location is? If it's farther or harder to get to from Wentzville than 10 S. Central or Brentwood, I'm probably out.
----------limin-
Co-ML for St. Louis, MO
Flailing Gloriously
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Dez 12, 2007 - 09 35
Why not go a little more off the beaten track --- how much shorter would it be if we met at the BreadCo at Boones Crossing (it's right off Hwy 40 at Boones Crossing Road). Change of location might be fun...
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Dez 13, 2007 - 07 31
Paul, I've always liked you. ;)
----------limin-
Co-ML for St. Louis, MO
Flailing Gloriously
81,971 / 50,000
Dez 15, 2007 - 06 42
I suspect all of us from St Charles County will be ok with that, but don't let me speak for anyone else. If we kep the meetings to once a month or so, perhaps we can move it around a bit and keep it from being to hard for anyone to make at least some of them.
While the NaNo site has been asy and onvenient up to this point, I suggest that perhaps it is not the easiest place for a collaborative effort. WOuld it be possible to setup a site that allows for more ease of collaboration, moderated by one or more members of our little group? Just a suggestion.
----------As kids we fried ants with magnifying glasses. Now that we are adults we fry characters in far more interesting ways with plot twists
34,308 / 50,000
Dez 15, 2007 - 10 50
I used Alison and Merinda as lab-rats to test out a nice piece of collaboration software. I've put a Wiki up on my site - http://www.caffeinatedbliss.com/colab/HomePage - which is great for people creating pages, sharing ideas and writing. Not sure that discussion is quite as well supported. I'll look into that. There should be a little sprinkling of content on the Wiki just to give you an idea of how it all would work. If that doesnt fit, I'm happy to try something else to facilitate things.
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Dez 15, 2007 - 11 07
This is a great idea, Paul! Wikis are fun. I'm signed up and you should be too! Now to think up some characters and plots...
(side note: snow! lots of it! anyone for sledding? I, of course, am being all adult and going to the symphony instead of rolling around in that powdery white stuff (though I reserve the right to head out there after I'm done being adult!)
~j
----------Co-ML of St. Louis, MO
2004: Artorius Rex Novare
2005: Artist of Heaven
2006: The Sixth Ring
2007: Forging the Forest
aspirations: http://etoiline.com
34,528 / 50,000
Dez 15, 2007 - 11 25
*has had 22 inches of snow in the past week. hah.*
Definitely keep me updated. Once the new year starts, things slow down at work, giving me ample opportunity to join in the hullaballoo. And I am all for near future/urban fantasy. In fact, I'm completely excited.
----------"If the town's called Normal, why do you have to open a psychiatry practice here, Dad?"
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Dez 16, 2007 - 11 04
I'm interested,too. I think writing short stories will help improve my writing skills...
Chuck
----------Chuck
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Dez 19, 2007 - 21 03
Um, guys, when we're picking a location, it might behoove us to remember that Highway 40 will be closed from Ballas to I-170 as of January 2.
So anything right off 40? Not necessarily as convenient as we're all thinking.