Winter Clean

[Ed]

I've decided to have a bit of a spring clean, only early, so it's a winter clean, I suppose.  And what I'm going to do is shove all the unused bits of the forum into a new 'Archive' section, so nothing's lost, but the forum should be a little easier to navigate and look a bit less daunting to new members.

I would really like to restart an ongoing communal story thread, too. The idea being that it will eventually reach novel length and we'll get it published. Since these types of things tend to start with a burst of enthusiasm and then gradually fizzle out, I thought it might be a good idea to do it chapter by chapter, in a planned way. At the beginning of each chapter, I can state what will happen in the chapter, and our job will be to move the story to that point, between us. We could maybe do and outline for the novel, as well, or I could keep it secret (which I think might be a better idea - it'll make the whole thing more exciting for the participants).

Any thoughts or suggestions on any of this? Anything you want from the forum that we're not already providing? Input sought and gratefully accepted

[Ed]

BTW, I'm going to ditch the novel writer's support forum again, because nobody's using it... the members are probably off writing their opus somewhere

[starktheground]

Ooh, that sounds like tons of fun! I'm not as good as the rest of you guys, though!

[SamLeeFreak]

That does sound fun! 

[Geoff_N]

BTW, I'm going to ditch the novel writer's support forum again, because nobody's using it... the members are probably off writing their opus somewhere

I couldn't find the novel thread after our discussion with LauraBlue and others wanting it. It was probably my fault for not looking for it rigorously enough.

In the meantime I've asked LauraB if she wants to buddy her novel with mine.

Geoff

[Thewobblydickle]

Ed, the communal story is a great idea in theory but in my experience is very difficult to sustain. As you say, such ventures normally fizzle out, and this is often because some wag amongst the contributors decides it'd be immensely amusing to take the story in a completely different (and in the context of the story, completely effing stupid) direction.

I was involved in an ongoing and reasonably well read (though we never had any feedback on quality!) venture on The Write Idea which lasted for well over a year. There were only two of us involved and we each wrote one specific character. There were other characters which we invented and could both do with as we saw fit. We also developed the plots in the spirit of the overall story.

It was a very exciting and liberating thing to do. We took it in turns to write an episode and we never collaborated on what would happen next. We simply trusted each other to come up with the goods.

And that, I feel, is what will be required if we are to sustain a collaborative effort. ie

Trust in each other to write for the story rather than for each of us as individuals.
To respect that trust and write for the story and all its collaborators rather than for ourselves.

If we can assemble a team who can make such a commitment then, hey, let's go!

[Ed]

Yeah - that's one of the biggest problems with these things - when somebody decides to take the story off in an absurd direction. I was quite enjoying taking part in one on another forum when somebody suddenly decided to make the MC gay. I've got nothing against gays, but I don't want to write about them, so that coupled with the broken trust put me off carrying on with it. I get the impression everybody else felt the same way, because although the instigator eventually deleted the gay part, the thread fizzled out at that point, never to be revived.

That's part of the reason for me thinking we should have a bit of an outline at the beginning of each chapter, which acts as a map from A to B, but still gives enough freedom to the writers to keep it interesting.

Glad to see so many people interested in the idea - I'll have a think about it over the next couple of days and hopefully start the ball rolling soon.

Geoff - it was a section just like the crit group's one. All the parts are in the archive now, so you can still take a look at it if you like (only critters have access, BTW). I haven't seen LauraBlue for a while now - I assumed she found another place that better suited her needs. Good luck with the collaboration

Angela - don't put yourself down

[sylvrilyn]

Sorry about disappearing and not using the novel forum, etc.    I've been a total loser in terms of disappearing from here.  I think a communal story sounds fun, but I'm not sure if I can commit to it on a regular basis.   Besides, I'd probably end up taking it off in weird directions without even realizing it seemed weird to the rest of you.  It's a bad habit of mine not to see my own strangeness sometimes.