[OT]Would you be interested in group writing fiction?

[Enkhidu]

Well, it’s about 5 PM EST on Friday and the call for writers is now officially over. If you are still interested in joining the first ENWorld Writer’s Circle (hopefully Morrus won’t object to that name), feel free to contact me via email. Now on to business!

We have a whopping 17 people who want to participate in this Writing Circle!

What does this mean? Well, it means that we have to take a long look at either adding another story immediately and starting off with 2 staggered stories, or we need to break up into 2 separate groups of 8 and 9 and start off with one story thread for each group. As to what would be better, I’m not sure, so I would like to hear your thoughts on the matter. I’ll be making a choice on group set up by Monday, so please either post to this thread or email me ASAP with any comments.

On to Guidelines for the ENWorld Writer’s Circle (ENWWC)

The ENWWC is a collection of individuals who have come together for the purposes of learning, honing, and teaching the craft of writing fiction. As such, all participants will follow the following guidelines for posting additions to the stories created as well as any comments on those stories.

1. All posting rules of the messageboards hosted by EN World are in effect. Any submission does not meet the posting standards of the EN World Story Hour forum, will not be added to the ongoing story and may result in the participant being removed from the project if problems persist.
2. Constructive criticism of writing styles or techniques is welcomed. Unconstructive criticism ("you suck!") is not welcome.
3. All contributors will follow a predetermined rotation for submissions. The rotation will be posted before the story begins. Any changes to the rotation should be agreed to by all concerned parties and must be posted by the moderator of the story. Contributors have seven (7) days to submit their work from the time they become the active contributor. If they do not submit during that period, the next contributor in rotation will then begin their period of activity. If a contributor misses their submission deadline 3 times, they will be removed from the project.
4. All participants recognize and agree that this is a shared story; the events and characters are "ours," not "yours" and "mine".


Many thanks to Delemental for some of the wording. Please remember that these guidelines are still in process, and may be subject to change. I will try to have polished set of guidelines before Monday.


Also, from the term "story moderator" above, it's hopefully clear that I would like individual stories to be moderatoed by other contributors - I have a feeling that we're going to have a number of people get interested in this as we begin posting content.

Here is the authors’ order we will be using for the first story rotation:


Son of Thunder
darklight
dshai527
GWolf
NoOneofConsequence
Spider_Jeruselam
NiTessine
Enkhidu
Shadowdancer
eXodus
Daniel Knight
Aeolius
Tonguez
uberkitty
Delemental
Altmann
fett527


I think that's everyone - if I have missed anyone please let me know!


Lastly, I'd like to ask for input from the mods and from Morrus especially, on how to make this project a success. Hopefully what we're creating here fits well in the scheme of what ENWorld is all about. And please, if you have any questions or problems please email me with them and I will do my best to answer them or correct them - whatever is necessary.

Thanks everyone - we'll talk to you on Monday!

 

[uberkitty]

I don't think we necessarily need to break up the group yet. Yes, 17 is a lot, and it may become unwieldy. But chances are good that at least five people will decide to drop out after a short while; and in general, I think one story line with too many writers is still easier to maintain than two stories. Especially if we're starting with a pass-the-item kind of story, where character and plot continuity are not so important.

When we begin the story proper, should it be in the Story Hour area? Or does someone have a little extra server space and want to host a web location for it?

 

[Shadowdancer]

I like the idea of the blood coin as the item that gets passed around. But how about making it a gem that has a curse attached? A gem is a little more desirable as a treasure item, and there are many famous real-world gems (the Hope Diamond, for instance) that have stories of curses attached to them.

Also, a gem is a little more versatile. It could be added to a piece of jewelry, or to the sword of a hero, or the gown of a princess, etc. It can also be used as currency in a D&D world.

 

[eXodus]

i enjoy the idea of the coin. that could be a lot of fun.

a gem as well could provide the same ease in writing.

i am just anxious to get going.

how about a mailing list?

these boards are great, but if someone could get a mailing list together it would make it all the easier for all of us to communicate and share our writings.

 

[Tonguez]

how about a mailing list?

these boards are great, but if someone could get a mailing list together it would make it all the easier for all of us to communicate and share our writings.

Actually I'd prefer to keep it on the Enworld boards (Storyhour perhaps). I tend to only go to Enworld, Hotmail and the two online rpgs I'm in on a daily basis. Another site would be a hassle.

So my vote is to stay at Enworld (but thats just me)

 

[bloodymage]

Sanctuary anyone?

Has anyone read the Sanctuary stories first edited by Robert Lynn Asprin? The premise was a common seedy city, Sanctuary, with each author responsible for a character. I remember the writer's rules were set out somewhere by RLA. I'll see what I can find. Some of the authors included John Brunner, Poul Anderson, Andrew Offut, Roger Zelzany, Marion Zimmer Bradley, CJ Cherryh, etc., etc. Janet Morris authored the character Tempus. It sounds a lot like what you're trying to accomplish here. I enjoyed Sanctuary immensely.

Well, I can't find what guidlines the writers followed to keep off each others toes, but the anthologies coulod very well give you an idea on how to structure this project.

 

[Shadowdancer]

I read several of the Sanctuary books. They were good. I read somewhere they were planning to start the project up again, but maybe do novels rather than short stories.

 

[Tonguez]

Yes I remember Sanctuary it was good and introduced me to a few authors I hadn't encountered before including MZB.

I think this structure would be really good for what we are tyrying to achieve as it keeps a commonality to the stories (ie the same setting and common NPCs) but allows for individaul character development AND character interactions (it would be fun for instance if one of Us does a theif story and another of us responds with writing a story about someone who was leaving the shop when the theif arrived (but otherwise follows an entirely different plot) and another of us following on with the Police/watchman investigating the theft!)

This IMHO is easier to control and develop then the proposed 'pass the object' which could have totally different settings characters plots and NPC (and thus no continuity)

 

[NoOneofConsequence]

Re: Sanctuary anyone?

Has anyone read the Sanctuary stories first edited by Robert Lynn Asprin? The premise was a common seedy city, Sanctuary, with each author responsible for a character. I remember the writer's rules were set out somewhere by RLA. I'll see what I can find. Some of the authors included John Brunner, Poul Anderson, Andrew Offut, Roger Zelzany, Marion Zimmer Bradley, CJ Cherryh, etc., etc. Janet Morris authored the character Tempus. It sounds a lot like what you're trying to accomplish here. I enjoyed Sanctuary immensely.

Well, I can't find what guidlines the writers followed to keep off each others toes, but the anthologies coulod very well give you an idea on how to structure this project.

I know the thieve's world stories very well - I once owned all twelve anthologies. In fact, these stories inspired me to suggest something similar on a Baldur's Gate fanfic site called the Attic. It's still running. The way it works is that we have an agreed setting - the Sword Coast as laid out in the Baldur's Gate CRPG - and we've nominated our core characters - who cannot undergo character development without the permission of the original author.

The final agreed thing is the overarching series of events that will form the background of the story - a group of renegade githyanki have invaded the Sword Coast, as well as a pursuing illithid cabal.

With all these things decided on, the individual authors post their own stories about their own characters and include other characters when and as they can.

All in all though, I think what's being proposed here is a little different. However, if we were to share a setting, rather than an object, that might also work. Basically that's how Sanctuary worked.

 

[Son_of_Thunder]

I'm Baaack!!!!

Hoo Boy!

Camping was fun. The four hour drive it took me to get to the Hoback ranches in Wyoming was worth it. I came home today tired, sweaty and anxious to read what was decided for the thread. I thought about my opening to the story all weekend, it kept me busy during the times watching my son get dirty. Anywho I think ya'll like it.

Just waiting for instructions on where to post and all.

Son of Thunder