Collaborative Novel Writing?

[daniel l.]

So, I had this idea.

There are quite a few budding writers here on the forum. Some of whom I currently follow.

Now, I've had a lot of trouble writing stories longer than a few thousand words -- this is because of my short attention span. I suspect many of my fellow forum writers have similar issues, as most of us haven't ventured far beyond Short Stories -- this could be due to attention span, or simply a lack of time, it doesn't really matter either way.

So, here's my idea: We write a 70,000-word sci-fi novel together. The construction of this novel can be divided into stages.

1. Each person pitches a story idea by adding it to this Google Docs file: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hOeB9A2RR0YEVyCKQ6tbSJ1yxttNtwOlKFCnXnuo2WA/edit?usp=sharing We then discuss these ideas, make suggestions and so on and so forth until we have several well-polished writing prompts.
2. We vote via Strawpoll whose story gets done.
3. Once the story has been picked, we all contribute to writing the outline, making suggestions. Though whoever the plot belongs to gets final say as to what does and doesn't happen -- however, for the sake of cooperation, I ask that whoever's story gets picked doesn't go full "my way or the highway!" and attempt to dominate the project.
4. Once the outline is complete, each partner takes responsibility for a single chapter of the novel (each chapter should be about 10,000-20,000 words long). For the sake of continuity, the outline must be followed religiously, any alterations would have to be suggested and authorized first so that the outline can be adjusted accordingly. For the record, if any person is uncomfortable with how they've written their chapter, be it quality or otherwise, feel free to let someone else take a stab at it.
5. After the chapters are written, we drop them all into a single docs file and pore over the work until all minor continuity errors and typos have been resolved, it might also be necessary to make further adjustments to ensure that the writing style of each chapter doesn't clash with the rest.
6. Finally, if we're satisfied with the completed novel, we may publish it and (hopefully) all profit from it -- if not, then it'll find a cozy spot on wattpad for all to see should they wish to see it. Either way, we'll have done something fun.

Rules:

1. Don't overuse language. I'm perfectly fine with an  F-bomb here or there, but no need to write like a sailor.
2. Romance cannot be the main plot. I've seen too many "sci-fi" stories on Wattpad that go like this: "Rosy is a lonely android, but one day she meets James, a sexy human who will teach her how to love!" Ugh, please no. It's okay to give our protagonist(s) a love interest or two, but don't let it dominate the story. And with that said...
3. Don't overuse sex scenes! It's okay to have one, maybe two, especially if they're important to the plot. But don't write one to fill an entire chapter, and don't write it in too great a detail, perhaps delve into a character's thoughts while it happens, so that the reader isn't getting an eyeful of erotic prose.
4. No major political or religious commentary. This is a highly diverse forum of people, and chances are the people involved in the project would be quite diverse in opinion or belief as well. So it's probably a bad idea to come up with a story that takes any side in our current socio-political era. And if you must include political or religious debate, please include the arguments of both sides without turning one of them into a strawman.
5. Try to avoid cliches. TV Tropes can help with this. So be creative. But don't try so hard to avoid cliches that your idea is too crazy to write, some cliches exist because they're simply good reading.
6. KSP fanfiction is allowed! So feel free to suggest stories set within the kerbal universe -- maybe even help promote somebody's mod by making that a pivotal part of the plot. After all, we aren't just Forum-citizens, we're KSP forum-citizens.

And if I may, I'd like to page some people who I think might be interested: @Spaceception, @The Raging Sandwich, @NSEP, @electricpants, @KAL 9000, @Ehco Corrallo

@Bill Phil, @DAL59. These are the names I can list offhand. Please, if you're interested, tell a friend.

 

It is my hope that this could be a very fun project for us to do. I'm personally looking forward to ideas, and to writing whatever chapter I may be allotted.

Edited June 1, 2018 by daniel l.

[Spaceception]

I'm personally too busy to commit myself to this, but I'd be happy to leave suggestions, and answer questions (If I have an answer ), or share tips. One thing right off the bat though, 10-20k words would be a long short story, or novella in one go. My longest chapter was around 9k words, and that's way too long. So I'd suggest no longer than 5k words, maybe even less than 3-4k, just to keep it digestible.

Good luck though! I hope someone else can help out with this. It sounds really cool.

Edited May 11, 2018 by Spaceception
So not SO, gotta keep my fingers off the shift key...

[Bill Phil]

One good idea is to define where everything is and what's going on between each chunk, and tell the individual writers to make sure the story gets to that point. Essentially, you define Points A through Z, and just ask that the writers don't do anything drastic and make sure they can communicate effectively for continuity's sake. That way no one is stuck to religiously following a set outline and has the freedom to write how they see fit, but all of it is still continuous.

One problem I see with this is differences in writing styles. Some of us may have wildly different styles. It would be quite strange to be reading a chapter with one style and then move on to the next with a completely different one, although it could be part of the appeal to any potential readers. Also probably fixable during editing.

One cool thing about this though is that it would allow people who don't have time to write a whole novel take part in the process. I'm interested.

Also, I'm stuck with view only on the doc.

[DAL59]

The document is view only

[daniel l.]

9 minutes ago, DAL59 said:

The document is view only

Ah, sorry. Fixed.

27 minutes ago, Bill Phil said:

One good idea is to define where everything is and what's going on between each chunk, and tell the individual writers to make sure the story gets to that point. Essentially, you define Points A through Z, and just ask that the writers don't do anything drastic and make sure they can communicate effectively for continuity's sake. That way no one is stuck to religiously following a set outline and has the freedom to write how they see fit, but all of it is still continuous.

One problem I see with this is differences in writing styles. Some of us may have wildly different styles. It would be quite strange to be reading a chapter with one style and then move on to the next with a completely different one, although it could be part of the appeal to any potential readers. Also probably fixable during editing.

One cool thing about this though is that it would allow people who don't have time to write a whole novel take part in the process. I'm interested.

Also, I'm stuck with view only on the doc.

I see your point.

And the doc is fixed.

[KSK]

I won’t be taking part in this myself but it certainly looks interesting. Good luck,  have fun and I hope it all comes together!

I did have a couple of thoughts about the original post though. First, I agree with @Spaceception - 10-20K words is a pretty big chunk of writing, especially if folks can’t find the time to commit to it on a regular basis. Smaller chunks would be more achievable and hopefully make the whole thing seem less daunting.

Second - regarding point 4 of the plan (not the rules). I know it’s easier said than done but don’t worry about quality too much in the first draft. It’s going to need a lot of editing anyway to make it fit nicely with the other chapters and your other collaborator’s writing styles. And if you’re not that happy about what you’ve written - well I think that’s where this collaboration idea is going to to really shine.

Rather than pass that unhappy chapter to another person to possibly get unhappy with it in turn - let the whole team at it. Let everyone contribute feedback, bounce some ideas around as a team and see what happens. That sort of mutual support could be a good way of encouraging everyone, maybe getting them past any writer’s block.

Last - I understood the sentiment behind Rule 4 but it could also cut out an excellent source of ideas for generating conflict and tension within your story, which is usually a good thing. Again - why not bounce any political stuff around the whole team? If anyone doesn’t like it, it can always be dropped but if everyone’s cool with it - why not use it.

Anyhow, this is just some ramblings from a guy who isn’t even on the team, so feel free to disagree or ignore.  

[YNM]

I think I'm better at riffing rather than actually making a coherent storyline, so... good luck !

Spoiler

Quote

"and his collection of archaic machines -- which are immune to the virus!"

... before experiencing a major floating-point error. 

 

[daniel l.]

6 hours ago, KSK said:

I won’t be taking part in this myself but it certainly looks interesting. Good luck,  have fun and I hope it all comes together!

I did have a couple of thoughts about the original post though. First, I agree with @Spaceception - 10-20K words is a pretty big chunk of writing, especially if folks can’t find the time to commit to it on a regular basis. Smaller chunks would be more achievable and hopefully make the whole thing seem less daunting.

Second - regarding point 4 of the plan (not the rules). I know it’s easier said than done but don’t worry about quality too much in the first draft. It’s going to need a lot of editing anyway to make it fit nicely with the other chapters and your other collaborator’s writing styles. And if you’re not that happy about what you’ve written - well I think that’s where this collaboration idea is going to to really shine.

Rather than pass that unhappy chapter to another person to possibly get unhappy with it in turn - let the whole team at it. Let everyone contribute feedback, bounce some ideas around as a team and see what happens. That sort of mutual support could be a good way of encouraging everyone, maybe getting them past any writer’s block.

Last - I understood the sentiment behind Rule 4 but it could also cut out an excellent source of ideas for generating conflict and tension within your story, which is usually a good thing. Again - why not bounce any political stuff around the whole team? If anyone doesn’t like it, it can always be dropped but if everyone’s cool with it - why not use it.

Anyhow, this is just some ramblings from a guy who isn’t even on the team, so feel free to disagree or ignore.  

I understand all your points. I can shorten the chapter size to about 5k, and allocate more chapters to each person over time, that should give some more breathing room.

And as for rule 4, I think there can be some slack given. Though I'd like to avoid anything that starts a civil war within a writing team.

7 hours ago, YNM said:

I think I'm better at riffing rather than actually making a coherent storyline, so... good luck !

  Reveal hidden contents

... before experiencing a major floating-point error. 

 

I'm unfamiliar with the word 'riffing'. But if you're saying you have trouble assembling plots, I do too. I think having an outline assembled by more creative individuals than us would probably help with that problem.

 

And, if it's not too much trouble. I'd like to ask if you guys can share this thread with some of your fellow writers on the forum. I, personally, am very much hoping to make a collab like this succeed. But first I need people.

[YNM]

7 hours ago, daniel l. said:

I'm unfamiliar with the word 'riffing'.

It's just talking and corrupting things. Like :

Spoiler

You know Disney's pernicious earworm "it's a small world" ? Now I've been misspronouncing it as "earthworm".

Yeah, Disney's pernicous EARTHworm. Terrifying !

 

[kerbiloid]

You can both synchronise your styles and make an epic poem using the meter of Kalevala/Hiawatha.

_{(Wiki calls "trochaic tetrameter". No idea what does it mean, but sounds cool.)}

It's very handy to make epic poems with or without rhymes about almost everything, even with minimal absent poetic skills.
_{(I tried that when was a student).}

Spoiler

Mostly language-independent, at least it works in English, Finnish, Russian. 
Probably can be a trouble in short-word languages like Chinese or in languages with fixed accent position like Latin and Polish, I don't know.

Kinda this.

Spoiler

Let me tell you now the story
    About mighty Jebediah,
Smart and brave, in orange clothes,
    Flying high in smoke and fire.
    
Years ago the tribe of Kermans
    On the greenish Kerbin planet,
Has discovered strange white buildings,
    KSC we call them now.
    
That's for Kerbal Space, its Center,
    That's the Center of the Kerbal
Whole Space, as almost nothing,
    Except this, they have on planet.

(and so on).

 

[daniel l.]

21 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

You can both synchronise your styles and make an epic poem using the meter of Kalevala/Hiawatha.

_{(Wiki calls "trochaic tetrameter". No idea what does it mean, but sounds cool.)}

It's very handy to make epic poems with or without rhymes about almost everything, even with minimal absent poetic skills.
_{(I tried that when was a student).}

  Reveal hidden contents

Mostly language-independent, at least it works in English, Finnish, Russian. 
Probably can be a trouble in short-word languages like Chinese or in languages with fixed accent position like Latin and Polish, I don't know.

Kinda this.

  Reveal hidden contents

Let me tell you now the story
    About mighty Jebediah,
Smart and brave, in orange clothes,
    Flying high in smoke and fire.
    
Years ago the tribe of Kermans
    On the greenish Kerbin planet,
Has discovered strange white buildings,
    KSC we call them now.
    
That's for Kerbal Space, its Center,
    That's the Center of the Kerbal
Whole Space, as almost nothing,
    Except this, they have on planet.

(and so on).

 

Certainly interesting. But I had more of a novel in mind than a poem. Would you be interested in participating in this project?

[kerbiloid]

2 minutes ago, daniel l. said:

Would you be interested in participating in this project?

I'm afraid, this is far beyond my talents and my English.

[Bill Phil]

Just put down a story idea.

[daniel l.]

On 5/26/2018 at 9:38 PM, Bill Phil said:

Just put down a story idea.

I see it! Looks awesome.

I can see it'll take a while for something like this to take off, however.

Should I take this thread to reddit?

[Bill Phil]

1 hour ago, daniel l. said:

Should I take this thread to reddit?

I don't know. Maybe. Depends on your judgement.

[DAL59]

@Bill Phil Your proposal is good- except it has already been used in Tau Zero.

[Bill Phil]

41 minutes ago, DAL59 said:

@Bill Phil Your proposal is good- except it has already been used in Tau Zero.

Yeah. So what? A similar premise or concept doesn't imply similar storylines.

Premise =/= plot.

There's an old saying: there are no new stories. That's truer than you'd think.

[DAL59]

Idea: Humans go to the Trappist System, colonize it, but 99% of the astronauts could not be unfrozen.  So they develop a new technology so no one will have to be frozen for interstellar travel again: time acceleration.  However, a test malfunctions and a planet undergoes millions of years in a few days.  The field is then destroyed from the inside by aliens.  Then there is a hard sci fi space war, with very short travel times due to the small size of the system.

[Kernel Kraken]

This looks like it'd be fun, but I wouldn't want my name on a novel with anything vulgar or obscene in it. It's a cool idea, though!