Collaborative Fiction Proposal

Collaborative Fiction Proposal

Whereas I applaud The Vagabond in their desire to create a collaborative work of fiction, I find the guidelines laid down in their proposal to be too constrictive for me. Trying to get a group of writers to get a specific character to react more or less the same way to a specific situation seems to me like trying to put more than one chef in the kitchen, and, in many ways, deletes the purpose of having multiple writers.

I’ve worked in a lot of kitchens. There’s one head chef who oversees everything. Another chef does sauces and nothing else. That chef over there makes soups, and nothing else. This guy makes the bread, that dude makes the pastries. One person does the meats while another does the vegetables, and so on.

Separately, it’s all pretty BLAH. Together, mmmm, together there’s Flavor. Together it’s a Satisfying Meal.

So my proposal is this: An Anthology. A collection of short stories that take place in a common time, in a common location. More extensive guidelines can/will be created if people show an interest in this proposal.

The first order of business becomes a short survey.

1) Who would be interested in submitting short stories to an anthology?

2) What genre would those people be most interested working in? (Fantasy? Sci-fi? Romance? etc.)

3) Who would be interested in the loveless, thankless, brain numbing task of “Head Chef”?

Obviously those questions are just the tip of the iceberg, but it’s a start.

Again, I have neither intention nor desire to detract from The Vagabonds proposal. That type of collaborative writing is quite common and quite profitable, it’s just not for me. If that style is not for you and yet you still wish to work with other people on a common project, then I respectfully request that you consider my proposal and enter your comments and feedback here.

Thank you, and, as always,

rock on
twj


[edit on 3-4-2006 by torbjon]

1) you betcha

2) I prefer fantasy or sci-fi...

3) would want to know more about the job before saying yes...


twj

Okay, I'll bite for now. I'm interested, somewhat. I have an idea of my own...as a preliminary, why not form an anthology of works already on ATS? Most authors would not mind, but I would like to see a prototype of the anthology. Sounds like an interesting challenge.

For the record, my second-favorite book of all time is an anthology called Burning Chrome, by William Gibson.

DE

hey, I read that one... about a million years ago... back when I was burning thorugh books (no pun intended)... all I can remember about it though was something about Russian software, hacking into the system, and very strange TRON like feeling....

---

Editing the works already submitted here into an anthology (I think) would be an even larger undertaking than starting from scratch... perhaps not.

Who ever decides to take on that task would have to read Everything, find enough material that has a common theme (ie. just because That story is Really Really good doesn't mean it would fit in with the theme, and you can't just throw it into the mix simply because it's Good, ya know?)

Some stories would require introductions or afterwords, others would need to be padded or fleshed out more... some of the stories I've read here are actually Too short (more like a synopsis or a scene rather than a full fledged short story)

Being told to go back and up the word count to 5000 words might seem like more of a chore than a joy to most writers, ya know?

First and foremost, this needs to be a Joy for all involved. The moment it becomes 'work' is the moment we need to get paid for it. No one should have to work for free.

Ultimately, I'd like to create a project that generates a Lot of traffic for ATS and gives us all something to either launch a career, or bolster an existing career...

I'm currently in the process of creating some guidelines and an environment for people to work in... by no means a Be All End All, just an example to help illustrate what I'm suggesting...

at this exact moment in time, a two year old girl is taking this opportunity to club me upside the head with a rather large plasitc toy hammer *sighs*

sooooo

I Gotta Go
rock on
twj

It may be a big undertaking, but the word limit is fairly frivolous. However, as an undertaking, getting a few people to read everything, then settle down and form an anothlogy seems like a good idea to me. Unfortunately, the forum doesn't have categories, not even poetry. That's the nature of the beast.

Some stories are too short, some are too long, some have garbage grammar, some have spelling problems. That's the nature of the beast.

I'll support either initiative, but looking back at the ten-odd pages of Short Stories that are just rotting away there makes me sad. A lot of these stories are a joy to read, in my mind.

DE

my big problem is Time... I get maybe five hours a week total to play on the web. A few minutes here, a half hour there....

The monkey with the hammer I mentioned in the previous post? ya, she's real. For some reason I can do pretty much Anything else, no problems, but if I just SIT here reading, she's all over me like stink on stuff, and if I type, forget it, she climbs up on me and starts banging on the keyboard with me *laughs*

I would LOVE to be able to read alla the short stories... I would love it even more to be able to clean them up, polish them off, and compile them into a user friendly e-book anthology... they are not getting the page views they deserve which is sad.


Time is my enemy, not lack of desire.

Just so I don't get spread too thinly, I'm gonna finish up the sample guidelines I've started so people can get a better idea what I'm on about (and perhaps start working on a more focused project) then I'll start poking around in the short stories... who knows? Maybe it'll go faster than I'm anticipating...

hmmm... speaking of monkeys with hammers...

I gotta go
twj

(removed double post)

[edit on 5-4-2006 by torbjon]