Authors Co-operate together to produce a short story/stories

basically i like the floating island idea...sum 1 sed earlier that writers should try not to kill off writers chars so i had a idea...

wot if writers did try to kill off other people chars but failed the story could get better if writers try to kill off each others chars but fail making it more interesting. coz every new way of killing wud be origional

wot u fink guys? and gals?



marc
 
also i believe that we should appoint someone as an editor.

whoever wants to be editor should have work to show. to make what i said clearer we will have a vote. for each person who wants to be editor we have to read some of that person storys we vote on the best writer that man/women becomes editor is everyone ok with that?



marc
 
The editor thing works for me. As to killing off other peoples characters, we would have to make it original, have the authors permission and have it fit in the context of the story. other than that, no objections.
 
I'm a little concerned by this notion of trying to kill off one anothers characters, it could come to dominate the entire plot and certainly stunt characterisation - what would be the incentive for the next writer in the chain to develop a character they only intend to kill anyway. It seems like an unnatural plot device, geared against the entire concept of a story flowing of it's own force.
As to the editorship position, your suggestion seems like a good one Marc. I was actually going to suggest that all of us collaborating produce a short piece anyway, just to explore the world - then we can sponge the ideas from each conception of the World that we like best and ditch the rest. Certainly we could tie this to a competition to decide who should become editor. If I might suggest though, rather than having a vote of the other participants, perhaps we should have another member not involved in the writing of the story directly to make the selection.
Hopefully by this weekend I'll have finished a first sketch of the World as I see it; which I'll then e-mail around for ritual flaying. If everyone else then does the same we should have a pretty good grounding not only of our World, but also an idea of one anothers strengths and weaknesses.
 
ok you give us ur idea of a the world and post it too people then we can build on ur first idea .ie. like you start the jigsaw puzzle off then writers fit there ideas in next to it. If we add to the world one at a time it would help us create the different aspects of our world. So as i suggested it i will add to the world "second" and so on so forth. This would be basically for idea not to clash. ie. sidwynspider might say the world only has two continents, i might say four etc. So this would be so the world don't get out of hand.

Just something i'd like to add please try and make it realistic to a point. I know fantasy is not exactly real but i'm a great fan of fiest and i love how he created medkimmia. So just to say to try and keep a lid on magic for the time being. Obviously we have to start with strong magic to power the Air ships and Floating Islands but not like Dragonlance style not dissing Dragonlance but it kinda has magic running around doing what it wants and as it is our rist piece/idea/plot thingy try not to go overboard. Just a little suggestion but if everyone disagrees with what i just said (if you understood at all my writing tends to get a bit cryptic in these forum descussions) then by all means we can have a loose magic on the world but as We have Air Ships and Floating Islands we will need some stability of magic at least at this present point of birth of our "genuis" colloborative story.

thanks for hearing this rather long fletched reply

marc
 
I think these are all great suggestions. I can't build a map worth a darn, but i can flesh out nations and characters. and i think Sidwynspider is right, i probably wouldn't apprieciate someone killing off a character i worked a long time on, but i'm not saying that a character can't get killed, it would just have to fit in the context of the story and have a viable reason.

As to not having random and tons of magic, i quite agree. I think it can hurt a story when all you hear about is Magic. Magic should be a tool, not the plotline or means to an end. The story could center around Magic Users, but this doesn't mean we have to have blatant displays of Magic.

I'll write a short story piece about how i think the islands came to be and for what reason. I'll post it in a few days and you guys and gals can tear it apart with pleasure until we get something everyone can agree with.
 
Sorry i haven't posted the story yet, very busy with school and work.:rolleyes: give me a couple more days to post it.:D

Thank you
Rob
 
Sorry i haven't posted for a while. Just letting you know I'm still around. I like the way this is going with the floating ships n islands.
 
Why do I get the feeling that this will be fun? :D

I agree with recent comments regarding magic. A suggestion: we should perhaps collaborate--now--on how magic works in this world. Magic, if it is a part of life (as it must be with magically floating islands), shapes characters, government, etc...so we'll each need to build upon this.

So...things to consider:
1) the cost of magic
. a) cost to magician?
. b) cost to land?
2) is magic a talent or common to all?
3) ritual (chants/gestures) or science (ie: potions)

Like the idea of continuing these discussions in e-mail. (Will PM those who are 'in')
 
Okay, I've posted my preliminary sketch piece to PJ and Drakkon (could everyone else whose in please give me their e-mail addresses and I'll send it on).
I've gone for a low action piece, as I'm really trying to lay down some of my thoughts on the tawdry subject of the political administration right now. I am working on a more high action piece for future though; although I agree with everyone so far about keeping the magic to a reasonable level.
Anyone, thats all for now. Before the faculty shut down the computer lab I'd better dash.
 
i agree with pirate jenn!

The Cost of Magic
why don't we have it so that the different forces of magic are in balance. So that too much black magic brings about alot of chaos and destruction. So the forces try too be in balance for stabililty. There can also be a neutral magic where the users dont go real black or real white but like a middle line magic sort of. A bit like in the Dragonlance Series if you ppl have read 'em.

The Cost to the Magician
Well this to me seems fairly simple. A small spell only fatigues the caster a little while bigger spells use more energy according to the strength of the spell.

The Cost to the Land
Well again its simple too much evil magic in one land makes the land all bad like "Mordor" from LOTR. And lots of good magic makes it a place like "Elvander" From Fiest books.

I'd say magic wud be a talent at first but as the book progresses could we like do away with magic for good...just a suggestion.

I'd also say that magic is ritual (chants/gestures) or science (ie: potions) along with mental commands and devices.

C'mon every1 pick at what i sadi make it better...pick at it


marc
 
Computer, I'm not to keen on making Magic either Good or Evil. I think Magic ought to be like any tool or technology, not good or evil in itself, only in its applications.

Making the Magic Good or Evil makes our Magic Users Good or Evil and I don't really want this to turn into a Good vs. Evil book.

Thank you
Rob
 
I don't have a problem with new members joining just now. As we have finally reached some sort of consensus on where the stories going though, I wouldn't be keen to have to re-think the whole of that.
Sirand, if you give me your e-mail then I'll send you the part I've written already (everyone else whose in should have this, tell me if you don't). It would be great if you could then also write a part and we can inject some of those ideas into the world-forming process.
 
This seems like an interesting project. I would have posted to this thread a long time ago, but I thought it was closed. I would love to try to help out in any way. How's it going so far? Are you guys doing this through email. Even if you aren't accepting new people I would love to be updated about how its going and how you decided to organize it. It is quite a monumental task and you should remember to record all the steps you go through so that you can improve on it for next time and perfect it for others to use. (and you can publish it as an ad on to the book!!!:D )

my email is [email protected]
 
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