I would like to participate, later on though. My heads in a bad place right now and RL is crushing my imagination. Plus I want to see how it is done. In a collaborative story I assume that you keep the chit-chat to PM's only yes?
I do like the idea of having a set piece/reality that can be worked with by every one. How do you agree to something along those lines?
If it's a Sci-Fi story and some one who is more comfortable with Fantasy and Magicks, can they bring their dragons and spells in with them?
These are the things I think of when I hear of a Collaborative story.
I think that a Collaborative Story contest would be neat to try at some point as well. There would be less overall entries, but they would also be small novellas.
Beware the man who has one gun, he probably knows how to use it.
I'm in awe. It sounds incredibly complex and difficult, but then I've never tried anything like it, so how would I know? If you need another hand I'd be happy to jump in. One of my fears is that I've read so much science fiction that it would be hard for me to be original. But, as I say, if you want another hand to the plow, I'm here.
You write, and you write well, so it wouldn't really be difficult - but it IS an exercise in creativity. That's one of the things I liked about it - it was like pushups for the mind to have to figure out what to do with the way the universe was developing.
As far as originality goes, in the Space Opera we stole an entire starship from "already done" - although one of the writers made it their own with a "tesseract effect" - it turned out that a Romulan War Bird had a lot more room on the inside than it has on the outside, giving it some sort of kinship to Dr. Who's Tardis. Oh, and it turned out to be organic, a biological entity - but that idea has already been done, too ("Moya", in "Farscape"; "Lexx" in "Lexx") so I don't know how "original" it was, but it certainly turned out over time to be an original combination.
The fun of it, at least in my mind, is to see how far you can stretch your mind to cover what has already been established in the story. I expect that if it goes on for any length of time, writers will come and go, the cast will change, and the story will morph and develop as it rolls along. Jump in whenever you feel like it - the water is always fine!
I have only one question, Ninurta and it's private, so can you others put your hands over your eyes please? (pause)
You're peeking, Sky...!
*Said in a whisper* Do I have to wear 'the skirt and high-heels' again whilst writiing in the story? I mean, if it's a rule I will. (pause)
Ummm... err... Ahh.... no, you REALLY don't have to! I'm not opposed to, say for instance... sweats as a working uniform for BIAD I could even handle red sweats... anything, just as long as those stray anatomical mechanisms aren't randomly on display at inopportune instants!
*Clears throat* Er... you can put your hands down now.
I'm in, whatever the plan.
The only tip I'd give is when you write a chapter or episode, keep in mind that it would be prudent to leave all-possible doors open. The more the constraints, the more people struggle and eventually give up.
Aye. Over at the Space opera, we started out with 12 writers... those quickly dwindled, then losses leveled out, and the few that were left had to go looking for fresh blood to bring the tale back to life.
Given this some thought, regardless of the setting, the time, the species, I would like to try to incorporate Sherlock Holmes and Watson into the story.
That can be done - you might consider renaming them and changing them up a bit to avoid the wrath of Sir Conan-Doyle... or not. Only YOU know what Revenants you are willing to fight. I expect there will be some time travel involved, so Holmes and Watson may not only NOT be out of place, but may be rather more comfortable with the new universe than might initially be imagined... or even guessed...
I would like to participate, later on though. My heads in a bad place right now and RL is crushing my imagination. Plus I want to see how it is done. In a collaborative story I assume that you keep the chit-chat to PM's only yes?
Yup. Anything that isn't actual story posts is restricted to the "working thread" and PM's. Writer ideas are hashed out there, and reader comments are restricted to there. that is one difference between here and TOS - anyone can drop a commnet in the working thread here. There, only the writers in the story moved around in the working thread. That leaves the story itself unbroken by random comments, and improves the flow of it dramatically.
I do like the idea of having a set piece/reality that can be worked with by every one. How do you agree to something along those lines?
That's what we are doing here - exploring to find what folks want to work with. In the Space Opera, we had writers who wanted to only work with "hard" science fiction, restraining everything to laws of the known physical universe, and keeping everything as "real" as possible. We had other writers who wanted to write New-Agey stuff in, others who wanted to throw in time travel (I actually pictured that as more "dimensional travel", but whatever works for ya!), and yet others who wanted to write medieval based sword and sorcery yarns. As it rolled along, all of those niches were worked in, and it worked out better than one would expect.
If it's a Sci-Fi story and some one who is more comfortable with Fantasy and Magicks, can they bring their dragons and spells in with them?
Yup. Anne McCaffrey based an entire series of "dragon tales" around a sci-fi core of colonists on a far off planet where dragons and magicks worked. I believe it was called "the Dragon Rider" series.
These are the things I think of when I hear of a Collaborative story.
And you are on the right track there!
I think that a Collaborative Story contest would be neat to try at some point as well. There would be less overall entries, but they would also be small novellas.
that's an interesting notion. I think it could work and be interesting, but the time constraints would have to be increased or relaxed due to the nature of the beast. Maybe a secondary contest, working in the background, ongoing and and developing during the course of a few other of the monthly contests (but entirely separate from them - a contest of it's own), to give the stories in the collaborative efforts time to develop.
File off the name and serial numbers turn it into a story
cheap easy material your paying for it so why not profit from it
I have not seen a sci fi story with divorce as the main theme it would be awesome and original
You could make it funny A man is being divorced by both his wives
on a far off planet in the middle of another solar war
you could tell the story with the sci fi as pure background
You can jump right in at any point, Bon. Individual "story arcs" tend to cluster around certain characters, and the rest have to work off of that, figure out how it meshes into THEIR individual story arcs.
Divorce is pretty scary - I'd rather fight dragons! Sounds like your character is fighting them two at a time!
I've used several "real world" incidents before - it's prime fodder because you already KNOW what you're writing about. After filing off the serial numbers, you may have to re-blue the incident and maybe shine it a bit, but the underlying incident is still the same, writ larger perhaps to fictionalize it.
Last Edit: Mar 23, 2015 11:16:59 GMT -6 by Deleted
Alrighty then. I have to re-boot this beast as it's dragging along something awful at the moment. Over the next day or so, I'll thrash out an OP for the story, a first post in it, and create a working thread... and we'll just see who jumps in!
Yup. Anne McCaffrey based an entire series of "dragon tales" around a sci-fi core of colonists on a far off planet where dragons and magicks worked.
I believe it was called "the Dragon Rider" series.
Yes, you are correct
My sister gave me those books a few years back and found them to be an enjoyable read Very imaginative environment she created for her characters, which they themselves were interesting
Just bumping this up to see where it's at. I've never participated in a collaborative story before and will keep an eye on it to see how it works. I've been working on a new story for a while now which will be called "Team Alpha Six" which could perhaps be incorporated into it at some point or if not, be on its own.
Looking forward to seeing this new Board taking life!
Working on it... slowly, but working on it. The working title for the tale so far is "A Klingon, a Vorgon, and Time Lord Walk Into a Bar...". The initial setting will be on a space station (hat tip to Dirk) somewhere near the edge of the universe - on maps of the universe, everything beyond that space station is labeled "Here There Be Dragons" (and there really might be!), and of course all of the space sailors fear falling off the edge of the universe if they get too close to it.
Think "tavern in the Azores circa 1491".
The space station serves as a "home base", an anchor for the tale. No matter where you may roam, keep in mind there's no place like home. Considering it IS still in the universe, any alien race you can come up with will potentially be found in it, and out where the dragons are, there's no telling what sort of new races one might bump into - or bump heads with.
Yeah, I know I'm slow. I'm old. Don't sue me! Us old folks get some leeway in our doddering around.
I'm just having a wee bit of trouble getting the creativity flowing, and have only got 5 paragraphs of the OP written so far. I know, dismal. I'm doing a little bit better on the OP for the working thread - the scenario is sufficiently vague that it won't take much work, I think.
I've also managed to find a 3D model of "The Heart of Gold" from the old 1981 BBC television version of the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". I think there was probably only one digital model of that space ship in all the wilds of the internet, but I've tracked it down and bagged it. In comparing it to the screen shots from the series, it's not perfect, but close enough for government work since I'm absolute crap at tweaking 3D models. It will be the means of transport of one of the protagonists - but probably NOT with an "Infinite Improbability Drive" - that just makes my head hurt a little bit. I WILL probably re-texture it - that particular character has a problem with bright and shiny things, and I'm sure he wouldn't tool about the universe in one!
I still have several versions of the Leif Erikson/MacArthur model, which never really got used in illustrations in the previous effort, and so will still be unique to this one, too.
So far, the OP has a drunk God of War sitting in a bar in the space station on the edge of the known galaxy, lamenting the death of yet another old acquaintance while he himself is still incapable of dying - which I would imagine could get rather boring over a few millenia. For details on his previous life and how he got to be an immortal god of war - and doesn't much like that "gift", one may have to wade through several pages of Space Opera at TOS - I'm just recycling the same character under a new name, an "alias", because he appears to be running away from his responsibilities as god of war, and has gone into "hiding" of a sort.
The space station at the edge of the known universe is still up for design - all I have so far is the bar, so it's anyone's baby - right along with their character. The basic premise, which has not yet been worked into the OP, and may still not be in it when I get it finished, is the clash of cultures, known and unknown, that occur at this remote space station, and the adventures out into the Wild Black Yonder that ensue from that. In short, the scenario is virtually limitless, with only a very few anchor points (the space station - which I haven't even named! - being one of those), so it's wide open for whatever one wants to write about. Dragons? Dwarves? Swords and mages? Alien brain-eating zombies? Hyper-galactic sizzle drives? Incorporeal, dimension hopping energy beings? there's room for anything when only the known is known and the unknown still isn't - but they are in elbow-rubbing proximity.
If my brain-based logjam doesn't clear soon sufficiently to get an OP thrashed out, I'll hand off the OP in the story thread to whomever just to get it kick started, and only work out the OP for the working thread myself. We'll just need to make sure the two are sufficiently coordinated, post 'em, and be off to the races!
Holmes and Watson have just gotten off a transport ship to meet a client that had sent Holmes an 18th century book filled with odd details that coincide with a new weapons system built by an alien race that is now extinct.