Collective Storytelling.

[Flugel Meister]

Following on from Silvermoon's plot ideas thread, I thought we could all contribute to some collective storytelling.

What if we all contribute to a very large story centred on some kind of event? There could be a large central plot but we all write our own little piece based on those events, mich like witnesses. And each individual story piece could expand the main storyline.

EXAMPLE:
The first deep space human vessel is launched from Earth with a crew of (how ever many chrons there are in here) and it encounters an alien structure floating in deep space.

The human vessel suddenly loses power and we are drawn inside. Then an alien presence is detected/seen/heard on the ship.

This would allow each of us to practice our craft but with the involvement of the entire Aspiring Writers arm of the SFF Chrons.

Each of us could fill the boots of a crew member in a bit of Role Playing prose. One of us could be the Captain, another an engineer etc. We all present the events surrounding that particular character as the ship is taken in and goes dark. Sections are closed off as power is lost and emergency systems kick in to prevent the loss of atmosphere before the ship completey runs out of power. And then you have the problem of life support, or the lack of it.

We all have a different style of writing and a different way of telling a story, but having our collective fiction based within the same setting would, I think, be very interesting.

What say you?

 

[Flugel Meister]

No takers?

It doesn't have to be that scenario, specifically. We could use another, or change it to fantasy.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

We tried this a few months ago - Perp set something up - it wasn't a roaring success...

 

[The Judge]

And Perp's wasn't the first by a long chalk -- I took part in a fantasy one a good while ago which was fun, and there was more of the RPG element, in that we each tended to write from the POV of one or two characters, but again it ground to a halt. I suspect there were plenty more before I joined, too.

I think it's hard to keep collaborative projects going, perhaps because of time constraints so that people can't devote the energy needed, perhaps because seeing the character you've tried so hard to make real and three dimensional get bashed up by someone else for no good reason is annoying, perhaps because the story line no longer appeals after another member has taken it off in odd directions.

Anyway, if you want to take it further, perhaps post a couple of short pieces and see if anyone joins in.

 

[Susan Boulton]

Collaborative projects can be fun. I have done a number on various forums over the years and it helped be a lot. I also found it was harder to write some fellow writers than others. I wrote a number of short stories with one fellow writer, and when the forum in question was clearing out old threads and the stories were going to most likely vanish, we "published" them for fun, just to keep them safe. Over the years since I have often thought of going back to those characters (with my co-writer's permission of course.) and expanding their stories.

 

[Abernovo]

Never tried something like this and I'm not volunteering, but if you had an event or series of events, all agreed on in advance, you could have the different characters giving their experiences. For instance, what might be a loud bang from collision on the bridge, might only be sensed as a violent jolt with internal noise in the engine room. If communication between some sections was lost, or sections became sealed or otherwise cut off, this would give very different views of a confused state. Whatever the situation, no two witnesses ever give exactly the same description, not least as they're stood in different places.

Have a go, FM, and see where it leads.

 

[Hex]

Not definitely volunteering here either (sorry!) but I am watching the thread with interest.

 

[Icyphoenix]

Sounds interesting. Love to contribute though Sci-fi story base might not be my forte.

 

[Flugel Meister]

I'll chalk something up, set the ball rolling.

 

[Galacticdefender]

Heck, I'm in, most likely. Sounds a bit like a story I wrote actually, minus the space zombies.

Where is it going to start? (as in, where can I find the thread once it is up? In the workshop or somewhere else?)

 

[Flugel Meister]

I'll probably start a new thread if no one objects.

And I'll probably start off as the Captain. That way people will have a much clearer idea of what is encountered and what is happenning to the ship.

 

[Galacticdefender]

I still think this should be done even though months have passed since this thread. Would be awesome.