Massive Fiction Kickstarter - They're Building a Universe for Us!

[Joshua S]

So who has seen this?

Dan Wells, Marion Jensen, Rob Wells are teaming up to write three novellas, while Kiersten White (NYTimes Bestseller), Larry Correia (NYTimes Bestseller), Jessica Day George, Brodi Ashton, J. Scott Savage are going to be writing story stubs.

What for? For a fictional universe that we can all write in.

We want to create an exciting world specifically built for fan fiction. This world will have intriguing characters, a rich setting, and multiple potential story lines

The foundation of this world will come from three complete novellas written by Dan Wells, Robison Wells, and Marion Jensen. These novellas will be complete stories, and will introduce the world, many of the characters, and problems and conflict that characters face in this world.

In addition to the novellas, our other contributing authors (listed below) will provide short stories, story starts, and first chapters.

Who else is going in on the $25 one?

[Christopher]

That is really rather cool. And an idea I had been toying with myself. That is to say, for a long time I have wanted to build a universe just for others to play with. It's the building that's the real fun part after all.

[Jonathan]

I backed it, mostly because stuff like this has been the types of things that I've been studying and pushing for throughout my graduate studies.

[Doug]

Brilliant. Sounds like a great way to find new voices (as a reader) and to showcase your talent and find an audience (for writers). I'll back it.

[Rod]

This is an inspired idea - and an ingenious way to incubate new talent. I'm in.

[Daran]

My first thought is that this sounds a lot like how the Wildcards universe began. A bunch of authors building a shared universe. The only reason its remained readable is that George Martin rules the world with an iron fist. I meant that in a good way, projects like these can descend into chaos easily.

Also, I think making a world specifically for fan fiction, kind of misses the point of fan fiction. Or at least misuses the term. Fan fiction is a labor of love by someone who likes a specific movie, book, or TV series.

What they're trying to do sounds like writing prompts. And I have nothing against that. I do have a problem with the assertion that writers can't take full advantage of fan fiction because copyright law. As long as you don't try to make a profit and add a disclaimer, you can publish very nearly whatever you want. And the communities that read that stuff are incredibly encouraging Cassandra Clare started out writing Harry Potter slash fiction, I don't see how she was hampered by copyright.

I agree that writing fan fiction is a great way to put training wheels on your first attempts, but use Dungeons and Dragons, or Star Wars, or Shadowrun, or The Dresden Files. No matter how much work these authors put into this world, those worlds are always going to have more characters, detail, and resources to work with. You will also have pre-existing online communities of people who read, write, and critique those kinds of stories. fanfiction.net is all you need, but be no means the end of places, to post and grow as a writer. You just can't get paid for it.

Sorry, bit of a rant, but I feel this should be marketed more as a year long writing group exercise. And I do like several of the authors participating. I just don't think it's worth it.

[Trike]

Yeah, the fan fiction angle doesn't impress me much. These sorts of universes already exist out there.