Writing Shared Universes - Forgotten Realms

[S.E., Gray Mouser (Emeritus)]

Author and member of this group, Richard Lee Byers, was recently interviewed by Dirge Magazine on what it like to write novels in a shared universe...especially Forgotten Realms.

http://www.dirgemag.com/tag/richard-l...

[Ashe]

Interesting read. Sometimes I think about wanting to write a Star Trek book. But my idea has nothing to do with anything established in canon or books (to my knowledge). I really cannot imagine how stressful it has to be to write specifically to expand or cement already established characters and events. SF/F fans already get intense about things IN the mainline universes, so their potential reactions to new things could be vitriolic.

[Steve]

I wrote short stories in a shared universe once, nothing major, and I probably won't do so again. Another author created the world and invited writers to submit stories for anthologies. I thought the stories I did were pretty good, and others turned out good stories, too. But there was a fair amount of authors bickering with one another.

One writer turned in a piece that violated the shared world's agreed-to rules, i.e. no magic, and we ended up in an email war over whether having a human turn into a snake was magical or not.

Another writer tried to vote me off the island because my protagonist was one of the barbaric outlanders set up as the bad guys in the series, and she thought I had "humanized" the villains too much.

There were other issues as well, but those were the key things I recall.
I'm sure the experience would be different working in an established universe with solid continuity, but I think I will play around in my own universes instead.

[S.E., Gray Mouser (Emeritus)]

Slightly off topic, but to support Steve I'll comment that I remain a Mask Oath fan... Plus I never read Calthus, but I thought a collection was in the works. Any more Goble to track down?

[Steve]

Thanks, S.E. There is a Calthus story in this anthology:

http://www.amazon.com/Azieran-Adventu...

As for a collection, I just need a willing publisher, or time to assemble one myself and go the self-published route. Time ain't been on my side lately.

[S.E., Gray Mouser (Emeritus)]

Steve, Cool, I have book in my queue already. When I find a time machine I'll reconnect.

Actually, back to shared universes, I was thinking of Ghory Kinslayer, the saga of Genseric's fifth born son. REH's tale was finished by ~17 awesome writers... Except Moorcock delivered a real stinker early on (chapter 5 I think) that ruined the rest ... For me anyway.

[Charles]

Ghor Kinslayer had way too much wandering about in it for me. Interesting concept and results but definitely not high quality reading.

[Kameron]

Media tie-in fiction, i.e., shared worlds based on large intellectual properties, are a whole different beast than small-press/independent "shared world" projects. My experience with WotC was very professional and supportive. I was given about the same freedom RLB had with his Rogues novel (I wrote one of the Priests books). I had a choice of setting, and picked the seldom-written about Chessenta. One of my characters (hero or villain, though hero was favored) had to be a Loviatan. I got to choose everything else, including plotline.

My short story for the second Realms of the Dragon anthology had even less restrictions: feature a dragon somewhere in the Realms.

The one frustration with shared-world writing is that it's a tight club to break into. WotC did a couple open calls (that's how I got my break), but in most cases, it's about who you know.

[S.E., Gray Mouser (Emeritus)]

Kameron wrote: "Media tie-in fiction, i.e., shared worlds based on large intellectual properties, are a whole different beast than small-press/independent "shared world" projects. My experience with WotC was very ..."

I am continually amazed at the capabilities and experience of the members here. Thanks for sharing perspective, Kameron.