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The Never Ending Story - RU Interested?
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Mod
I'm all for it. And I think a book club such as this is a perfect place to start a project like that.
I had asked around R.M. & Scott's thread on Amazon about something like this a while back. I had just read Strange Loops by Deborah Prestwood and her daughter. Ms. Prestwood had said that the way they wrote the book was to try and write each other into a corner. She'd write chapter 1, then her daughter would write chapter 2, and so on, with each trying to outdo the other.
The more I thought about it the more I thought it was a really cool way to write a story. Then I was thinking that there are enough of us authors, and even those that aren't, that might like to try their hand at this sort of thing.
So why not! I'm game! We might even get Scott to write a few paragraphs! :)
Big J.
Jeffrey wrote: "Jeff -I'm all for it. And I think a book club such as this is a perfect place to start a project like that.
I had asked around R.M. & Scott's thread on Amazon about something like this a wh..."
Big J
Thanks. I'm stoked about the idea. As a moderator, would you help me come up with some ground rules and structure?
I don't think there should be a lot of rules, in terms of the writing. It seems to me a lot more fun to let writers go and see what happens.
But I do think, for clarity, that we should have rules about quoting the passage your responding to. Sometimes, depending on who responds when, you might have multiple writers responding to the same entry.
Also, Where should I start the thread, or should a separate folder be set up for it?
Lemme know!
Jeff
PS - I would definitely like to see Scott give it a whirl. I think he's a writer who doesn't know it yet.
Mod
Mod
I think we should hash out the details in here, and once everyone agrees on a set of ground rules, we'll create a separate thread for the story.
To make sure that no one overlaps the other, I think we should have anyone interested post a request in this specific thread and ask to take the next turn, or else if there's a waiting list, add their name to the list. That way we won't have to quote previous passages, and maybe when the author is done with their turn, simply type "Done" so that the next person can start working on it.
As for writing style, or content to be written, I'd say just about anything is fair game except maybe erotica, or super dark horror. We want this to be a fun project and encourage others to take a stab at continuing the story.
Who knows? Maybe once we're all done, or else have a good chunk of material we can self publish it. LOL!
Big J.
Mod
LOL! I think you'd be surprised at how well you'd do! You've read enough books to determine the type of writing you really like, so I don't think it'd be that difficult. Let those creative juices flow!
Scott - I agree totally. I'm writing some rules now and will post them on this thread shortly to see if you guys agree. I think it will require three threads - the rules, the queue and the actual story. So. maybe a separate folder is a good idea.
Jeff
Mod
Mod
OK - Here is a rough out of the rules. Let me know what you guys think, if you want to add, or, take away anything. I like Scott's idea of no erotica/hard core sex scenes. Dark horror is a bit more nebulous to me. I do think there needs to be a limit on gratuitous, unnecessarily bloody violence, but sometimes bloody violence is valuable in a novel. The rules come from the assumption that there are the three threads I mentioned before.---
Rules for the Never Ending Story –
1. Have fun! You’re a writer and you’re supposed to be enjoying this.
2. Join the queue before posting. Everyone needs to take turns, or the story will devolve into chaos and branches that are impossible to follow. Post to the queue thread and wait for everyone ahead of you to post before you contribute. Anyone who posts out of turn will be ignored and their posts removed, and you must re-enter the queue to post again.
3. Your post must be a continuance of the previous post, but feel free to take it in any direction that you want.
4. If you want to comment on anyone’s contribution, do it in a separate thread. Extraneous comments in the story thread only dilute and distract from the story.
5. Feel free to include a link to your site or book at the end of your contribution.
6. Be courteous of others waiting to post. Polished work is welcome, as well as spontaneous inspiration. Please try to post within 24 hours of your turn coming up. After 48 hrs you may be removed from the queue, if you have not posted.
Jeff
Mod
We just need to create the appropriate threads and we're off! I hereby nominate YOU to be the first at bat, Jeff! I'll take the next round after Scott gives it a go. Mwahahaha!
Big J.
Mod
Scott wrote: "Also in reference to your first post Jeffery, I would still love to ride on the big fluffy puppy dragon. Then again my wife says I'm 12 all the time..."See? More proof that you're really a writer. We all live rich fantasy lives.
I want to ride the fluffy puppy dragon AND be friends with the rock giant.
Jeff
Jeffrey wrote: "By the way, I think "The Never Ending Story" is a good title!"Thanks! I hope we don't have copyright issues if we end up publishing, as Scott said.
Jeff
Jeffrey wrote: "That definitely works for me. We just need to create the appropriate threads and we're off! I hereby nominate YOU to be the first at bat, Jeff! I'll take the next round after Scott gives it..."
Thanks, Big J. I'm honored. Just let me know if you are creating a folder, or where I should put the thread and I'm there.
Just to make it interesting, You can suggest the genre and I'll write the inaugural post to suit!
Jeff
Mod
Scott wrote: "My writing skills will be overtaken by my daughter once she reaches about the third grade. I'm totally cool with the idea of doing a story like that though. If you guys wanted we can get a new fo..."Thanks, Scott. Once you create the folder, I want to see contributions from you and your daughter both.
Jeff
Jeffrey wrote: "Great, just great. Got that damn song stuck in my head now..."LOL! Sorry! I was just thinking about looking it up on Netflix to see if they had it.
Jeff
Mod
Mod
Stop talking about that movie! I'll never get that damn song out of my head and I refuse to buy it on iTunes so that I can!
Nononononononono! You can't make me!
Damn. Gonna have to buy it on iTunes...
Jeffrey wrote: "**jabbing fingers into his ears**Stop talking about that movie! I'll never get that damn song out of my head and I refuse to buy it on iTunes so that I can!
Nononononononono! You can't m..."
LOL! ATREEEYUUUUUUU!!!!!
Jeff
Jeffery wrote: "Jeffrey wrote: "**jabbing fingers into his ears**Stop talking about that movie! I'll never get that damn song out of my head and I refuse to buy it on iTunes so that I can!
Nononononononono! ..."
Truthfully, now I have to make the first post the polar opposite of that movie. Maybe a character could be called Atreyu, though.
Jeff
Mod
Mod
Guys - I'm having trouble with the wording for Rule 7. I think Scott's suggestion is completely valid, but not sure how to posit it without it sounding like we're stifling the story or a writer's process. Let me know what you think.
--
Rules for the Never Ending Story –
1.Have fun! You’re a writer and you’re supposed to be enjoying this.
2.Join the queue before posting. Everyone needs to take turns, or the story will devolve into chaos and branches that are impossible to follow. Post to the queue thread and wait for everyone ahead of you to post before you contribute. Anyone who posts out of turn will be ignored and their posts removed, and you must re-enter the queue to post again.
3.Your post must be a continuance of the previous post, but feel free to take it in any direction that you want.
4.If you want to comment on anyone’s contribution, do it in a separate thread. Extraneous comments in the story thread only dilute and distract from the story.
5.Feel free to include a link to your site or book at the end of your contribution.
6.Be courteous of others waiting to post. Polished work is welcome, as well as spontaneous inspiration. Please try to post within 24 hours of your turn coming up. After 48 hrs, you may be removed from the queue, if you have not posted.
7.No hardcore erotica or sex scenes. We want this project to be open to writers and readers of all tastes, without boring or offending a lot of people. Also, be conscious of your use of gore and violence. Anything exceedingly graphic, which seems unnecessary to the story, may be removed. Essentially, this is subjective to the moderators and the readers. We want writers to be creative and free with their writing, but to also exhibit a modicum of taste and artistry. It doesn’t mean you can’t say a curse word. Graphic orgies and bloody slaughter scenes without a compelling reason, or literary artistry have no place in the Never Ending Story. In essence, if you don’t have a really crucial reason to include these things in your writing, it isn’t acceptable writing and it will be removed.
Jeff
Mod
Jeffrey wrote: "How about, keep it PG-13 rated?"Geez. Had to show me up with something simple and effective:) Yeah, I like it and will add it.
Jeff
Jeffrey wrote: "LOL!"How about this as the final version?
Rules for the Never Ending Story –
1.Have fun! You’re a writer and you’re supposed to be enjoying this.
2.Join the queue before posting. Everyone needs to take turns, or the story will devolve into chaos and branches that are impossible to follow. Post to the queue thread and wait for everyone ahead of you to post before you contribute. Anyone who posts out of turn will be ignored and their posts removed, and you must re-enter the queue to post again.
3.Your post must be a continuance of the previous post, but feel free to take it in any direction that you want.
4.Have some knowledge of the story before contributing. Depending on how long it gets, you might not be able to read the whole thing, but many of us write thousand page novels, and others enjoy reading them. Please read a good portion of what you are contributing to, especially the several contributions before yours. If the main character is a car thief from Czecheslovakia, we don’t want to see him turned into a Catholic priest, without some logical progression.
5.If you want to comment on anyone’s contribution, do it in a separate thread. Extraneous comments in the story thread only dilute and distract from the story.
6.Feel free to include a link to your site or book at the end of your contribution.
7.Be courteous of others waiting to post. Polished work is welcome, as well as spontaneous inspiration. Please try to post within 24 hours of your turn coming up. After 48 hrs, you may be removed from the queue, if you have not posted.
8.No hardcore erotica or sex scenes. We want this project to be open to writers and readers of all tastes, without boring or offending a lot of people. Also, be conscious of your use of gore and violence. Anything exceedingly graphic, which seems unnecessary to the story, may be removed. Essentially, this is subjective to the moderators and the readers. We want writers to be creative and free with their writing, but to also exhibit a modicum of taste and artistry. Try to keep it PG-13.
B. wrote: "Aw man! Taste AND artistry?"Hard to conceive, I know!
Big J and Scott - are we ready to create the folder? I've worked on a couple of posts already, but, my offer to Big J about picking the genre still stands.
Jeff
Mod
Sorry, I've been distracted. :) Brandy has finished with the edits for my second book and was just going through them and ready to release it.
So, a genre? How about fantasy? That should leave it open enough where you could just about do anything with the plot line. If we choose, say, Mystery, and all of a sudden a UFO appears and whisks away our prime suspect, more than a few eyebrows will be raised. :)
What do you think? Fantasy?
Big J
Mod
Jeffrey wrote: "Hi Jeff -Sorry, I've been distracted. :) Brandy has finished with the edits for my second book and was just going through them and ready to release it.
So, a genre? How about fantasy? Th..."
No worries. I'm distracted most of the time.
Fantasy - I like it. I was working on a post yesterday (and blowing off other things I should have been doing.) that I thought might lend itself well to fantasy or horror.
Will post ASAP - And keeping with the rules we came up with I promise, no Orc sex.
Jeff
Scott wrote: "I made a folder already. It just doesn't show on the main page without a post in it. If you hit discussions on the right you should be able to post in it. I think anyway."Thanks, Scott. I'll look for it.
Jeff
Scott wrote: "I made a folder already. It just doesn't show on the main page without a post in it. If you hit discussions on the right you should be able to post in it. I think anyway."Hi Scott - I can't find it, even after clicking on discussions. I am a total computer moron, so, it might be that I'm doing something wrong.
Mod
Scott wrote: "Folder is now visible on the group home page. I just made a generic post for you to add the rules to. I'm still new to theoderator thing on here and it was my fault you couldn't find the folder. Th..."Thank you Scott. First post posted! I made it sort of a generic, could go any direction, with hints of fantasy or horror. Can't wait to see what Big-J does with it.
We have a lot of Indie writers in this group and I was just having a thought the other night about ways to keep writing while I'm slogged in parenting and marketing my novel and no real time to work on the second novel.
When I was in college, I spent a lot of leisure time with a group of culturals who liked to play a writing game at parties. We'd take a piece of paper and pass it around the room - each person writing a sentence and folding the paper over, so that the next person could not see anything but the sentence just written. When the page was full, we'd read the story, and it was always hilarious and intriguing.
We don't have a paper to fold, but I was wondering if any other writers wanted to start a story in this manner, each contributing a few sentences, paragraphs, or a page and see where it goes. It would be interesting to me to see how all of our various styles meld together as well. Even those who aren't writers could participate. Please respond to this thread if you are interested.
Big-J and Scott - It might be that nobody is interested, but, if they are, is this something you feel is appropriate to this group, or should I find another place to start doing this?
One thought that I had is that we could promote indie book club and the writers who visit by having an ongoing, easy access, writing project like this. Maybe other writers and readers would join just to see what the never ending story was all about. Let me know your thoughts.
Jeff