I enjoyed the saga of the caribou. It was a lot of fun watching it evolve. You may disagree with me, oh writers of hubski, but at the meetup insomniasexx and I discussed encouraging the group to put the caribou story down (the way you sometimes have to put a pet down). We knew tng would be upset and we were there to support him, but we were having too much fun and forgot to mention it.
I learned quite a few things, though, about collaborative storywriting. These things might inform us in the future. But before I go on, what did any of you, contributors and readers learn? If you don't agree and want to get the jumper cables, or defibrillator, ignore me.
I'll start
Do let a story die.
Don't feel it has to be finished.
thenewgreen, onehunna, AshShields, zebra2, humanodon, theadvancedapes, Floatbox, _refugee_,
The whole thing reminded me of this great article on Calvinballing, the art of those series that get along by creating more and more mysteries with the promise to answer them: To be honest, it stressed me out trying to connect all of those threads. My own contribution was incredibly short and limited in scope because I couldn't really do it. I think my own weaknesses as a writer is in the macro, the world building and backstory and to a certain extent, character. I would be interested in exploring a different method of collaboration. I'll echo others here in that it might be fruitful to discuss groundwork type foundation stuff before diving in -- although certain magic can arise too from narrative exploration type freewriting stuff to inform the groundwork type foundation stuff. How do the pros do it? Can we have a 'director'? A leader?? bAAAaaThe most successful Calvinball series are those that manage to keep themselves on the air for year after year without alienating or frustrating the audience and without having to resort to such heavy-handed ground-clearance techniques as crashing a plane into a village, travelling back in time, revealing that it was all a dream or repeatedly hitting the reset button. The aim of the game is not to provide answers but to hold an audience’s attention by asking ever more evocative and unexpected questions until the continuity eventually becomes so cluttered and unmanageable that the entire enterprise collapses in on itself like a dying star.
I like humanodon's suggestions. More structure would be a good thing. Maybe also a limit? Either on individual contributions or for how long the story will go (three turns per person, thirty pages, something) so that we have an idea of what "shape" it needs to have.
One thing I learned about collaborative writing is that it's very hard to make work. Everyone has their own ideas of where the story is going, everyone is at a different level of skill and understanding, and everyone has their own idea of the climax they are working towards. But this is also what makes it really fun. There's a few anthology films I've seen (Four Rooms, New York Stories, Paris, je t'aime ) that tell stories with multiple directors, this reminded me of those films. In the future, it seems like the original poster of the story should have a protagonist and antagonist (or a few other supporting characters) backstory set up beforehand, some small paragraph giving us their desires, what they're willing to do to achieve them (the answer is always anything), what they're all about. That, along with a strong beginning that sets up a potential conflict, and I feel it would be much easier for a collaborative effort to go down without it lasting forever with no end in sight. Heck, maybe even have a 'part' limit set from the start--we have to finish this story in ten parts, reserve your spot and let's go! It's slipping my mind who was doing this, but someone was periodically posting a little 'catch-up' information detailing the story, characters, and where everything was at. That was extremely useful and I believe it'll help future efforts succeed.
If there's interest in the future, I'd suggest perhaps collaboratively creating a character or two and establishing a back story for the character(s) so that everyone involved has a solid base to work from. Then, once the characters are established, choose a setting and a conflict, etc. Essentially, build the framework of the story so that people have an idea of what to work toward. Hell, the ending could even be done collaboratively and the exercise could center on getting Character X to X ending point.
I would suggest writing in paris. -That was supposed to be "pairs" and not "paris" but hell... why not both pairs in paris. But seriously, I think I could get a lot more done working with one other person. Or, have it be more structured, meaning that it's an "are you in"? at the outset and then there is a set order to the progression. There was too much chaos in the order of who went when in the inaugural #storyclub. Also, a set "length" so we know we need to wrap up. Oh, and insomniasexx and lil.... how dare you?!
I agree about the length. It was getting too long to follow and to keep all the bits together although a brave effort was made. At one point, humanodon, I believe, did a noble job of summarizing. While I'd love to write in Paris, the larger group meant totally unexpected things would be thrown in. Here's another suggestion: When someone starts a new "chapter," we could label it as such in text, maybe even have fun chapter headings.
It wasn't as harsh as lil made it out to be! We were just saying we have tried to revive it twice and now it just seems forced and and and and yeah...thing's should be allowed to die with dignity.
You Jack Kevorkianed Ashley, Pak and Panapak. :(
They will always have a special place in our hearts. They are in a better place now.