Collaborative fiction

Discussion 33 posts |  Only members can post. Join?

About Collaborative fiction

This group is about story telling. Any subject, any genre. There is no need to post images in stories. You can use images to illustrate the story if you wish, but the story is what's important. A story with no photos at all is perfectly acceptable.

Starting the story
Somebody proposes a story by starting a new topic that is either the first instalment, or some ideas or rules for the story. The peorson who starts the story thread gets to choose the parameters. Please try to work with the chosen theme. If the story is specified as "spy novel" try not to stray into "gothic horror"

Some ideas: -
A title
An image
An plot outline
One or more main characters
A final paragraph
A location
A genre ("Comedy", "Murder mystery", "Surreal" etc)
A real-world event
A hyperlink
Something else that seems to make sense!
"A story of single sentences"
"Start each paragraph with a first letter in alphabetical order"
"Here's a story (....) illustrate it with photos.
Just about anything really

Telling the story
Take it in turns to post the next installment. Your contribution should be short! (Probably one sentence to 3 paragraphs, unless the story rules say otherwise).

Research
You might like to pull in real world references, historical figures, places, objects etc. This can add to the experience. It can work well if you hyperlink these references to websites that give some background. Other writers can then read up and follow your lead.

Keep it moving
Try not to kill off other's plots and characters too readily. Try to move the story on. Try not to digress. Use the current cast of people, places & objects where possible. Stick to the parameters specified by the originating author.

No talking at the back!
Try not to start conversations with other authors in the story thread. If you feel the need to add an aside put it in [in brackets]. If you want to discuss some aspect of the story, a plot device, constructive criticism and so on, start a new discussion topic. Use the same title as the story but add - Discussion at the end.

Ending the story
If you can wrap up the various threads of the plot to end the story in a satifying way then go ahead and do it. If the story was started with defined ending try to work toward it. If you can see a way to link the story so far to the ending you should end the story. If you end a story add a line at the end of your post:
THE END
All things come to and end, so don't continue a story past the end, start a new one.

Too many cooks
There is a chance that two or more people write an installment at the same time. To avoid this refresh your browser before starting to write. Check the last post of the story.
If it says "writing" then someone else has started writing a new installment. You should wait for them to finish before writing your piece.
If there is no "writing" message post one yourself. Just a one word message "writing".
If someone beat you to it with a "writing" message delete yours and wait your turn.
With your "writing" message in place go ahead and write your installment. Once you are done post it then delete your "writing" post.
You can go ahead and just write the next installment, but if you find that someone has posted before you then you may need to re-edit to make your part fit the story.

Joining the group
Anyone with a bit of imagination is welcome to join but the group is invite only to keep things manageable. Feel free to invite anyone you think would enjoy taking part. If anyone has the time and inclination to be an admin ("editor") please contact an admin.

Any type of image is fine. Sketches, CGI, paintings, photos etc.
Feel free to pust links to audio (sound effect?) or video (news clip?) if it fits the story.

The group photo pool
You are welcome to post whatever images you like to the pool. It doesn't really have anything to do with the stories. If you have a photo that you think might be the basis for a story you should post in in a new thread.