I haven't found anything like this in the forum, so I decided to propose it: a sort of collective story-by-story world-building in the Writing Workshop, with shared characters, settings and so on. If anyone's interested, we can discuss here about implementation and participation rules.
Almost like a sandbox kind of thing? Would we be able to come and go? Is it hands off other's, or rules of engagement? Diplomacy? Something like Character Chatroom, but with worlds instead?
Let's say you write a story, then you can decide to include it in the "canon" or not (maybe with the consensus of other participants, just to avoid things too over the top or contradictory with the established continuity); at this point everyone who wishes to participate can use the characters you introduced or the events you narrated in is own stories for expanding the canon. And yes, you could come and go, write more stories or a single one, with no commitments.
We can start defining a line of action and some rules. Here it is my idea. Acceptance of a story: Other than the 2 usual constructive critics, the inclusion in the canon requires at least one of them to be related to the canon itself (at least 1 critic to an already included story). In addition to this, the other participants (the ones who already have an included story) can vote to accept the story or not within a certain time interval (in case of a tie it will be included). Beginning: The first 2 stories are an exception to the previous rules. They must be written by 2 different authors and mutually approved (I would suggest a collaboration between them).
I'm toying with a notion and I wonder if you might indulge me? I have a concept, The Void, and The Eternum. Eternals, including The Creator, exist in the collective Eternum. Each Eternal expresses untold things, but only The Creator can make them manifest in space and time. The Creator acts only by consensus of the Eternum, which may impose limitations on what is created. No Eternal will interfere in the Expression of another without invitation or consensus. The Eternum will not interfere in any manifestation, which is why it usually imposes limitations. The Eternum will invite manifested entities in, making them Eternal. Any Eternal moves freely in all Expressions. So, this is a wrapper that will allow for some stretches, and possibly get us out of trouble later with multiple goings on, or provide some hardcore challenges. I can pretty much wrap this around any story or religion, and it has a logical basis. Does this constitute a story? What say you?
@Some Guy So you are proposing a sort of meta-depiction of the project, right? It's a really interesting idea: instead of a story, we could use this for an introduction in the eventual main thread, presenting the concept and the rules in an original way. How about we describe the authors as "observers" instead of "main source" of the universe? The stories could be our "reports" and we could go back and forth in time, from one side of the cosmos to another, without special restrictions (so without the necessity of proposing stories in chronological order); the vote would become a peer-review of our "historical articles" and by starting with small-scale narrations we could leave the notions about creation and universal events for more mature stages (cosmic-scales stories would have a greater influence on the others, so I think they should be approved by a greater number of people).
The Eternals are observers to each other, until one wishes to manifest an expression. Only The Creator can manifest them (a story). It then belongs to the author. I will post an example I was experimenting with soon.
This is an example, somewhat representative, taken from a story I wrote. Not a perfect representation, just illustration. Before the Universe, there was only the Eternals in the boundless Void. The Eternal Creator, Eternal Time, and Eternal Love came together to express the joy of their existence, each in their own way. Eternal Love challenged them all to express their joy as one. The other Eternals were concerned for the balance in the Eternum, and so demanded there be rules for what was expressed. To preserve balance, The Three demanded the Eternum to trust, and forswear interference. “It is so” declared the Eternum. “All that begins must end” declared Eternal Time. “All things are possible in Love” declared Eternal Love. “It must be as it is” declared the Eternal Creator. A Circle opened as they surrounded the Eternal Creator. They became One, and infinite joy consumed them. Spoiler: Primitive Tribal Fertility Lore “I am that I am“ echoed as the Eternal Creator heaved a great orgasm into The Circle. The seed grew, and The Universe expanded with The Circle. A great storm of light created a swirl of stars. Worlds appeared, and expressed life in the seas, and all possible creatures grew. Life must be as it is, and some creatures consumed others, and some came to land, and Love expressed new life in the Loving People of the Sea. The People expressed love in the way of the Creator and shared joyful orgasms and created new life in their children. Each, in turn, began, and expressed, and ended in their time, and to this day. We are all part of The Circle. This is what we believe, and what we live for.
So the above represents the Vote, and the universe, or manifestation, ie story is created (approved). Or, something like The Traveler, from TNG?
