[Jan 19 Update: The group is filling up. Join us now!]
All right, writer friends. The time has come.
I have written a bunch of books by myself. But for my next trick, I’m going to need some help from you.
Remember a long time ago (last week) when I said I wanted to work on an open-world fantasy collaboration series? Well, the time has come and I’m looking for a few good writers.
It’s collaboration time!
Project Overview
I am putting together a team of 3-6 writers to create a new fantasy series. Together, we will invent a fantasy world, full of cool new fantasy demons or steampunk fairies or zombie unicorns or elvish freedom fighters… you know, stuff.
Then each of us will write our own standalone novel in this shared world. While we write, we will contact each other from time to time with status updates and to collaborate with each other on cross-over characters or sub-plots to tie our books together.
Note: Cross-over content will be easter eggs and clever details, not critical characters. These will be standalone novels in a shared world. Imagine that we invent “Middle Earth” and one person writes about elves, and another about hobbits, and another about orcs, etc.
At the end of the project, each writer will have produced a single novel (~80,000 words) as well as a single short story teaser (~3,000 words).
I’ll do the final format and file generation so all of the books look and feel the same, and then give them back to the authors to self-publish simultaneously. (Let me say that again: You will publish and fully own your book! There is no gray area on that point.) Then we all get to promote our books and our series and brag about how we’re all awesome.
Why This Is Awesome
This is a unique opportunity. It’s hard to get something like this started. It’s even harder to complete it successfully. But if we pull it off, we’ll have built an entire world, an entire series, unlike anything else out there.
It’ll be special, not just because it’s a different way of writing and publishing, but because our series will be created by a totally unique group of writers. No other group could create what our group will create.
This is also an opportunity to turn a small investment into a huge reward. You only have to write one book, and instantly you have the support of an entire series.
The worst case scenario is that the project could fall apart mid-way through for some reason. But even then, you would be free to finish your own novel, if you wanted. Your time wouldn’t necessarily be wasted.
But the best case scenario is that you’re part of a history-making experiment in publishing that makes you rich and famous and gives you super-powers like X-ray vision and stuff… yeah. Well, maybe not that last part.
How will this work?
Here is a general outline of how I imagine this project playing out.
Phase One: Planning
Starting today, writers can contact me to discuss their interest. Very soon, I hope to have selected about 5 writers for the project based on professional experience and complementary interests and styles.
We will hold an online chat involving the whole team to say hello and get right to work deciding on our exact genre and sketching out our fantasy world and story. We will agree on a world and some general themes and styles and peoples, etc.
One key point will be deciding on the Big Event that kicks off all of our individual stories (such as the death of the king, or the start of a war, or the discovery of an ancient relic).
We’ll then take a few days to work up some notes about our characters and stories, and then we’ll have a second chat to compare notes and make some concrete decisions. For example:
- Setting – All of the novels will take place inside one city OR each novel will take place in a separate country OR each novel will represent a different vampire mob family, etc.
- Time frame – I believe all of the novels should take place simultaneously over a set period, such as 10 days. This way, we can easily coordinate cross-over content. For example, the writer focusing on elvish freedom fighters can email the team to say, “On midnight of Day 4, the elves bomb the steampunk fairy mosh pit” and the other writers can plan accordingly.
- Hard rules – I personally have two hard rules for my books: no rape and no child abuse, ever. Our fantasy series will probably also have some hard rules, such as “no god characters” or “no ye olde Englishe” or “no bumpy-head aliens.”
- Names – Nothing needs to be set in stone yet, but we will as a group need to use the same names for some people, places, and things.
Maybe someone in the group can create a map for all us to work from, as well. And possibly a rough timeline.
Phase Two: Teaser
After that, we will each take about two weeks to write a short story teaser to introduce our characters. This should be about the length of one chapter, like a prologue. We’ll read each others’ stories to get a sense for what everyone will be writing, exchange a few notes, etc.
Story-wise, these teasers should show our characters living their normal (or not-so-normal) lives leading up to the Big Event, which will kick off the novels.
These stories will be kept on hold until the novels are done. Then, we will all update the stories to match our completed novels and publish them together as a collection, or Volume #0.
Phase Three: Draft Novel
We’ll write our books, mostly on our own. Each writer should send an email to the team at least every 2 weeks with a general status update, including a word count. Whenever a writer has an idea for a cross-over, she can contact the whole group. Even if the cross-over only involves one other writer, the whole team should be aware of it.
Pretty simple, actually. Maybe even too simple?
Phase Four: Revisions
When the drafts are complete, we will all read as many of the others’ books as possible to provide feedback and comments as beta readers. Writers will then revise as they see fit.
If a writer has a paid editor/copyeditor that she likes to work with, this is the time for that person to work their magic. This is also when we will update our teaser stories to match up with our books.
Phase Five: Publication
Writers will send their finished manuscripts to me. I will standardize the text formatting, add consistent front matter and back matter, and maybe work with an artist to create some great covers (I’m not sure about the covers yet). Then I will generate the Mobi, Epub, PDF, and other files, and send them all back to the authors to self-publish on Amazon, B&N, Smashwords, etc.
I will also put together our teasers into a Volume #0 collection, or prologue, which we can then distribute to promote the series.
Phase Six: Future
I hope everyone will make some effort to promote the series and our individual books through our usual channels to our readers and fans. At this point, the work is done and the team is technically disbanded. Future options include writing more books for our shared series, or maybe getting the band back together to write a whole new series. Who knows?
Who I Want
I want fantasy writers! All sub-genres and styles may apply. High fantasy, historical romance, swashbuckling adventure, sword-and-sorcery, dark and gritty, gothic horror, steampunk, epic fantasy, space opera, etc.
Be advised that we will, as a team, create a single coherent fantasy world. If we choose a medieval setting, there will be no space ships. So you’ll need to be flexible and a bit of a team player, okay?
Ideal candidates will have published at least two novels on their own, demonstrating not just good writing skills but the ability to finish a complete book in a set time frame. My goal is to publish the entire series around December 1, 2012.
This project will be huge fun, but there is a serious work aspect to it.
This is a real commitment. If you agree to be part of this enterprise, you are agreeing to publish your novel on time. If a writer drops out of the project, it will hurt the rest of the group. So please be realistic in assessing your ability to deliver your book.
(For example, if you know it takes you at least 12 months to complete a first draft, this project is not for you.)
Also, while you will be free to write your book independently, you will be expected to collaborate with the group. If a team member asks you for input for a cross-over character or event, you must reply promptly to discuss it. If you go on vacation, let the team know. To some extent, you’ll need to treat this project like a job, just like the rest of your writing career.
Here are some questions to ask yourself:
- Have you published at least two full fantasy novels?
- Can you complete a first draft of a novel in 3 to 6 months?
- Can you respond promptly to emails from team mates?
- Can you read and comment on several team novels in 1 to 2 months?
- Do you believe you can have your novel published by December 1, 2012?
If you answered yes to all five questions, and you’re still interested after reading all this text, then I would be thrilled to hear from you.
How to Apply
Send me an email (josephrobertlewis @ gmail dot com) with the following information:
- Your name, time zone, and online contact information (email, facebook, twitter, whatever is the best way to reach you as quickly as possible – email is strongly preferred)
- Links: your website/blog and your books on Amazon
- What genre(s) do you prefer to write?
- What are your writing strengths? (romance, action, politics and philosophy, blood and gore, world-building, complex plots, complex characters, etc.) We’ll want some balance and variety on our team!
- On average, how long does it take you to draft (or complete) a novel?
That’s it. I hope to hear from you soon!
