McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

Shared Universes

<< < (2/2)

blgarver:
I've discussed this concept in passing with my writer friends before.  We all agree it would be cool, but the problem is getting everyone to actually work on it. 

And I think it would be much harder to start something like that with an already established world that isn't shared.  Say, the world of Harry Dresden.  Granted, I think it would be awesome to write in that universe, but at the same time I'd feel wholly unworthy to be working with such an awesome idea.  I wouldn't feel write.  It's like blasphemy or something.

Butcher's amazing with the universe he's created.  And he's only getting better with each book.

To do this I think it would need to be a collaborative effort from the very beginning, where a small niche of like-minded authors came together and built the world together from scratch, and after that go off to their own little corners to play around in their universe.

Willowhugger:
One thing is to remove yourself from the worship of the story.  I think though that you need to respect a couple of things...

1. Put the toys back where you found them.

2. Add to the world, don't subtract.

trboturtle:
Shared Universe......Are you talking about a group of us setting up our own universe and writing stories set in that universe?

Something like that would involve:

1) A lot of background work
        1) Time and place
        2) History (Some idea of how things came to be)
        3) Technololy/magic level (And how does it work?)

2) A lot of haggling within the core group

I am a member of a shared Universe group, based on the Sailor Moon Anime series (No strange looks, please....) The website is at http://www.tuxedomask.com/SailorMoonExpanded/. While the anime episodes are left alone, we've managed to create a past and a lot of future to the universe, including our own characters. We follow a few rules it was alot of fun. But it sems the group had decended into slumber.

Craig

Chaos985:

--- Quote from: fjeastman on January 04, 2007, 02:08:56 AM ---IIRC it's been done before, but usually in shorter-length works.

The most obvious that springs to mind is the work of H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, whose shared ideas sort of swam together ... I wouldn't say they were a hard-facts SETTING, but it did lay the groundwork of the mythos and later authors still work in that shared space.

Thieve's World ... hrm. 

It's not unheard of, but not terribly regular.  I'd say that sort of thing tends to come together when you have people who are good/close friends who are writers who seek one another out for creative inspiration.  Dunno as you find that too often, anymore. 

I doubt it would happen with, say, a setting that has been in print already.  If nothing else, there are few authors who would want to work in another writer's setting.  Most folks have something they think they can do better or would change about another author's setting.  And far far fewer authors would be interested/willing to have people mucking about in their creations.

--fje

--- End quote ---

theres a book i have called Sanctuary.  Its a collection of short stories by a bunch of diffrent authors.  All of them use take place in the same city area, some of them with overlapping characters. Its actually 3 books, one of them i believe is called theives world.  Its bery well written, and i enjoy most of the storys.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[*] Previous page