Time to Choose or DIE!!!

It's been well over a year since the writers at Choose or Die wrapped their last epic adventure--Ecopocalypse. This week, they've pooled their collective genius and offered up a list of potential storylines for readers to choose from--ten amazing story options to be narrowed down to one (or two).

Choose or Die is an interactive choose your own adventure project written by a group of selected authors. Once the story has been determined the "crew" decides on a writing order. The writer who pitched the storyline will write the first chapter, offering up three choices at the end. The readers vote for their favorite within a short period of time--usually a day or two to keep the story moving and everyone on their toes. The winning option will be handed over to the next chapter's writer, but the losing options are handed to two additional writers and are immediately turned around as "kills". Everything is done rather quickly, and no one knows where it's going to end up. The writers even make a point to make it difficult for other writers to follow. Others will even tie in ridiculous Easter eggs and private jokes. Crazy right?

If you haven't had the chance to check it out, now is the time. Click the image above and check out Season 5's story ideas--vote for your favorite or close your eyes and pick a number. Just vote! No matter which option wins, this season is going to be amazing :)

You can see previous seasons HERE. I am proud to say I've written on all of the previous four seasons--probably more kills than actual chapters, but they were all so much fun to write.

Gearing Up for NaNoWriMo

I've been a very busy girl! Between work, family, and book reviews on Easily Mused, I'm organizing notes, building character sheets, and outlining a story.. for NaNoWriMo.

Diving back into Eden Corp for this years novel,  I hope to make some serious headway. These characters have been with me for almost 3 years now, and they're dying to get out of my head. I've yet to finish 50K words in November, but I'm hoping this is the year I do--third time's a charm!

On top of writing a novel in November, I will also be blogging every day--journaling the writing process. It's going to be a quick post. I haven't quite decided on the format, but I have made a nifty banner that will head each journal entry.

My emo roots will probably show quite a bit in these posts, so you might want to look away.. or have a laugh.

Are you participating in NaNoWriMo this year? What are you writing?

Infectious

(This is a bit rough and most likely offensive to some. If you're easily offended, stop here.)

You’ve been told, maybe your entire life, that all things—big and small--were created by a solo entity. That on your final day on earth, you are judged and only those that are righteous shall live on forever… in the kingdom of blah blah blah.

You can thank Harold for that.

Instead of taking his time and writing things out, he relied on shorthand—group of directors became god, and there you have it. Millions of people deceived.

He wrote a lot of other things, mainly to keep order, but he also got a little big-headed and “holier than thou”--he’s famous for it. Well, in our office building anyway. He actually keeps his lunch in a lock box in the fridge in the break room with a “don’t touch or else” note attached to the front. As if the lock didn’t deter us, his penmanship would definitely keep the beasts from eating what Mummy packed him that day. He also sent out an interdepartmental memo regarding microwave scheduling.

It’s ridiculous.

I try to hold my tongue; it’s not always easy when I have to work with the guy every day. Yes, Harold makes 9 to 5 feel like an eternity at Genesis, where we’re both VPs.

The group of directors is made up of five chairmen, or I should say, chair people—All VPs at Genesis. In the beginning, we had designated jobs:

Lamar was the imagination—design planner. He can put colors together like no one’s business. Sunsets and white sand beaches were sheer brilliance if you ask me.

Walter was the engineer. He was in charge of construction, genetic make-up, and atom/particle arrangement. He’s a bit flakey, which you may have noticed with species extinction and that whole monkey—man thing.

Ursula introduced the senses, which brought with it desires of man. She made Lamar’s beaches smell like salt and coconut—hot sweaty bodies and cool water—she introduced a whole new level of creation. She made it sexy.

Fucking Harold was in charge of documentation, which you were already aware. He was also in charge of cohesion, which is basically making sure everything goes together nicely.  He’s a bit of a dumbass, but I do think peanut butter and jelly was his defining moment.

Then there’s me, Georgie. I get to bring balance, so your dark has light, your predators have prey, and your life has death.

You might think with the nature of my work, I am a pessimist. It’s quite the opposite really. You can’t appreciate the light without the dark. You just don’t know how good you have it, until it’s taken away. There’s real beauty in that... and I like fucking with people.

Yes, I may be a bit of a trouble maker, but Harold also got a little carried away with the “pestilence and famine” bit. I’m not usually an extremist, but I can’t help if something I introduce takes on a life of its own. It’s part of the job—spicing things up.

These days, our jobs have changed a bit. Currently we have been preparing documentation to pitch to Alpha & Omega. They're looking over specs for new galaxy creation, and we are hoping to get a bid in. Earth doesn’t take a lot of our time these days, and ultimately it’s my fault. I admit it, but I really thought that humanity would prevail. It’s funny how a tiny infection can spread so quickly… 

This is actually the first little piece of my WIP. I'll let you guess what the infection is, and you can bet that this entire read will be very tongue-in-cheek. I hope you like it, and I didn't offend you too much.

Collaborative Writing and Choose Your Online Adventures (CYOA)

On the eve of CYOA's launch of Season 2: Dust and Death, here's a guest post from the Mystress Weaver herself, Annie Evett.

Pushing the boundaries of collaborative writing

by Annie Evett

On the whole, writers tend to be solitary creative artists. Many prefer to hole themselves up, shutting themselves away from distractions and other people to immerse themselves in their work. Whilst there has always been a contingent of writers who have pooled their skills to work collaboratively on a project, the tyranny of distance and time lags between whatever communication format they use, has meant until recently, that the number collaborations has been relatively small. However, with the progress of technology enabling inexpensive and reliable networking communication, these barriers are no longer the case, opening up opportunities to anyone with an internet connection and a desire to share characters.

In the past, most collaborative writing has involved a pair or more writers discussing a plot and characters and dividing the workload into specific chapters or scenes. There are cases of the plot growing as a chain; where a chapter is written and handed to the next writer to continue, and for it then to be handed along; each team member taking a turn in writing the next episode. Generally speaking, once the chapter has been handed over, the responsibility of the story lays with the writer undertaking the episode.

CYOA (Choose Your Online Adventures) has taken these concepts a step further – and perhaps beyond. After a genre has been chosen and a starter story written, a group of 13 writers come together for thirteen weeks, using skype video and conference calling to create the world, characters and storylines.

The story format follows the popular 80s young adult literature phenomenon – ‘choose your own adventure’; where the main character has a quest or task to complete. The character is faced with a number of options each scene, with many leading to their failure and most often a hideous death.

Writers are grouped into smaller hubs, headed by an editor – who also writes and is heavily assisted by an assigned beta reader. Each hub is assigned an option to then build upon, explore and write. Writers leave options at the end of their stories, swap and continue, taking up a different writers option. Above all of this, ‘Mystress Weaver’ – the chief editor, collates and interweaves storylines across the groups. The plot grows organically, feeding from inspiration from stories across the collaboration. Characters motivations are only discovered as the writing develops, rather than being pre-determined. Stories are retrofitted with details along the way, as writers dip into one anothers text to edit and update threads. Sound like a spiderweb? Its a complex, exciting and interactive way to create an original story, based on trust between the process, the writers and the characters on the page.

CYOA was initiated primarily as a writing project to push the boundaries of collaborative writing. It also set out to highlight the immense influence both editors and beta readers have on a product, heavily involving them throughout the process in decision making and collaboration. Although last , not least, the projects goal is to showcase the writing talents of emerging authors; offering another opportunity for their work to be appreciated and to publicise their other works.

The project also embraces the trends in readership, by publishing online. Readers pay a one time fee to gain access into a separate part of the website, clicking on hyperlinks instead of turning to a particular page. Although this doesn’t ‘stop’ the reader ‘cheating’; unless they have found the ‘winning page’, a reader must continue reading the story forwards – instead of what many of us used to do – and find the winning page and work backwards. Because of they enormous amount of links, cross links and stories, a reader can be busy following separate threads for days, offering excellent value for money in readership. Due to the separation of the writing hubs too, there is very little cross over in stories; something which the original choose your own adventures stories used to do.( and annoyed readers with)

The CYOA project has completed the writing side of two series to date. One has been described as a science fiction infused mystical feminist story. The other, a murder mystery set in the wild west. Writers applied to be part of the project and were only accepted after they had discussed and agreed to the process of collaboration and editing; which is very different to standard practice. ‘Dust and Death’ – the western series is due to launch on Friday the 29th of July.  ‘History’s Keeper’ is due to launch in early October. Applications for the next series – a zombie themed story, will open in late November, with the writing period beginning in February 2012. Interested writers, beta readers and editors are encouraged to check with the Facebook, google + or website for details.

"Caught With a Hand in Your Pants" #FridayFlash #chooseorDIE

For this week's #FridayFlash, I'm linking you to my post on Choose or Die. Cheating you say? *insert evil laugh here* I just got lucky and it happen to be posted today. Go read it, and be sure to vote :-)

Click the banner to cut to the chase--leaping through space and time; OR read below for a little more info on Choose or Die and Season 2.5.

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If you're new to the project, let me give you some quick details. Choose or Die features a choose your own adventure story, where each week the reader reads then votes to determine the path the main character (YOU) takes. The winning "option" is carried on to the next week in the form of the next chapter. The losing options, often referred to as "kills" or "what you didn't choose", are brought to you the same week (usually). Chapters aren't written in advance, so it's guaranteed to be a surprise each week... for both the readers and the writers.

Today, my chapter 5 "Caught With a Hand in Your Pants" is posted. The next chapter is actually the last of this season, so you're coming in almost at the end of the story. That's OK though. Let me get you up to speed on season 2.5 

• It's about time travel *insert geeky SQUEEEEE*
• You're a bit of a dumbass (sorry) -mistaking a shower for a time machine? really?
• You kick some ass--take some names in 17th Century France
• You buddy up to Napoleon Bonaparte - saving his life and winning the attention of his lady friend

Now you've got to figure out a way to get home without totally screwing up the future.

I may have left out some things, so maybe you want to go back and read through the whole thing (CLICK ME) and experience the story from the beginning. Your choice. Regardless, a good time will be had by all.