Current War Guidelines and Discussion

[Amos]

I'd like to try something different this time around. It's experimental in that we haven't done it before but it's also quite simple. I also don't expect it to last very long, which is part of the appeal, since semi-epic tales are apparently so hard to keep going. If after a few weeks it has lost steam we can happily abandon it to the crows.

So, basically, instead of having one main story and multiple protagonists each with their own sub-stories, it will be just one story and one protagonist with a few deuteragonists (secondary characters). This will ensure we are all writing together, which hasn't always caught on with everybody, myself included, you know the fact that this is supposed to be collaborative

To make sure things run smoothly (in theory) I will introduce a few caveats:

1. All posts must be written in first person from the point of view of the main character.
2. No double-posting.
3. No OOC's (they disrupt the narrative, which is already disrupted by the nature of posting in a forum).
4. No posts longer than a paragraph, a paragraph being on average about 5-10 sentences.

Those are the "rules", and I have one more caveat that has to do with content. This is much more important than the previous four:

5. I want you to write in a way that utilizes explicit experiences from your life, not from books or television or film. Or rather, integrating those experiences into your posts should take precedence over your desire to emulate things you enjoy. Nobody is going to be able to sever their influences and nor should they try. All I want is to ensure that whatever goes into this has a real or semi-real connection with the people who write it. Just how you do this is really up to you, and since I obviously can't enforce it it's really-really up to you.

That is all. I'll put the thread + starting post up within a week, or tonight if I'm bored enough. I suppose you can ask questions or make suggestions if you really have to. If nobody is interested it will be a very short-lived project, which is fine, it is just an experiment, not a full-on war, and I have an idea for a second one that is pure dialogue and which might be better or at least easier.

[dark fuschia]

I'll join in, sounds fun Will be waiting!

[Buck]

Oo, I'm in as well. Rule 5 is definitely thought provoking. Can't wait

[dark fuschia]

I also find rule one thought provoking. Judging by the kind of characters none of us have been able to resist in the past, I expect this main character will be an incredibly honest and violent, chivalrous though cowardly introspective perpetual liar who is very good looking and noble in bearing, although the are a hermaphroditic alien nocturnal witchlike species that has been undead for millenia and in possession of a myriad of delusions of grandeur, even though they will also in actuality have god-like powers.

Also they can really handle a sword!

[Eyreplenh]

I'm interested ...and I even figured out what OOC is, all on my own!

[dark fuschia]

Ahh yes, it took me ages to figure out it stands for Ooodles and oodles of chocolate too. Don't worry Amos I will desist from such indulgances in other threads

[Amos]

I doubt that you will. My minions will have to spank you or say ni to you. Or both.

~blinks~

I'm having some trouble getting started with this one. I thought I knew what I wanted to do, but then I developed the idea too far in my head. Tried again last night and all I ended up with was half a page of notes about another story altogether and half a page of "concept art" (err, random doodles of tigers and Buddha...). If anyone else wants to have a go you're very welcome to.

[Eyreplenh]

So... I don't have any grand plans or whatnot, but i do felt the amos-suggested guidelines sounds very interesting to write something around, so I've cooked up a paragraph that is: short, ambiguous, vaguely self-referential and in first person. If we can use that, fine, if not, I'm waiting

For me, a lot of the gist have gone out in the previous wars when others have gotten so much progress done before I've even gathered my thoughts, and in an effort to make something as good I've thought too big and too far and the projects just gets undoable. This short (and hopefully quick paced) and one-person thing intrigues me as a project for co-writing


So surreal to look up at the sky and see nothing but darkness even though you know that there's not a single cloud within miles. The darkness seems to hold infinite space and peace, but as I continue to look up, vertigo snacthes hold of me and tears that peace apart. I close my eyes, but that is only vaguely better; there has been little tranquility between me and the insides of my eyes for the last couple of years. My legs are starting to tremble just the slightest, a testament to the lenght of time that I have been standing here, on the top of the world. Or, as it were, the top of a tall building in Blommingdale. Not the tallest, that would be to flash and presumptious, but tall enough. Tall enough to see, and to do. A faint wind touch the clothes that are draped around me, looking as though they have no real desire to be associated with my humble self, nudges them out and forward, over the drop that I know is there, right in front of me. Slowly, I open my eyes and direct them past the flowing cloth, down to the city. Bright lights glare against me, furious in their battle to push away the stars, and I look away. Slumping onto my backside, I hide my face in my hands.

[Buck]

Will the new war have a specific time period and other gems of information? I'll have time to write something up and either fit it into the above or whatever, I'd just like to know what the boundaries are. Time period is the big one, but stuff like magic and what not existing would be good to know as well.

[Eyreplenh]

Time periods are tricky... At least I am not good enough a student of history to put it in some other time-frame than where we're at now... Medieval maybe a bit overused? How about a bit of ambiguity there as well? Relatively near but yet quite distant future? That way you can keep all the features of today that you like and just make up things you wish where there -oh, sorry, I misstook this thread for the "lets make a bad scifi"-thread

Honestly though, I don't have much of a preference or opinion here...

[Amos]

Well, let's analyze your post then. The guy's in a large city with enough ambient light to block out the view of the stars on an otherwise clear night. It's warm enough for him to be outside despite the time of day and a slight breeze, and he's wearing loose clothing, which would indicate fashion and climate typical of the Middle East. Rooftop security is apparently quite poor. The character refers to himself as humble and suffers from a persecution complex, so is probably religious. He also seems to have confused his distance from the earths' surface with his level of mental elevation, a common delusion among poets, and note that the mere act of standing for a long length of time seems to cause his legs pain which would perhaps suggest that he spends a lot of time indoors at his desk and maybe even has Vitamin D deficiency, but given his nonchalance about being out so late and loitering in dubious places it's safe to assume he isn't a distinguished scholar of Islam.

All of which helps us to know a little about who and possibly where he is, but definitely not when, although some research into the levels of ambient light in a typical city of moderate size before the implementing of electrical street lighting, and whether they would be high enough to create the effect earlier mentioned of obscuring the heavens, might narrow it down. But I'm inclined to suggest we set it now or the near future just to mix things up. Any other relevant details can be added later as part of the actual story. Fix up your spelling, change the location from Bloomingdale to something more interesting, and post it already, Eyre

[Buck]

LOL, Amos you sir crack me up

[dark fuschia]

LOL yeah I agree, it's perfect, just don't set it in Bloomin' Bloomingdale.

[sir archely]

oh man, I was reading eyre's dewar start just now with thoughts of how I could contribute, and i gotta say... I think with the conditions laid out, it's going to turn into the Diary of a Dissociative Identity Sufferer. Or would that be diaries? Which is not necessarily bad, just amusing to me.

I read, and my mind spins off, and I sit here and laugh at the unknowable futures.

So yeah, it's a successful war already in my book.

[Amos]

Is anybody writing anything yet? Because I was wondering just now whether it might help if we had a roster, not just to prevent the kind of conflict that happened only very occasionally in previous wars, where two people would write a different account of events at the same time and whoever was the slower to finish would turn out to have wasted their time, but also as a way for us to increase our sense of responsibility as far as contributing to the story regularly is concerned. Because let's face it, we have almost no discipline since the war is really about having fun, and while fun without discipline is great in the short term... It would be interesting to see whether or not a roster system would improve the wars' longevity (and of course there's no question that it would still be chaotic, amusing, and writers would still remain free to conflict each other and themselves out of sheer ignorance or perversion). I don't want to arbitrarily impose more conditions now that we've already begun, so what do you guys think? Yay or nay?

Also, thank you Eyre I love the name "Burg", it has so little going for it that the city can't help but be interesting

"Welcome to Burg. It's not as bad as it sounds!"