Thursday, May 29, 2008

Charlotte Misner -- The Last Word Before the First Word.

As of this moment, the folks who have signed up to help write Charlotte Misner, are:

Me
Kate
Jeri
Michelle
Matt
Tom
Kimby
Tania
Saqib
and Jim.

And Shawn has jumped in since this was posted.

Eric is on the fence and MWT wants to see a few chapters before deciding whether or not to opt in. I can live with that (slackers).

Now, I'll try to be a little more clear about what we're doing.

-Charlotte is the lead character (duh). She's on her own in her early 20's in 1942. She lives within walking distance of Pensacola Naval Air Station. Among other struggles in her life; her sister and brother in law have both recently died in a car crash leaving her with three small children to raise. She has a crappy job. She might get a better one because those are becoming available, but that's up to the writers. The only advice I'll give on where we should be going is that Charlotte should be courageous (within the constraints of the world we invent for her whatever that ends up being). She should be admirable. She is hot. (That's my bit of Mary-Sue for the story. :D)

-This story is meant to be novella length, and while, overall, I'd suggest that it's a drama, life includes romance and life includes comedy. Feel free to insert some. This time around you cannot change things from previous writers unless you create a logical plot point that achieves the change. You can't ignore story elements if ignoring them kills them (i.e., obviously not every story element needs to be addressed in every chapter, and not every character is going to be in every chapter, but please follow the writers before you reasonably.)

-There is no restriction on how long or how short your chapters should be. Just move the story forward and try to give the writers coming after you a decent setup. (I'd prefer, in general that we don't end up with a bunch of chapters ending in cliffhangers to set up the next one, but if that's what you come up with, go with it.)

-Each writer is asked to create their chapter in a week (or less, if you get inspired). I don't want to be too heavy handed on this rule either. If you need a few more days...take them. However, if you just feel stuck and want to move back a space in the rotation, let me know and I'll notify the next writer.

-Speaking of order...we'll go in the order that people signed on...the order at the beginning of this post. Anyone who signs on once we're in progress will take the next place at the end of the line. I have no idea how many times we'll rotate. I suppose enough times to create a story with a beginning, middle and end. (Or to just drop the whole thing if we agree that it sucks and isn't going anywhere.) I don't know when we'll actually cut off letting new folks sign on, but I think if we've started a 2nd rotation, it's probably an appropriate time.

-We'll be posting on a single blog. Tom has set up Write as a place we can all get administrator status to be able to post. (Tom, I already lost my username and password...can you tell me what they are or should I just register anew?) I'd love it if every chapter was posted thusly:

Chapter ______(in the title space)(I'm not averse to people naming chapters if they want)

by________________(your name) to begin the body of the post

put in first paragraph or two of chapter and then a clicky word for an expandable post. (If you don't know how to do this, maybe Tom can go back and insert the right tags? or we [meaning someone other than me] can teach you how.)

That's what I've got. If you have more questions, go ahead and ask and I'll try to answer them. In general though, I'd just like us to try to write something good (possibly even touching), but I'd like to leave everyone a fairly free hand. You guys write some awesome stuff, so why mess with that?

14 comments:

Shawn Powers said...

This is the first I've heard of it (I was a bad blogger), but I'm interested. It's great that I'll be down the totem pole, because this is a crazy time of year for me.

So please add me to the list. :)

Nathan said...

Shawn Powers added. Yay!

Tom said...

Nathan, I can't see what the passwords are. All I can do is reset them.

Your name is NathanG, and your password is the first name of the old NY stadium with the first letter capitalized. Log in and reset it to something you know.

Michelle, Jim, and Shawn all need to register so I can give them permission to post. Registration is done from the link at the bottom of the right sidebar.

Tom said...

Might be nice if I gave them the URL! It is http://snave.org/evalut/index.php/write

kimby said...

Yeh!
I can't wait go get started..I need a distraction from all the work I SHOULD be doing. This way I have an excuse!

Tom said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tom said...

One thing I want to have clear in my mind is, how do you pronounce Misner? I have it as Mize-ner with a long I, alternately Myze-ner. Another pronunciation could be Miz-ner, with a short I, pronounced like the non-marital-indicating abbreviation Ms.

If we vote, I go with the long I.

Nathan said...

No voting.

Mize-ner with a long I.

Shawn Powers said...

Be careful, it could become a plot point... ;)

Random Michelle K said...

I'd just like us to try to write something good (possibly even touching)

Well hell, better take me off the list then. :)

Shawn Powers said...

Well hell, better take me off the list then.

awe... how touching. ;)

Tom said...

There is now a model post on the Write blog. You can edit it and copy it to your post. It includes the result of the !M tag in the edit box, which is how you add the "Read More" cut that Nathan suggests we use.

Anonymous said...

Nathan - will your first chapter be ready on the 31st? Or will you start with your piece that week?

I'm heading out on vaca Jun 18... so if Kate has the first week of June and me the 2nd it'll work, but if I end up in the 3rd week I'll have a tough time delivering.

Thanks for keeping all the logistics straight!

Nathan said...

Jeri,

I expect to have the first chapter finished by tomorrow and posted. I finally figured out where it was headed, which will make getting there much easier. :D

Michelle and Shawn...Don't make me pull this blog over to the side of the road!