Open Novel Concept

[gothwalk]

So, I have an idea. This idea has been seeded by a number of things. First and foremost, the idea is from Wolfgang Baur's open_design, which has worked out very well indeed. Second, Diane Duane is writing a novel for subscribers, to be published when finished. Third, I find I write more when people are expecting something from me. Fourth, I'd like to see if this idea can be made in any way commercially viable.

The idea goes like this. I will come up with some ideas for a novel - scifi, fantasy, or something of the sort - and people will buy in to the project to direct it, Renaissance Patron of the Arts style. Yes, with money. There will be multiple subscription options:

Tier 1: For $2.50, you get to vote in polls to decide what way events, settings, and characters go.

Tier 2: For $20, you get to make suggestions about how you think things should be, on which you, the other Tier 2 subscribers, and the Tier 1 subscribers can then vote.

Tier 3: For $100, you get to say things like, "I want it to be set in 19th Century Arabia, but steampunk, and with alien invaders," or "Write every second chapter in iambic pentameter," and I will give your suggestion every possible consideration - essentially, unless everyone else involved, including me, actively hates your idea, it will happen. Plus polls, of course.

Tier 4: For $500, you get to issue the same commands as at the Tier three level, except that even if everyone else hates them, they still get in. You also get to change your mind completely on what you want, once, which at other Tiers will make me complain bitterly and probably become uncooperative. And of course, all the polls you can eat.

All subscribers will have their names affixed to the final manuscript, in font sizes appropriate to your tier. The tier 4 subscriber, if there is one - and there can only be one, obviously - will have a bigger font than either the title or my name.

This following poll is in no way binding, it's just to work out if there's interest. If there's enough interest to get to about $500, I'll put together Paypal buttons and such. I may go ahead on less than that. Tell your friends. Tell your neighbours. Tell your cats they can have me write the novel in which they're recognised as our lords and masters.

[Poll #1068706]

No, I am not an established game writer like Wolfgang or a writer like Diane. Yes, I am some guy you know on the internet. But it still sounds like fun, right? Right?

Comments

[phantom_wolfboy]

I actually don't like the idea of you changing the novel according to the whims of the patrons.

[cissa.livejournal.com]

I went for the $2.50, not (only?) because I'm a cheap schnook, but because one of the things I LIKE about reading is that someone else has done all the creative thinking. So I would not want to have that much in the way of input, really. I think enough with my other pursuits; I like somewhat less c creative things recreationally- ones that allow me to enjoy other people's creativity.

[cosmicirony.livejournal.com]

I love this idea!

But, "I want it to be set in 19th Century Arabia, but steampunk, and with alien invaders," -- how could I top that???

This takes patronage of the arts into the Web 2.0 zone. You may have the next billion dollar idea here!

[open-design.livejournal.com]

The patron style is lots of fun, but the real question here is "Can gothwalk write his way through a full novel?"

Got any samples you might use as a teaser or preview to entice patrons? It might help folks make up their minds.

[gothwalk.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping that the involvement of other people, and their putting some money down, will drive me to finish the thing. Obviously, if I don't finish it, everyone gets their money back.

I'll post a writing sample somewhere shortly, and link to it from a new post here.

[kshandr.livejournal.com]

Of course, I want to steal this idea...

The difficulty, I think, is that you need a big pool of folk in order to provide patronage. Or a small group of fans with deep pockets. Depending, of course, on how much you want to work for. Which is where the professional writer crowd succeeds in this regard. Of course, if you're doing this purely to push yourself to write then the amount isn't important. And for the record, I get involved with cons and NaNoWriMo and fanfic challenges for the same reason - They provide an impetus to write.

[gothwalk.livejournal.com]

Well, looking at the interest expressed so far, there's about $335 in it. Being as I'm not depending on it for a living, and using the idea as something to make me write, that's heading on enough to get me going.

[kshandr.livejournal.com]

Sounds fair. I was imagining a short novel, and using WriMo as an example I'd thought 30 days, ~2 hours a day to produce 50k words.

$5.58 an hour wasn't much of a motivator for me :)

Very interested to see if this gets off the ground for you, though.

[giftederic.livejournal.com]

I love it as an idea. I want to write stories, but I am incredibly lazy, this seems like a way for me to create art with reduced effort. We must dicuss in greater detail.

[gothwalk.livejournal.com]

*steeples fingers* We must, indeed.

[kshandr.livejournal.com]

Been thinking about this all day. What's to stop you pre-selling copies of a book that's already in production at normal book price on some web-store front end (which maybe also contains your sample and a blog of how the book's coming.) When you finish the book you vanity publish it?

That way everyone's guaranteed a nice printed copy (unless you bottle), everyone pays the same thing, and you can write whatever the hell you like rather than being dictated to (which is my main problem with your idea)?

[gothwalk.livejournal.com]

But I like the idea of being dicatated to. Writing to "customer specifications" allows me to roll my sleeves up and do the actual work of writing, rather than get stuck in the questions of what I want to do with a given area. While I'm capable of setting limits for myself, I don't much like the task.

Besides, this method is far more interesting than just buying a book in advance, for the patrons.

[kshandr.livejournal.com]

True dat.

Just curious...

[radegund.livejournal.com]

You fiend! Your sample has prompted me to come back here and change my stake from $2.50 to $20. I love commenting on work-in-progress.

I'm interested in the commenters who were upset by the notion of your having to follow the whims of your patrons. We're so into the (capital-R) Romantic concept of the artist as pure, dedicated only to his Muse, etc. - but that's a relatively recent incarnation.

This is kind of the literary equivalent of Dom/sub, in a sideways sort of way...

[gothwalk.livejournal.com]

Being as most of my creative work - running games - already depends on the whim of other people, I've always given the Romantic Muse idea short enough shrift.

I come from the point of view I was raised with instead; the craftsman. You have these constraints of time and space, these of materials, these of customer whim, and sometimes with some creativity you can change any of the above, and sometimes you can't. You still produce the best you can.

And I am enormously pleased that the writing was good enough to raise the stakes.