Multi-Author Fiction - "We have a problem"- Discussion

[brer]

Well I think for now Brer, you should leave the funeral parlor characters alone, but maybe far down the road I think it would be cool if like the niece reappeared and we found out her story and what happened on that fateful day at the parlor, cause I do find them to be interesting characters, considering they're apart of a very crucial point of the story, the beginning I was figuring on leaving them aside for the moment. The characters are up for grabs if you want to use one or both of them later. I was personally just going to have another character recognize one or both of them in a group of the undead later in the story. Somehow, I feel that people that work with the dead may have some serious mortality issues during the initial outbreak, especially with initially fast zombies. If you want them, say so and they are yours. If I was going to use them again in a significant part of the story, this is only a suggestion mind you, the dead in the back rooms start waking up while Alice is working there. Uncle Bennie joins the great majority while trying to hold the combination door shut while his niece escapes.

[glazedoverdead]

Hmmm... This is tickling at my writer's bone... What kind of time frame are we looking at for each author to have his story completed and submitted?

[brer]

Then hop on in. As far as time frames go, I see little need to push for short ones. I would much rather have a well written final story than a kludge. I think the other writers will feel the same way. One of the advantages of writing a multithreaded story is that once we have established what we want as a group, our time becomes much more flexible. If the story is multithreaded, you can write independently until you see a point that you and another writer's characters should interact. Contact him/her when this happens and work to accomodate each other. The whole point of this is that it is a group effort.

[Neil]

Neil do you want to take the next chapter of the story? Very kind offer, but I've got loads of stuff on my plate - including redundency

[Mr. Clean]

If the story is multithreaded, you can write independently until you see a point that you and another writer's characters should interact. Contact him/her when this happens and work to accomodate each other. The whole point of this is that it is a group effort. +1 (and 3 more characters)

[glazedoverdead]

+1 (and 3 more characters) Neil, I hope you're not referring to the story I submitted, which I think I submitted more than once because i forgot to add my summary. If that is what you're referring to about redundancy I am truly sorry for that

[Neil]

Neil, I hope you're not referring to the story I submitted, which I think I submitted more than once because i forgot to add my summary. If that is what you're referring to about redundancy I am truly sorry for that LOL! No! Redundency as in out of a job in real life!

[glazedoverdead]

Oh! Sorry to hear that Neil... I'm glad i'm off the hook though

[BillTheButcher]

OK, I'm in. However, I'd like to know a couple of points. First, is there a minimum number of words in each contribution? If so, how many? Then, do we post our contributions in separate threads, or in rotation in one single thread? I should point out that I've never visited or lived in a Western nation; and that my entire exposure to Western culture comes through movies, books and the 'net. Accordingly, I'll be using characters from my Bisaria series of stories (which are set in a fictional African nation) though they'll be transplanted to the nameless fictional city of our joint effort. I'd probably be more comfortable working with them than with Americans or Canadians as characters.

[brer]

As I see it, we are all contributing to one story. The story will have subplots that interact. ie A story that constantly shifts to different characters. I should point out that I've never visited or lived in a Western nation; and that my entire exposure to Western culture comes through movies, books and the 'net. Accordingly, I'll be using characters from my Bisaria series of stories (which are set in a fictional African nation) though they'll be transplanted to the nameless fictional city of our joint effort. I'd probably be more comfortable working with them than with Americans or Canadians as characters. I really see no problem with this. This is a first effort and nothing is set in stone yet. I would prefer to have it set in one city just for simplicity, but I also recognize that we are going to have a crew of writers from different countries. We all need to start talking about stuff like this before we start writing. Let me get some coffee and do some thinking. ---------- Post added at 01:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:53 AM ---------- Lets get started with some proposed plot rules. These are only proposed, subject to the majority. Please make your objections known so we can decide to change/alter them as needed or desired. 1. Somewhat modified Romero Rules. a. Only the bodies of the recently deceased resurrect. A person that dies a natural death will likely resurrect in the midst of rigour mortis and will not be a fast zombie. b. The zombies start off fast for a period of time, then slow down. I am planning on blaming it on rigour mortis. Rigour mortis generally starts forming three hours after death, maxes out after twelve hours, and totally disapears after three days. This allows the initial parts of the outbreak to be devastating and later allows survivors more of a chance. I'm figuring they will be like Dawn2004 initially and then back to a classic slow zombie after twelve to eighteen hours with maybe a short period of inactivity thrown in there. c. If bitten, the character will die in two to three days and resurrect regardless of medical care provided. Resurrection by direct infection should be much faster than those that die a natural death, occurring in minutes vice hours. d. Head trauma or central nervous system trauma are the best ways to kill the undead. e. Are the undead scared of fire? I am initially going to say yes just to throw it out there. As an alternative we could also say that some of them are. 2. Location, location, location. I have no real preferences other than we as a group make a decision on this. Some of the writers will be from other countries and we will need to accomodate them. a. In the interests of keeping this first effort as simple as possible, I would like to have the whole story set in one city. If it is acceptable, I propose we make the city as generic as possible. No mentioning anything that fixes it to a fixed location or country. b. Firearms. As I understand it, firearm laws are somewhat harsher in other countries. Should we restrict their use? Use only make or models that are legal in many countries? 3. NO ULTIMATE ZOMBIE KILLERS!!! a. No finding an unlooted gunstore, military transport, survivalest cache. Your character does not wear a cape and is only afraid of kryptonite. Please add anything I have overlooked, any objections etc.

[Mr. Clean]

Time of year is something else to consider. Is it cold? is it hot? No limit on word count. I don't want this to feel like a college term paper. I would think a good 5 to 7 min read per chapter would be pretty nice.

[AngryNeighbour]

All of everybody's parts should be sent to a judge or three different judges and upon approval will be added to the main story thread. I agree with all of those rules Brer, besides the no looting thing. It is highly possible to find guns and supplies and actually pretty resourceful thinking in that situation. I do agree though, on the no ultimate zombie killers (at least right away, maybe way down the road, after the character has had lots experience in killing zombies, but still nothing unrealistic) but if a group of people should be able to stumble across some guns and stuff like that, just don't make them heroic badass sharpshooters. I'm not even planning on this in my storyline, but just in case anyone else was. I'm Canadian but I think it would cool if we created a fiction city that was kind of like Las Vegas...It would set up many interesting aspects to the story and allow some room for fun. Like Brer has stated, these things are just proposed and nothing happens without the agreement of the majority.

[brer]

1. Somewhat modified Romero Rules. a. Only the bodies of the recently deceased resurrect. A person that dies a natural death will likely resurrect in the midst of rigour mortis and will not be a fast zombie. b. The zombies start off fast for a period of time, then slow down. I am planning on blaming it on rigour mortis. Rigour mortis generally starts forming three hours after death, maxes out after twelve hours, and totally disapears after three days. This allows the initial parts of the outbreak to be devastating and later allows survivors more of a chance. I'm figuring they will be like Dawn2004 initially and then back to a classic slow zombie after twelve to eighteen hours with maybe a short period of inactivity thrown in there. c. If bitten, the character will die in two to three days and resurrect regardless of medical care provided. Resurrection by direct infection should be much faster than those that die a natural death, occurring in minutes vice hours. d. Head trauma or central nervous system trauma are the best ways to kill the undead. e. Are the undead scared of fire? I am initially going to say yes just to throw it out there. As an alternative we could also say that some of them are. 2. Location, location, location. I have no real preferences other than we as a group make a decision on this. Some of the writers will be from other countries and we will need to accomodate them. a. In the interests of keeping this first effort as simple as possible, I would like to have the whole story set in one city. If it is acceptable, I propose we make the city as generic as possible. No mentioning anything that fixes it to a fixed location or country. b. Firearms. As I understand it, firearm laws are somewhat harsher in other countries. Should we restrict their use? Use only make or models that are legal in many countries? c. Las Vegas type city. 3. NO ULTIMATE ZOMBIE KILLERS!!! a. No finding an unlooted gunstore, military transport, survivalest cache. Your character does not wear a cape and is only afraid of kryptonite. b. We can also allow that Weapon and ammo caches are available. 4. Time of year is something else to consider. Is it cold? is it hot? a. I am going to throw out fall just to get us on the same page. I have no preferences in this and can work with any season with a little notice. 5. Submissions a. No limit on word count. I don't want this to feel like a college term paper. I would think a good 5 to 7 min read per chapter would be pretty nice. b. All of everybody's parts should be sent to a judge or three different judges and upon approval will be added to the main story thread. 3b The only problem that I have with easy access to basically unlimited firepower is that it tends to weaken a plot as the protagonist can just shoot his way out of any situation. If used reasonably, I have no issues. 5a If a chapter accomplishes what it needs to, I have no problem with short chapters or long chapters. 5b We may not have enough people to serve as judges so judging may have to be by the group.

[Mr. Clean]

Oh man....lol starting is always the hardest part.

[brer]

So far we have had about a week to accumalate writers. As best I can tell, we have four to five total. This has advantages and disadvantages. As far as disadvantages go, we cannot write the story on a very grand scale. As far as advantages go, we can be a small cohesive group if we try to work together. I am currently generating a few characters and some minor plotlines. These are not to control the story, but as I hope, to aid us working together. If you need my protagonists to take a dive to tie your stuff into the the main plot, whatever we decide the main plot is, let me know. What does everyone want out of this? What is our basic storyline gist going to be? Based on the modified Romero rules that have not been voted down so far and my thoughts on the initial outbreak: The outbreak starts in hospital morgues, funeral homes, old folks homes, and the homes of the elderly. Maybe toss in some indigent homeless for flavor. Basically anyplace that you expect to see people dying in a normal manner. They resurrect as slow zombies. Truth be told, they are not even recognized as being deceased initially by most. They have a bad habit of biting. This starts the second wave of fast zombies where it gets out of hand quickly. The newly risen dead expand their numbers rapidly. After about a half day to a day, they start winding down into slower zombies. By this time, the majority of the population has been converted. I'm figuring that the initial chapters come in to introduce the characters during the early part of the outbreak, before it gets real dangerous. I have some thoughts about afterwards, but I want to hear everyones thoughts about what they want in the story.