ficlets - really cool project for writers

So this week I've been a capital-w Writer, and I'm the happiest and most creatively satisfied I've been in a long, long time.

I don't have any free time, and I'm draining my creative well daily, but it totally rules. In many ways, I feel the way I did when I was in the home stretch on the final draft of Just A Geek: empty house, unseasonably warm weather, lots of loud writing music from U2, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Wilco and Depeche Mode, and a sense of tremendous satisfaction with the completion of each page.

. . . and that's just after two full days on a first draft!

So while I still can't get into details on what this project is, I thought I'd share something today that's a little cooler than more pictures of my day at the beach.

From Scalzi (who else?) comes a collaborative short fiction site for writers, called Ficlets:

What does "collaborative short fiction" mean in this case? Simple: You, as a writer, post a very short (not more than 1,024 characters) piece of fiction or a fiction fragment on the Ficlets site. People come to Ficlets to read what you've written, and to comment on your piece. If they want to, they can also write a "sequel" to your story or story fragment, carrying the story forward from where you left it. Or, alternately, they can write a "prequel," explaining how you got to where you are in the story. All sorts of people can write all sorts of sequels and prequels -- and of course, other people can write sequels and prequels to those. What you end up with is a story with multiple authors and multiple branchings -- lots of possibilities and surprises.

Sounds like a lot of fun, doesn't it? If nothing else, it'll be a swell place for some of my half-baked fiction ideas to get closer to fully-baked. (yeah-ha-ha-ha, turn it up, man!)

Scalzi says, "For those of you out there who are worried about what this means for your rights to what you write on Ficlets, you should know that all the words written on the Ficlets site are licensed by a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 license."

There is one significant problem which is pretty much a deal breaker for me: it's owned by AOL, so they want you to have an AIM screen name to sign in. There's something for OpenId, but I couldn't get it to work for me. It works. As usual, it was user error. If it's going to force me to get yet another login (I just don't want AIM, people, okay?) I won't be able to participate, which is a drag. Note: You do not need an AIM ID to use it; you can use any OpenId, which makes much more sense and is very cool. However, the documentation on the login page could be a little more clear on this point.

However, if you're not uptight like I am about that sort of thing, or if you already have an AIM or OpenId identity . . . write on!

(See what I did there?)

Comments

[squigs]

Is this why the OpenID login didn't work?

http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:r4javDvlC8UJ:www.nik.com.au/archives/2007/03/12/openid-too-many-providers-not-enough-consumers/+http://www.nik.com.au/archives/2007/03/12/openid-too-many-providers-not-enough-consumers/&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=uk

[raphael]

The thing I'd like to know is, will this be the one additional project/writing-space that finally cracks Scalzi's voluminous mind and turns him into a babbling madman?

Or does the man have no limits on the creative pursuits he can simultaneously handle?

[DJC]

Takes me back to my university days...

We'd set up a shared dataset and the rules would be simple: alternate writing N lines, no more, no less. If it stopped midsentence, so be it. And no discussing the story while it was in progress.

It made for some pretty interesting twists and shared ideas. And, during the stress of classes, it was a great outlet for creativity that kept us sharp.

Have fun, Wil!

[SupRspi]

I went and signed up on this, but written any ficlets yet, or any prequels or sequels.

I love the idea though - and like the fact that I can in theory collaborate with some of my favorite "capital 'w' writers".

Word.

[Kodmonkey]

That looked really neat. We were working on something similar, but with feature-length screenplays. You'd submit the next scene for the script and then we'd go back and edit it up to coherence at the end. All of it under Creative Commons. Still working some of the bugs out of it, but if you're interested in it:

http://www.screenwritersutopia.com/round_robin/

We went with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License for that particular project.

[Robotech_Master]

Incidentally, Writing.com does something similar, though I don't think they're all creative commoned.

Also, if you'd like to try something ficlet style in person, check out the storytelling game Universalis. It's a game where people collaborate and compete at the same time to come up with a story.

[HokieGeek]

Wil,

I'm a software engineer for JDSU in Germantown, Maryland in the SAS department.

I tell you this because I would like you to call Jim, my supervisor, and explain to him how you could, in good conscience, add yet another addictive workplace distraction to my repertoire.

Ficlets will endanger all of my deadlines and I hold you completely responsible.

[Rook]

Don't make me bring my dog back to fertilize your lawn, again. I am not uptight.

[Sister Julie]

An interesting project. I do write alot of fiction and non-fiction for my convent and the WoW podcast but the whole AOL owned thing leaves me a bit leary.

- Sister Julie

[Joe Rybicki]

Hey Wil, that bit about draining your creative well caught my eye.

Many years ago, I interviewed Stewart Copeland about his work on the videogame Spyro. One of the things I asked him was, how does he manage to keep all these different projects in the air? I mean, the guy's obviously a working drummer, but he also composes opera, scores films, tv, and videogames, and does a ton of other creative crap. Here's what he told me:

"The thing you need to remember is, creativity isn't like a resource, where the more you use it the less you have. It's like a muscle, where the more you use it, the stronger it gets."

Whenever I'm feeling drained like that I have to remind myself that the creative ideas are still there -- there are always, always, always more where that came from.

Maybe that's not too far from your creativity-well metaphor, as long as you're aware that that well is always filling. But I've found it helpful to break the habit of thinking of output as a finite resource.

Maybe it'll help you too. Not that you need it; sounds like you've been flexing those muscles plenty.

\m/
-joe

[Jessika]

I am still a small w writer, mostly writing to my blog, but I am working on editing and fleshing out my story I finished in NaNo 2005.

This site is an awesome idea! It's a place I can go and get some creative juices flowing. As long as I don't use it to compare myself to others and how talented they are.

Love reading your work and blog, and can't wait to hear your next project is out.

[cindy li]

So glad that you like ficlets. :). Kevin Lawver (his idea for Ficlets) told me that you blogged about it. I was sooo excited! It was fun working on it. I know your sick of hearing this. ::groupie moment:: You are the reason I watched Star Trek the Next Generation. :D Ok.. ::end of groupie moment::