5.10.2009

Diggery Bottoms Paracosm

So, over the last few months, I've been thinking about literature, and about where it can go in the world, and I've had this crazy idea floating around my head, about a new literary medium, one where data is interconnected and non-linear, like Wikipedia would be, and where the focus is on constructing a world collaboratively with a lot of people, rather than on any specific plotline. I have been researching the world that the Brontes created to play in as children, that they continued to develop and write more into for the rest of their lives, and came across the name of this genre: the paracosm.

So, I've had a book I've been writing for ages, and it seemed like a good enough place to start experimenting with the idea. I've published a few chapters of it, along with some of the beginnings of the notes I have on the book, and will be publishing more as I go on. Once I have a critical mass of central material, I will be formalizing the structure, so that others can collaborate on the same world if they like, writing their own stories, poems, etc, as well as editing what is already published. In the meantime, good editors are more than appreciated, or if you're just curious to see what I've been working on as my latest efforts to change the world :).

Diggery Bottoms

EDITED: If you are interested in following the story as it unfolds, there is an RSS feed available. In the future, I will see what I can do about generating a separate feed with only in-world writings, so you don't have to see all the dictionary entries, etc., if you don't want to.

1 comments:

hamilcar barca said...

Eric Flint did something similar in his 1632 series. he wrote the first two books ("1632" and "1633") then allowed lots of other authors to contribute "1634" books & short stories focusing on different areas of his European Alt-Universe.

Very cutting-edge of him. but as a reader of the series, i lost interest. the alt-authors just didn't move the main story along. i imagine that was a requirement, since Flint hopefully has a master plan for the plot.