List of collaborative novels

Why am I organizing these collaborative novels? I believe very much in free and open content, and I think it is possible for open content fiction to be innovative and new. As far as I know, all existing open content fiction is just Creative Commons-ed novels and the like, which is great, but not really new. Open source software was a new way of making software, which recognized that small contributions can add value, so if you remove the barriers to entry, you can get a bunch of small contributions improving your codebase. Similarly, Wikipedia combines small contributions to produce something greater than the whole of its parts. But open content fiction, if it is to be limited to merely Creative Commons-ing an ordinary novel, is not taking advantage of the benefits of open content.

I intend to fix that through Open Settings and the use of some new kinds of collaborative novels. Each person will contribute a chapter or two. You'll give a fleeting piece of a story, just enough of a beginning, middle and end to be interesting in its own right. You don't have to worry about making it fit into the greater work, I'll take care of that, and I'll give you a list of characters, plot points and details that you must include, and a list of details that you can't contradict but don't have to include. It'll be like we're together populating the town, so any time we need a scene in a restaurant, it won't just be a generic restaurant created for that one scene, it'll be part of the story, and the waiters and cooks and homeless people begging outside will be part of the story too. So each person's little contribution will add up to a more vibrant depiction of a community than any one author could do on his own.

Note that these works are all Open Setting Content, so the characters, plots and other ideas presented here are available under the terms of that license. So you can use them freely in your own work.

1. The Ogre of All-Saints is set in the real-world. It is primarily about the life of the titular street thug. Many of the chapters will be written from the point of view of minor characters, and are often shifted in genre. For example, a chapter might detail real events translated into a science fiction setting.
2. The Commander's Wife is a sword-and-sorcery story about groups of knights who kill evil gods on behalf of a large empire that is rapidly growing tyrannical. Each author will write a novella that develops a small part of the plot between a general and his wife.
3. Camp is a real world novel. It is about the staff at a weeklong summer camp. It will be written in large part from the point of view of various boys, 11-17, who are campers. So each author will write about the little mini-dramas of the kids (and adult leaders) who are away at camp for a week, but they will add up to tell a story about the evolving relationships among the staff at the camp.
4. The Fall of an Empire is a sword and sorcery fantasy story about the fall of a tyrannical empire. It will be a multigenerational series of novels and short stories, so each author will contribute a few plot points. Different works can intersect at key battles and meetings, and heroes and villains can be shared between stories.
5. Superhero Novel is set in the real world, but with superheroes and supervillains. The story will be told through a series of novellas written by the henchmen of both the heroes and villains. The henchmen will have their own dramas, with the epic battles of the superhuman leaders occurring in the background.
6. Zombie Novel is set in the real world, when zombies strike. Each chapter is written by a different character (and author) and each chapter ends with the narrator's death. Each chapter advances the overall plot of the surviving characters, who dwindle until perhaps none are living at the end.
7. Murder Mystery is a real world murder mystery in which each character writes about their own experiences, and blames the murders on a different character. Only the reader possesses all the facts needed to determine who really did it.
8. Starship is a science fiction story about the crew of an advanced starship. Each author will write about a mission to a planet for diplomatic or anthropological reasons, so you'll choose from a handful of shared crew characters, perhaps add one or two of your own new characters, and write a story that ties into the longer-term stories of the characters, and the ship itself.

[edit] Other proposals

Feel free to add proposals here. I may or may not personally pursue them, but this wiki is open for anyone else to jump in, or you can coordinate on Facebook or whatever makes you happy.