So far, The Rules are:
Rule 1) The Story must remain unimportant. The purpose of this exercise is to stimulate creativity without adding any stress or pressure, so to that end there will be
no pet characters or plots allowed in important roles. I, for example, will not be writing about either of the Ilas, about Varenna, or about any of my multiple NPCs. I would prefer if we could keep The Story more or less free of existing characters at all, however I will accept brief cameos and jokes. If a character entered a bar and it was described as seedy, crowded, and overseen by a tall, scruffy blonde Northerner with fabulous hair and laconic green eyes, who took one look at the state of things and immediately retreated into his office and barred the door, that would be fine. If The Story happened to travel down a busy street, passing in the process a pair of arguing, accented night elf twin sisters, one with half-moon glasses and a lot of scars, the other with violently pink hair and an unsettling giggle, or if someone should happen to encounter in some bookstore somewhere a copy of the latest South Seas Saga book,
Black Seas, Emerald Hearts, that would also be fine. Just so long as The Story remains focused on its own plot and characters and not on the cameos, anything is fine.
Rule 2) The Story is intentionally not personally important to anyone, but I do want to see it be taken seriously. Don't come in and write a bunch of gibberish, or intentionally make things ludicrous. We're writers and storytellers, writing a story, not wasting words and letters. If someone comes in and tries to derail The Story, I will be forced to resort to
Rule X (see below, but only after reading the other rules).
*Note: This does not mean The Story has to be serious, I just want it taken seriously. Comedy, romance, mystery, revenge, drama, all moods and genres are welcome,
just as long as they're written seriously. The Story can even be a musical (it worked for Buffy!).
Rule 3) The Story does not have a specific setting. It will start on a nameless, locationless unlit street at night in the rain, and from there may progress anywhere it sees fit. It may move between dimensions, between worlds, between realities; it may go anyplace at all, so long as an explainable reason is given as to why and how The Story has moved (subject to exceptions. If The Story suddenly finds itself at the end of the universe, and nobody knows why, and everyone scrambles around trying to figure out why, that's fine).
Previously existing locations (Azeroth/Draenor, Faerun, Sigil, New York, New New York, Gallifrey, Ankh Morpork, etc.)
are allowed, with the provision that they not be a location invented previously to The Story by the same person writing about it. Brand
new locations, or locations invented by somebody else, are allowed. If J.R.R. Tolkien were to join us and try to take The Story to Middle Earth, for example, I'd tell him to be more creative and hand him an atlas, but if
C.S. Lewis took The Story to Middle Earth, or if J.R.R. Tolkien created a brand new continent just for The Story, that'd be dandy.
Most of the stories on these boards tend to be set in Azeroth rather than in our own fantasy realms, so this probably won't be an issue, however I'll be disappointed if the dark stormy street turns out to be in Old Town and The Story never bothers to leave Stormwind. I want things to
move. Furthermore, any previously existing location The Story visits must be described anew, even if it's somewhere you think everybody will know about. No saying simply "Then they went to Chicago." I want to know what Chicago is
like. I want to know how they
know they're in Chicago. Further furthermore, following along the lines of Rule 1, I don't want The Story to get caught up too in depth or for too long in the resident plots of whatever places it might happen to pass through. If the latest post of The Story can only be understood by people who've seen the exact same episodes of Doctor Who as whoever wrote it, The Story will have failed and I'll be forced to resort to
Rule X (see below, but only after reading the other rules).
*Note:
location also includes
time. 1930's Chicago is as valid a location as 2008 Chicago, as is 2108 New Chicago, as is pre-white-people
shikaakwa. Time travel IS allowed, just as long as, like with regular travel, any time jump is adequately explained.
Rule 4) The Story does not have set characters. I will be starting us off with one person, intended only to get The Story moving, and the very next time I post, unless I have compelling reason not to, I will be taking him away. By that time I'm sure other characters will have been added in. Writing new posts, I hope to see people both creating their own characters and continuing with characters introduced to The Story by other people. I even hope to see characters go away or die sometimes. The Story is flexible, it can survive change, it is meant to THRIVE on change.
That said, I want characters, both addition and subtraction of them, handled sensibly, especially deaths. Don't kill off the whole previous cast and replace it with an entirely new one of your own creation. Don't murder an established character just because you don't like them. I'm not going to set solid rules on character creation and removal unless I have to; just be sensible. We're sensible people.
Being sensible applies to continuing established characters, too-- if you write about a character already in The Story, and I do hope people will, because plot cohesiveness is a requirement in the very next rule, try to stay as true to what you think the character is as you can. Don't drastically change Zonko the Clown into a dark, brooding madman without a reason-- although, come to think of it, most clowns are nuts anyway. Don't worry too much about staying true to a character if you're not sure what the character is like or if they're an undeveloped character, though-- we're building on each other's work, so some things are bound to change and grow. That's the point.
If someone fails to be sensible about characters, continuation, addition, or removal of, I will resort to
Rule X (see below, but only after reading the other rules).
Rule 5) The Story does not have a set plot. In the first post I will be introducing the Device, which is short for the Plot Device, intended only to get things started, and I expect that The Story will center on it for at least a few episodes, but if it falls by the wayside that's
great. I want people to take the plot to new places. I want new things to happen that force the characters of The Story to react in new ways. Just like with characters, however, this requires us all to be sensible and responsible:
The plot must be treated with respect and attention. If the Device turns out to be a powerful alien artifact, I expect it to be used and written about, not forgotten. If it turns out to be humanity's Last Desperate Hope to stop the end of the world, I want the plot to deal with the end of the world until the Device is used or destroyed, until the world is saved or blown up. I do
not want the plot to go elsewhere and just forget about the world, not without an excuse; if the characters suddenly find themselves teleported to another dimension without plot resolution, I want them still thinking about the world being blown up and how to stop (or facilitate) it. In short, the plot is expected to act in a realistic and adult fashion, even if The Story itself doesn't-- or, put more simply:
The plot has continuity. It will build on itself, it will not forget what happened before, and it will grow. This is not a children's show where Little Billy breaks his leg and goes to the hospital, but in the next episode he's playing soccer again and there's no mention of it ever even happening. I also do not want the plot to suddenly mutate to a new, previously unmentioned location, with unmentioned characters, with no resemblance at all to what had been happening previously (unless of course this is a clever way of introducing something new to The Story, and this new plot shortly intersects with the established one).
Plot continuity is not as rigid as it looks at first glance. I want the plot to stick around and keep growing, but it doesn't have to grow by leaps and bounds. Things like flashbacks, sidetracks, personal spotlight episodes for underdeveloped characters, these are all allowed. Imagine we're writing episodes of
Star Trek-- the overall plot is that they're explorers in a spaceship in space, but there's still plenty of time to visit new worlds, explore individual character psychology, even occasionally have a character relive his sordid and dishonorable past. As long as the primary plot sticks around, even if it fades to the background for an episode or two, anything goes.
Once again, if people fail to act sensibly and the plot is damaged, I'll be forced to resort to
Rule X (see below, but only after reading the other rules).
Rule 6) Don't monopolize The Story. The idea is for The Story to belong to everyone, to grow, and that can't happen if somebody dominates it. To that end, try not to post twice in a row if it can be helped, don't post
every other post over and over; let other people contribute. Don't try to force the plot in a specific direction, don't slap in a gigantic chunk of text detailing all of what happens ever and bringing resolution to everything all at once. Most important, don't add something in and demand that it stay unchanged, and don't add in something that's unexplained without setting it up to be explained by someone else. Things will change and things will be explained. If necessary, I will resort to
Rule X (see below, but only after reading the other rules) to make it so.
Rule 7) Do not be self-conscious. The Story is not a contest; write whatever you feel like, as long as you stay within the guidelines and sensibility. Don't worry if you don't think you're as good as other people who've contributed, or if you think that you're sucking or can't write. EVERYBODY feels that way. The more people involved in The Story, the better. Don't be shy! Similarly, don't try to show other people up-- once again, this is not a contest. I can't think of anything sillier than the idea of a bunch of writers succumbing to epeen.
Rule 8) New additions to The Story can be any length, from a single sentence to a whole scene or chapter. If you make a short post, make sure it's meaningful, moves the plot along in some way, and doesn't abuse or monopolize plot or characters. Entries like "and then he died" with no explanation or followup will force me to resort to
Rule X (see below, but only after reading the other rules). Entries like "and then he had a heart attack," however, are just dandy. Once again, just be sensible-- and write however much you want! This is not a chore; this is supposed to be fun. Contribute however much you feel like to The Story, and keep it moving. That's the most important thing of all.
Rule 9) Both new additions to The Story and OOC commentary will be allowed in this thread. To sort through which is which, new additions to The Story will be numbered, and marked with their number like so:
#
<Title> (Optional)
Rule 10) The Story does not end. Ending The Story counts as an abuse against Rule 6. The plot can change, new ideas can be added; there's no reason for The Story
to end.
Rule X) This is my idea so I get to be its god. If the rules are abused and The Story is damaged, I get to swoop in with my Retcon Bat.
That said, I don't want anything deleted or removed. The idea behind all this is to get people writing. It may occasionally be necessary for me to use the Retcon Bat to make things flow better, but that won't make whatever it's used on invalid. In fact, I'll try to use the Retcon Bat as little as possible, and even when I use it I'll try to leave as much intact of what it was used on as I can. Rule X just means that I'm god, and I get the final say. Somebody has to be, and it's my idea, so it's me. Rule X also means that I get to break whatever other rules I feel like, so long as it's for the benefit of The Story. Come to think of it, this god thing isn't so bad after all....
Rule Y) I recognize that The Story is an ambitious idea. I think it's a pretty awesome one, I'm confident that you all will too, but I do recognize that things may falter. If at any point The Story dies, I'll use Rule X to get it going again by any means necessary. If, despite my best efforts, The Story ever
stays dead, I will break Rule 10 and quietly retire it for good. If you all think this is a silly idea and don't even get this far in the rules because of tl;dr, that won't take very long at all.
Rule Z) No rule is set in stone. These are guidelines to make sure things run smoothly, but they are not laws of nature. I will have my Retcon Bat at the ready at all times, but if any rule should be broken so spectacularly, so hilariously, so epicly, that it has people applauding, chances are Rule X will not be invoked. If something seems appropriate and you can get away with it politely, stick it in, rules or not! Just be sensible about it-- but don't worry about that
too much. The Retcon Bat is waiting.
Without further ado...
