Can we have a think about collaborative writing projects?

I wouldn't mind a unifying theme, though, if everybody else flies with that.

Everything sounds swell to me. I am brainstorming ideas.

Yes, I wrote something but it went weird enough that it breaks the thing about being in vanilla Mythic Europe. Must find a new idea...

What are the basic requisites, then? It has to be based in vanilla Mythic Europe, I get that... Anything else?

No, just go for it. The first fiction anthology bought out some really interesting stuff because there were few limits...

Salvete Sodales,

First, I would like to thank the venerable DoctorComics for pointing me to this thread last night.

I am quite interested in lending my voice to a short story anthology. I will promptly sit myself down and start hashing out some ideas. The real challenge with a canvas as wide in scope and depth as Mythic Europe is not so much coming up with ideas as it is being decisive over which one to pursue.

-J.

Should we share our stuff as we work? Throw around our ideas in this thread? Post excerpts here as we write them? Or keep it all to ourselves until we're done?

Good question. I am almost done with a most excellent short story. It was liberating to have a lexicon and a pre-existant setting in place. But it is also challenging to have the constraints of setting to conform to.

Good morning,

I tossed around several permutations over before deciding upon what story I would like to tell.

Having come upon that decision, I started creating character sheets for the principal two players. This might strike someone as needless busy work, but I found the rewards to far outweigh the costs in time. My largest concern is in creating a narrative that is true to Ars Magica, the narrative needs to have a verisimilitude with the campaign setting. Otherwise, the exercise seems a bit moot. The greatest reward was that it is allowing me to come to terms with who the character was versus who he is now. I completed one last night -- sans a couple notations I must complete (decrepitude, warping, etc.). This has bestowed me a sense of confidence that I would otherwise be lacking.

I have one more to create, a pre-Gauntleted Guernicus apprentice, and I will most likely use a canonical wizard from Fourth Edition as the third player in this drama.

-J.

Good evening,

I am writing as to inquire the present status of the short story anthology, as well as questions regarding submitting the actual work.

I am aware that the June 1st deadline is quickly approaching, and I just completed my rough draft late Friday afternoon. I hope to use what little time availed to me to tighten up and polish the prose, which currently sits at 9,600 words. [I am still trying to learn that bardic axiom concerning the soul of wit.]

To whom should we submit the work? Are there any technical formatting issues that need addressing (such as which is preferable .docx or .pages)? Should we include a brief synopsis? Things of that nature.

Thank you kindly,

-J.

We have not really discussed who would host them...but Project Redcap could, or Sub Rosa, or we could stash them on my site.

I'm happy to be the person who collates them, so send them to me.

As to formal things like formatting, the project is too underconsidered for me to have thought that through. Send what you have, and I can tidy it up once we find these things a home.

One collaborative story project I think might be interesting to see would be one set at a (Grand?) Tribunal, where each individual story thread follows a different magus (or other character) through the events of the Tribunal. The multiple points of view on the same set of events would be a good way to illustrate how the Houses and various other sub-groups (Internal House divisions, Mystery Cults, etc.) within the Order view each other (and the Order itself). More than just magi, having tales from a familiar's PoV, or a Faerie's or the angel that follows the Order that's mentioned in the books or even just a mundane brought in to give evidence for a case could all be interesting.

Good morning,

The Tribunal idea sounds great as a follow up project.

I am immediately reminded of the second STAR WARS LEGENDS volume: TALES FROM JABBA'S PLACE. Wherein the opening 15 or so minutes of THE RETURN OF THE JEDI were explored with more depth through the perspectives of all the background characters. (To this day, I cannot watch that film and not think back on the sadness of the Rancor keeper.) Most tales began prior to Luke's arrival and continued through until the immediate aftermath -- wherever applicable (read: those characters fortunate to survive the barge attack).

I suppose the first decision to be made would be: Regional v. Grand.

I would, personally, side with the former as opposed to the latter. I think a Grand Tribunal might be too unwieldy for an anthology, since it would by necessitate touching upon all of the Hermetic Order and, by extension, all of Mythic Europe, leaving writers with a ton of exposition to chew through. But a shared, common region would allow each writer to lay claim to a much more manageable portion. [As I write those sentences, the creative side of my mind is telling that that would simply be more of a challenge.]

The downside to a Regional Tribunal, however, would be a need for more editorial oversight. For instance, we would need to agree upon a particular Tribunal; whether or not we use canon magi as POV characters; et cetera.

My recommendation would be to use a source book from one of the earlier editions of the games that has not been updated for 5th edition. This would afford each writer some latitude as how to update concepts from a past editions into the most recent version and give us a lot of ground to re-explore and re-introduce solid creative ideas to new audiences. In essence, whether we have an experienced Ars Magica player or a relatively new one, we are providing each with a unique reading experience. This might also stir more interests into the demonic blights suffering in Iberia or the concerns of Stonehenge, which was written to be system neutral, or what have you.

I followed a similar mindset when I ran a grog-level, mini-campaign at the beginning of the year set in Mythic Scotland utilizing THE LION OF THE NORTH source book from 3rd edition -- to great success, I might add.

Just some thoughts to chew on. I will be knee deep in rewrites soon to offer anything more substantial than a couple coursory musings.

-J.

We would also need to agree on what happens in the Tribunal and what's the outcome of those events before anybody starts writing anything, to prevent contradictions. Much like the writers of the Star Wars Legends needed to watch the first 15 minutes of Return of the Jedi before they started writing.

That said, it would be a really interesting project once we're done with this one! :smiley:

Good morning,

All right... Let us say for argument's sake, we went with Stonehenge.

Copied and pasted from David Chart's wonderfully engaging HEIRS TO MERLIN:

This means the follow-up project's main narrative would be set in 1222, since we would want to keep it aligned with the "standard" Ars Magica setting as possible. In addition, if we wanted to, we could show the power struggle as the magi of Voluntas, Blackthorn's rival covenant, attempt to mount that opposition and our series of short stories could detail that struggle and its outcome. In much the same way that JEDI's central conflict was the rescue of Han Solo.

One of the thoughts I had would be that it would be nice to have each tale be from the POV of a different Hermetic House. Stonehenge is a nice setting for that as all houses appear to be welcome, and there is not the disparity of, say, Loch Leglean where there is only one Gernicus magus and she is as crooked as sin. This would allow each writer to explore what makes their character's house unique. In addition, we could show how the tribunal is split, with some of the stories being squarely for Blackthorn, some for Volantus and others with no personal stake at all, like a Jerbiton magus from Schola Pythagoranis.

But, relating this project back to TALES FROM JABBA'S PALACE, it is only the unifying tissue between the stories, none of the narratives would be required to be subsumed by the central plot as each POV would have her or his own interests at heart, goals that need to be furthered, networking that needs to be done, et cetera.

Personally, I would love to write the tale of the poor Redcap bastard who is stuck in the middle of all these political machinations.

Just some thoughts. As I had wanted to heavily feature Stonehenge in my previous short story (and, ultimately, chose to go a drastically different route) it is at foremost on my mind, but I am amiable to researching another tribunal entirely.

-J.

Sounds pretty interesting. I'd recommend to let it wait until this project is done, though, and bring it up again once that's out of the way. :slight_smile: