# Is there any potential writing fiction outside of classic media?



## makmakmob (Nov 6, 2010)

What I mean here is, traditionally, when you tell a story, you write a poem, a short story or novel/novella, and if it's non-fiction or for kids throw a few pictures in for good measure. Having said that with the rise of the internet and new ways of transmitting information, I begin to wonder if there are other more immsersive means one could take advantage of.

There are two examples of this that spring to mind; first off was a popular series of children's books published here in the UK which often made use of gimmicky little 'sources' like illustrated lab reports and diary entries, and perhaps more related was a Star Wars 'visual encyclopaedia' which was a non-fiction book written about fictional things.

This may be a problem faced by me more than a lot of writers; I don't really just make up story arcs, but rather, I make worlds and place characters and stories within them, and so it would seem to me only half the story to just describe what happens to characters, but to simply pile all that info into a short story or novella would not likely work so well, not everyone would care that much, so I wonder whether, at least with those pieces I publish of my own accord on the internet I should try some of these fake sources and in-universe pieces for myself, and really open up a door to that other universe.

Tl;dr: Just fucking read it.


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## Poetigress (Nov 10, 2010)

I have heard of writers doing similar types of things, either within the book or, more often, as something extra to explore on their websites, that complements the book. You might want to look into J. C. Hutchins' (not sure on the spelling and too lazy today to open a new tab and Google it) work. I heard that something he published last year had a lot of extras tucked in with it -- I think there was even a business card where if you called the phone number, you got some kind of message that hooked in with the story. Whether this sort of thing winds up being seen as an enjoyable expansion of the story world, or as a cheap gimmick to get attention, would likely depend on how good the core story is. >^_^< So it's maybe not _common_, but it's not entirely unheard of, either, at least in my experience.


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## sunandshadow (Nov 10, 2010)

Are you saying you specifically don't want to illustrate it?  Because I've seen some great coffee table books which are faux non-fiction but half the reason they are great is the pictures.  I've been considering doing a project like that - a diary or hand-written history or encyclopedia done as an illuminated manuscript, like people made pre-printing presses.  Bestiaries herbals, and grimoires are also popular formats.  People have also done bestiaries of dragons, faeries, and other mythological creatures in a modern illustrated format.

You can publish a non-illustrated collection of faux folklore, like the Silmarillion, but if it's not tied to an existing IP then your market is going to be limited.  You can create the IP yourself if you can turn some of your ideas into novels, then put the rest into this sort of nonfiction volume about the world(s) the novel(s) take place in.

Another possibility is faux journalism or satirical essaies or faux autobiographies, these are published mainly on the strength of their humor, so it depends if you want to write humor.


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## Lazarus (Nov 14, 2010)

Create a Wiki to go with it? I've seen a few authors use that as a cache for worlds, characters and other things, or am I way off what you're asking?


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## makmakmob (Nov 20, 2010)

Lazarus said:


> Create a Wiki to go with it? I've seen a few authors use that as a cache for worlds, characters and other things, or am I way off what you're asking?


 
Nope, not in the slightest. It's an interesting thought, actually :3


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## ScottyDM (Nov 20, 2010)

*Interesting Idea*

*Tolkien* could have done _An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Middle Earth_, rather than what he did do. In one respect _The Silmarillion_ is a part of that sort of project. Given what I've learned of the man, he probably enjoyed world building far more than he enjoyed storytelling. Others, such as *David Day* and *Karen Fonstat*, have taken up the task of interpreting Tolkien's vision and creating bestiaries, atlases, and more. Middle Earth is a compelling storyworld in its own right--but the novels did popularize it.

Some love planning, world building, character creation, etc. while procrastinating getting around to finally writing their tale. Others can barely be bothered with planning and love the process of writing. *If someone falls at the "loves to plan" end of that spectrum, perhaps publishing* (either traditionally or on the 'Net) *your storyworld, and forgetting the story, is the right approach.* *Atlases* and *bestiaries* are a lot of fun, as are *scrapbooks*, *encyclopedias of magic*, *blueprints*, *alchemic digests*, *family lineages*,* historic time-lines*, and other forms of recording and disseminating the details of a (story)world. Such works are almost always illustration heavy, but sound clips and even small video snippets would fit right into such a scheme.

The other day my wife and I were in one of those big warehouse membership stores and we walked down the book isle. There was a *Harry Potter* book that was done to look like a *scrapbook*. Pages were a hodgepodge and untrimmed, and some had envelopes glued to the page, which contained maps or small scraps of paper that didn't fit the normal page format. It must have been pure hell to manufacture the thing.

*The online equivalent is the Wiki.* Or if the storyworld is the product of a single author, Wiki software restricted to a single contributor. A website would be the perfect vehicle for self-publishing a rich storyworld--it branches and the app used to navigate it has a back-button with an infinite "undo"; it handles text, illustrations (at any scale), audio, and video; with the proper plugins (such as VRML) one can create 3D terrain models the "reader" can fly over and even direct the path of his flight; and all within that same app (the web browser).

My NaNo project this year is set in a real place in a real time, so world building means that I spent a lot of time with Google, including Google Maps. But there was still a lot of imagination involved with character and their backstories. *My main character's dad died when she was 14, so I had a sentence in my character outline for her about where and how that happened.* When I was writing the novel I wanted my character to really connect with this guy, so she tells him how she lost her dad, and about she and her mom ridding in the ambulance while the medics tried to revive him. *I expanded my sentence into 500 words.* It had nothing to do with the plot of the novel. It was about character building and two characters connecting on a personal level.

*People love stories, even little 500-word stories.* In a Wiki that is an atlas/bestiary/family history/castle blueprint/mythology/alchemic encyclopedia/time-line. one can include many such small stories. When I look back at the life of my character I can think of dozens of incidents that can be told in 500 words--snippets of her life.

When I look at *successful open-source software projects,* the ones that actually produce something that works, they all seem to be those that *are started by an individual. One person conceives of something new, creates it even if it's not very good, then gets it out to the people.* Often times there are two or three revisions by the original programmer before the app starts to gain public interest. Finally others, perhaps more skilled than the originator, pick up the project and push it forward, making improvements. I've seen countless pages on Sourceforge for incomplete projects begging for contributors (programmers) that have sat in the same unfinished state for years.

*The point is,* if you want to create a storyworld project, and eventually allow others to contribute, *it's probably best to work on it by yourself until you have something worth showing others.*

*If your storyworld is compelling, contributors will appear.* They always do. And some of those contributors will want to take it beyond your Wiki format (or however you've published your storyworld). Real storytellers will fall in love with what you've done and want to create real novels, or even trilogies, etc. So at some point you might want to think about how to share the creative process, or even if you want to share.

Speaking of *setting up a private Wiki,* one can install a product like XAMPP on your working PC, or on a spare PC. XAMPP will give you a working copy of Apache, MySQL, and PHP, as well as several other server-type goodies. The default setup is wide open and unsuitable for exposure to the 'Net, but as your personal development platform it rocks. MySQL and PHP are the foundation of many of the open-source Wikis. XAMPP isn't as easy to use as some packages, so a book or three may be necessary (such as _Apache Cookbook_), but XAMPP is free and it's updated often. The beauty of Apache/MySQL/PHP is that the vast majority of commercial hosting services offer it, so when ready to publish one could simply "drag and drop" the Wiki software and database into the commercial host's server.


*Now if you want to talk about storytelling alternatives to words on a page or screen, that's a completely different subject.* But also compelling.

S~


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