or The Mash Monster
Mashing (aka collaborative fiction writing) is the process of building a (hopefully) complete story out of (hopefully) interactively written chapters by one or (hopefully) more people.
It's a good acting exercise for building character and doing improvisation.
It is not everyone's cup of tea. Some people resent having their writing "messed with". If that's you, then mashing isn't for you. Some people want the glory of having written an astounding piece that's "perfect". Again, mashing isn't for you.
If you enjoy picking up the thread of a story, running in the same or, better yet, a different direction with it, while trying to second guess every/any one else writing part of the story, keep the story cohesive and can handle writing as almost a game, then: yes! Mashing is for you.
I've been involved in the practice of mashing for longer than mashing was used at the term. I am much older than I sound. Anyway, interactive fiction, for me, started even before the Internet. Yes, kiddies, there was a pre-Internet period. In those days, we direct dialed into a system known as a BBS with our speedy 300 baud modems and paid huge telephone bills to post an interactive paragraph or two.
Later, Usenet groups and IRC channels picked up the habit and produced some weird, if short, compositions. The new BBS (i.e. "the Boards") popped up on the Internet maybe 8 years ago or so and were a revival of the old dial-in pre-Internet BBS. Natually, people decided to ply their interactive skills there, as well.
Now, the Mother Of All Interactive Fiction is here: StoryMash.com. An Internet website which not only promotes interactive fiction; not only is the future of interactive fiction: it is also the
only site I know of where I can make money having fun with interactive fiction. And win prizes, too!
I'll let you visit the site to see how it works. Suffice it to say that it is a wonderful work in progress.
Now, I'm no expert at mashing. I have, as I said, participated for years in its various forms. I even was a member of an Improv Troupe once. There is an Improv game called "Directed Story" which is very similar to mashing, in that a group of people keep adding (verbally) to a story from the kernal of an idea – in this case, an idea generated from the audience. So, having those qualifications under my belt, I thought I'd write a primer on story mashing. Realize that these are my ideas and are not cast in stone. They are, I think, pretty good guidelines to get
you going if you're just starting out. Maybe even if you've been at it for a while...
Starting A Story:
The easiest way to 'break in' to mashing is to concoct the beginning of a story. Since the ball is in your possession, you don't have as many pitfalls as when you add to a story. There are some
requirements, though!
And remember, this is just my opinion on the whole thing. Not law!
1): Stop. Don't write the whole story. While that may seem a "d-uh" rule, you will get on a roll as you start writing. You will see the story advance in your head much faster than you can type. You will want to write 50 paragraphs, and that will not entice anyone to add to it. So stop at 5 paragraphs, tops. If you really, really have to, save the rest for a follow-on chapter after someone adds to your story.
2): Set up the beginning. A story, of course, has a beginning, a middle and an end. Although you can have all that in your head, a prospective follow-on author will want enough details to continue the story and nothing more. You are really providing a character or two or three,
fleshed out, put in a place where something has happened that affects them. You want to describe the characters: make them living, breathing and reacting to something that has happened to them. That's the seed formula for some great interactive writing.
3): Open hard. The first five words have to grab the reader. Somewhat. That is an art in and of itself, and I'm not great at it. But I know it has to be done and I keep practising. Do not use "This is a story about..." or "I'm going to tell you...". The first words should make the reader ask "what will happen next", or "why", or "what the..?". So use things like "I should have never survived" or "Impossible!" or "Green is good. Unless you want trouble.". The mini-mystery of it should pull people in to see what the heck is going on. Just don't forget to answer those questions
in the rest of the story – or, in the case of mashing, maybe leave it unanswered for the next author to deal with...
4): Details, details. The middle part of your piece of the puzzle should be rich with details, or the lack thereof. Don't waffle. "Tim had an evil lurking just beneath his friendly exterior". Now the next author can use that. "Tim just had something going on inside that bothered me." The next author has even more choices. In either case, Tim is weird and the next author can use your specific clues or your vague awareness of "something not right" to further Tim's
character. "Tim was a nice guy." may be a valid specific detail but it also ends any discussion of his character with respect to demeanor. So if Tim is a main character, you've just opted him out of any heavy duty stuff. Which may be exactly what you want: however most of your characters will not be cut and dried. Otherwise you have "Tim was nice. Mary was nice. They were nice together. They had kids." Compare that to "Tim seemed like the nicest guy on the planet, unless he was angry. That vein that popped out on his forehead was scary. His wife, Mary was always pleasant, too, but had that faraway, frightened look in her eyes most of the time." There's a
story in that, somewhere!
5): Don't close. Obviously you can't end the story. Quite the reverse: the end of your part of the story must have suspense (you want readers to proceed to the next chapter(s)). So if the characters all die, or live happily ever after, the story is done. If the main character is about to open a door he's heard a noise behind and you end there, you got follow-on written all over it! You don't have to be that obvious, either. Your character can just go to bed, leave for work, get a phone call or make a sandwich. However, whatever conflict you've detailed as the major conflict in the whole entire story should not resolve. You may resolve any "stepping stone" conflicts you want: just not the main one. So, if your story is about Tim and Mary's divorce, then don't divorce them. Have Tim move out, or Mary throw him out. That moves the story in the right direction, without killing it. Or have Mary secretly wishing for reconciliation and Tim obviously not wanting that.
You get the idea? Good. Then go write!
http://storymash.com/u/OriginalSim -- my stuff.
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