Young Writers Society

Hey guys!

Okay, so those who have seen me write will know how dangerously and haphazardly I do it, but now I'm wondering if I can pull off a crazy stunt. I tend to write in clusters, rather than in any particular methodological fashion, which means that most of my stories aren't really traditional novels, but rather, a collection of novels, novellas, some written in the style of diary entries or biographies, others more like newspaper reports or history books, plus a few scripts, blueprints, and whatever else tickled my muse at the time.

The thing is, they're all intertwined in a way that means they're all necessary to the overall story. So I'm thinking of maybe smushing them all up into one publication (I call it that since it wouldn't really count as a novel).

Assuming this is totally going to work (because heywhynot?), how could I do it? And what kind of things would I need to watch out for?

Thanks!

Heya Tenyo,

I have to say that I write like that and I love it!It gives me so much more freedom. I just write in clusters and random scenes that pop into my head from the story. Then later I put chapter numbers on them, and organize them so that other people can have a reference to them.

I believe that it would work just make sure to kind of organize them in the most logical order so that you don't get ahead of yourself and so that no spoilers are shown.Just be creative with it!Watch out for some people/writer that are so narrow-minded and they only would read a traditional novel instead of interesting scraps and pieces of writing here and they(you way is more creative and original-that's why I do it this way!)

GO TENYO!!

I'm pretty much doing the same thing right now. XD

Since I'm posting the first draft up on YWS as I write it (except for the climax and ending, which were pretty much the first things I wrote...), I made a master thread to organize the pieces in chronological order as well as keep track of my research and locations and character relationships as I come up with them. The thread is basically a giant resource for both the readers and myself, and I link it at the start of every section I post.

If you're looking to publish-publish it, though, I'd recommend having everything smooshed together in full and then putting it up in its complete haphazard glory over in the Novel Workshop forum so that you'll get more coherent feedback on how the pieces all fit together (or don't) and why. It sounds like one of those works that you need to see as a whole to understand why it's so piecemeal and how the pieces all fit together.

Are these pieces of one plot; i.e., are the various stories contingent on each other? Or do they just take place in the same universe? Or are they merely thematically related?

If it's the first... that's a novel, no matter how haphazard the result. Probably an extremely long novel too.

The idea that you are proposing seems pretty awesome to me! I think it would be cool to see how it all turns out! I haven't read any of your stuff but this sounds like a pretty cool idea!

As of how you should do it, I think it could work as a novel, though it might be a little unconventional. I know of one author who wrote a book of short stories for the 11th book of a twelv book series. It was kind of a strange conglomeration of a lot of little stories, but it worked out well.

Another author I know of is writing a ten book long series of books 1,000+ pages long. He has each book divided into multiple parts. Inbetween these parts he has interludes (essentially shorts that give you a picture of the overall scope of things).

You could also publish them as a series of novellas and shorts. I personally would rather see you do that, but that is up to you! I hope this helps!