December 11, 2007

• Robins Singing in a Ring: The Rules

  So I made a blogring for the round-robin, Robins Singing in a Ring. I figured it would help us keep track of the additions. If you think anyone would be interested in playing, let them know that membership is open. All they need to do is join in order to be eligible to post an entry.

  The description they allowed me for the ring seems a bit terse, but that’s only because I was so limited in the number of “characters” I could use. Five hundred? Pfah! That’s like telling a painter to only use one color. Yeesh! lol

  So to expand on the Rules:

  Everyone has a week to make their addition to the story. If you don’t post your entry by then, and you don’t tell us otherwise, the next person in line will take your place. If you’re not sure who’s up next, you can ask me or click on the recently joined button on the blogring page and it will show the order in which people joined.

  You may add as little as a few sentences or as much as a “page” in your entry. We’ll say a page is five paragraphs. It’s not a strict rule though. If you feel inspired to add more, go for it. A little suggestion here… if someone invents a character for the story and you’d like that character to do something that seems out of character based on what has already been written, message the person who first created it to make sure it’s okay with them. Sometimes people get very attached to their creations, almost as an alter-ego. You shouldn’t be afraid to expand on a character’s personality, but avoid writing something contrary to their past actions without permission. A round-robin is a bit like a fanfic in that you’re constantly adding something new to a story someone else has created. In this case, a story a lot of people have created. heh

  To make it easier on everyone, when you post your entry, you can include some of what has gone before if it will help put your post in context, but also, add a link to the previous entry and send your entry to the blogring before saving. Linking to the previous post will help non-members of the blogring follow the story, and sending your entry to the blogring will keep the entries in order in the “weblog pool.” Every once in a while, I’ll gather up all the previous entries into a “chapter,” posting it on my page and linking it to the weblog pool so that it doesn’t become too awkward to scan back for details.

  So when I start the story (probably some time on Thursday), I’ll post it as Round Robins Singing in a Ring: Chapter 1. Then each additional entry until I gather up all the additions will be chapter 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and so on.

  Now I’m not sure what kind of story this will be and no one really seemed to have a preference. So I’m going to list a bunch of genres here, and if anyone likes one or another, or objects to one or another, let me know. If you really have no preferences, that’s okay. But if you really don’t like a certain type of story, let me know so I can avoid it… The way I see it, our story can be a combination of several genres, barring any genres you guys don’t like.

  So…. westerns, romance, horror, sci-fi, steampunk (technology in a primitive setting, usually 18th-19th century), urban-fantasy (fairies in cities), high fantasy (think Tolkien), mystery, thriller, historical fiction, comedy….

  • 7:42 pm
  • 3 Comments