Thanks for your link. It may not be spam, but it certainly felt like it when I read your post. Perhaps it's the "new member" tag and the link to another site that gives me this impression.

I suppose it's a way to get published, but after looking over the site a bit, my biggest concern is that you're randomly throwing writers together with all their individual opinions. It seems like it would be a huge waste of time if the 'Council' doesn't choose your work.

What this sounds like isn't so much a collaboration as a "I wrote a pretty crappy book and I'd like someone else to make it good for me. Then when I publish it my name will be in big letters as the author, with the names of the other contributors on the 'Thanks to all those great people who helped make this possible' page."

Call me a skeptic. Call me a purist. Call me a snob.

1. My name will not be on the book. The authors on the front cover will be based on a vote by those who contributed.

2. That's true, you could write something and it could get rejected. But I think most writers are aware of the huge chance their work won't be published and aren't worried by this.

Right. Thank you.

1. I'm selfish. I want the glory and the money, if any.

2. I'm a perfectionist. If my work is never good enough, how can anyone else's be good enough?

3. I have never read another author with the same voice as me. I can't imagine so many authors getting a smooth novel with so many different voices.

4. There are thousands of wrong ways and hundreds of right ways to write any sentence. Every time I post something for critique I get the inevitable, "This sentence would flow better if you worded it this way." Sometimes I take their advice and sometimes I think, "Yeah, but my way works too." As the only author of my work, I have that choice. How do you resolve fifty different opinions on how to write each sentence?

quote:

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A novel is simply words on a page, language to convey ideas.

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Based on the above quoted section, kind sir/madam, whoever, I bid you farewell. Them's fighting words. Big time. Now please, take your spam and go elsewhere. Not only is this not appropriate for this board on this forum, it's not appropriate at all for this site.

I'm saying that John Grisham, Dan Brown, and Tokien could not have written the same novel. You completely disregarded my concerns over voice and style and how you can possibly make 50 different ways of writing sound smooth? Frankly, I can tell who wrote what chapter in a collaborative work. It doesn't always bother me, but it's always there.

My husband is one of the money people who plays around with Linux. He has fun and I think it's great. But there's a difference between code and novels that goes beyond language.

With sofrtware code, a line or segment of code that works is good. A line or segment that works more efficiently is better. You may argue over the time/storage tradeoff but frankly that issue has almost entirely been resolved in favor of time given the terabytes (sp?) of storage we can now use.

With a novel, a sentence or paragraph that works may or may not be good depdning upon who reads it. A sentence or paragraph that says the same thing more efficiently, in fewer words, may or may not be good depdning upon who reads it.

Are you catching what I'm saying here? Despite some similarities in writing software and writing novels, at its heart software is mathematical and novels are artistic. Your premise is bogus. I don't buy it.

Down, HSO, down! LOL

1. I'm selfish. I want the glory and the money, if any.

--so you own a portion of the book, equal to what you contribute and since my name isn't on the book you are equal with anyone who might contribute. You get the glory...if your writing is good enough.

2. I'm a perfectionist. If my work is never good enough, how can anyone else's be good enough?

--This is certainly a tough way to go through life. If your work is never good enough, then how do you know when to stop and how do you know when you are making it worse by tinkering. You might be a perfectionist, so that makes your work better, but ultimately you are competing to get your work into a novel...survival of the fittest applies and the fat will be trimmed based on competitive economic theory.

3. I have never read another author with the same voice as me. I can't imagine so many authors getting a smooth novel with so many different voices.

That's true if the novel was started from the beginning, with no text. The success of Linux was in part due to the fact that it was mostly complete, a functional OS and the patches that were written were approved by the Linus Torvalds the creator. One voice is impossible in your model, but not so in a submission, review and edit model...by the single writer.

4. There are thousands of wrong ways and hundreds of right ways to write any sentence. Every time I post something for critique I get the inevitable, "This sentence would flow better if you worded it this way." Sometimes I take their advice and sometimes I think, "Yeah, but my way works too." As the only author of my work, I have that choice. How do you resolve fifty different opinions on how to write each sentence?

There aren't 50 opinions. A person writes a comprehensive scene, another person writes it a different way. The original author judges, accepts the scene and then modifies it to fit the voice exactly.

5. When it's mine, it's MINE. I am god in my book world. I say who lives. I say who dies. I say what happens.

That's great, but of course if there are other governments that work besides dictatorship, then might be other governance models that work for writing.

Scene 1

Glancing one more time to check Fr. Richard, Jeremy tiptoed down the creaking stairs into the damp basement. He flicked a switch in the basement, turning on a dim overhead light. The shadows from the bookshelves stretched long on the floor, making it difficult to see. Shelves and shelves of books lined the halls. He studied the titles and saw countless volumes on the histories of war, economics of communism and slavery, and a book titled Influence of the Magistrates on Political Doctrine.

In the middle of the room, a desk light illuminated a single book displayed on a bronze bookstand. He moved towards the book cautiously, intrigued by its prominent position.

The book was so old that the leather cover on the outside felt like flaky skin. He picked it up and looked at the blank cover. Leafing through the first few pages of the book, he noticed many strange seals. The writing was entirely in Latin. At the top of the table of contents, Jeremy translated.

"Secrets of the Society of Jesuits"

He got nervous and looked up to make sure no one was watching him. Confident he was alone he continued.

Chapter 1 The manner of procedure with which the society must be conducted when considering the commencing of some foundation.
Chapter 2 The manner with which the fathers of the order must conduct themselves to acquire and preserve the familiarity of princes, magnates and powerful, rich persons.
Chapter 3 How the society must be conducted with the great authorities in the state.
Chapter 4 Of the mode of attracting rich widows
Chapter 5 Systems that must be employed with the widows and methods of disposing of their property.

Scene 2

Simon cringed when one man cuffed another with the manacles he was carrying. Everyone else had left their chains on the beach. His attack started a wave of punching and kicking. The group became a swarm of bodies wrestling in the rain. Stronger men would scramble to the top of the heap and then be pushed back down again.

One man did not move. His lungs had been crushed from the tremendous pressure the prisoners were generating. Novak jumped up from his position and sprinted away, dropping some of his camp’s kits as he departed.

Back on the beach, kits were thrown and ripped apart while the first prisoners to the kits grabbed full armfuls of scattered kits and goods.

Slowly the men in the dog pile stopped fighting, realizing their food was being stolen. Hundreds of prisoners ran to the kits and scrambled like scavengers for anything remaining. Many of the prisoners ran off immediately into the forest. The remnants of the torn kits lay crushed in the beach. 50 men controlled most of the contents of the kits.

This post is primarily robot responses from an automated forum poster. I have not seen any evidence that this is a real person.

It's spam- that is robotic spam. If not then it is so unoriginal as to be idiotic spam.

At best this is not 13 lines for critique.