I was just daydreaming as usual and came upon an interesting idea for a little recreational shocking.  We have some pretty good fan-works that members have generously contributed over the years and each one is like a signature of the person who authored them.  While it's rewarding to make something like a fan-fic or piece of art, it's a personal effort and you can't really enjoy it with others because it's your own work.  Let's change that.

Why don't a bunch of us agree to write a fan-fic as a team?  The way I see it working is like this.  Someone will start out with a kernel for a story... get things going with a plot that has some potential and perhaps a lot of directions to go in.  Write a good chunk or segment and then leave it hanging in a clean and seamless way so that someone else can take over and keep going as they see it.  This means that one author doesn't really know what to write about until it's their turn and the challenge and fun is in deciding how to take someone else's work and their interpretations and build on it further.  It doesn't necessarily have to be all text either.  If someone is a good artist but not so good at fiction they might append a graphic after something really intense happens in the story... to illustrate what's going on and that's even more exciting because they have to take someone else's thoughts and words and picture the scenario in their head and then put that picture on paper. 

Of course this would all take place in the shock universe and we would have to set it either in shock 1 or shock 2.  If there is enough interest we could have 2 of them running simultaneously.  Authors could pick which one they'd rather work on.  We could sequence everybody so that they know their place in line and can follow the story every time there's an update, gathering ideas in order to complete their own portion.  I think it's a fun activity that gives everyone something to look forward to reading as well as a way to participate at the same time.  It might not be terribly coherent at times but it will be totally personalized and every forum member will have their mark in the work so when someone else reads it they can see how the style changes, the mood and the pace of the story. 

Thoughts?

I'm all for more fanfic but I kinda doubt that a coherent and interesting story can come from this. Trying to continue someone elses work will constrain authors more and more as the story progresses and just make everyone unhappy with the way it continues until it dies down.
I think a loose framework that allows for small to medium episodes would be more productive. Like the Divine Seeds Chronicles idea from days of yore.

In the SS2 manual you find this, referring to the time shortly after the hacker had defeated SHODAN on Citadel station:

Earth’s close call sent shock waves throughout the world, and disturbing indications of similar rogue activity were discovered in several other corporate AIs.

And that's enough for a start.

I didn't even know these chronicles exist... just read one.  It seems very much like a conventional fanfic except that it is more in-line with the original plot.  Pretty entertaining read.

I guess the purpose of this idea is different in that it is truly a collaboration, which encourages participation and cooperation.  I fully agree that it won't come together like some beautiful machine but it doesn't necessarily have to in order to achieve the goal of getting people excited and immersed.  It's a thought experiement, almost a role-play.  Readers may not be impressed by the final piece of work as a polished product but it shouldn't be judged as such.  It's a live document, an evolving stream of imagination.  Anyone who's played shock and is familiar with it's themes and motifs should be able to add something intelligeable.  If it's really abysmal, it could be edited later to contain the core elements that the author was trying to portray, except with better grammar or more coherent sentences.

All the same, I'm just making a proposal, nothing more.

Oh well then, just start. I promise to contribute.

I feel like have have enough writing experience that I can contribute without embarrassing myself. Though I probably should play SS(2) again to refresh my memory. The horror!