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The Thing From Beyond Time

 
  

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Captain Zoom
13:18 / 15.05.02
Here's the deal: Lionheart, on his livejournal, suggested someone get a journal and write it as a Lovecraftian protagonist. I've blatantly stolen the idea and would like to implement it here as a collaborative fiction. I'd like this one to be rigorously moderated and keep the tone of it as serious as possible. There should be a definite beginning, middle and end, and once these things have been acheived, the thread should be locked so that the integrity of the piece can be maintained. I'll start up a notes thread for it too, once the first entry is in place. Anyone can play, but I'd really like for it to not become an exercise in surreality. Unless someone else does, I'll try to start it off a little later on.

Zoom.
 
 
We're The Great Old Ones Now
13:29 / 15.05.02
I love the idea, and may well steal it and do it in original form...
 
 
rizla mission
13:37 / 15.05.02
That's the best idea I've heard all day!

You'd have to ensure a really long build up though, kind of establishing him* as having a regular life (well, regular in a 'New England antiquarian' kind of a way) and not filling it with silly injokes that give the game away, in the hope that people will actually take it seriously before you unleash the horrors..

Maybe, rather than just taking turns to bang out the next entry, we should decide beforehand what the story's going to be and what events are going to take place, then just take turns doing the actual writing..

And then, when he dies horribly or goes insane, the journal can remain, perpetually un-updated .. bwa-ha-ha. I love it.

*I assume a 'him'. HPL didn't have much time for the ladies.
 
 
deja_vroom
13:41 / 15.05.02
Oh man, oh man, this is gonna be GREAT! We'll need a really tight set of rules. When do we start?
 
 
deja_vroom
13:44 / 15.05.02
what about this: we ask who's up to write the thing. then we stablish an entry order. people can only post when it's their turn. so, what you think?
 
 
rizla mission
13:46 / 15.05.02
sounds good.
 
 
Captain Zoom
13:49 / 15.05.02
Okay, I think I'll turn this into the notes thread, and we'll start a new one for the story once some decisions are made. If we want a pastiche of sorts, then the main character, who will have to be a him, will have inherited a case of documents from a distant relative. These will eventually lead him to a mind-shattering discovery. Now, we could put it in present day and have the documents be a CD-ROM, or stick with the twenties, though my only knowledge of that era is gleaned from HPL's writing. I think a modern setting might make this a little easier as we're all familiar with it. I would like for the rules to be quite strident, but we ought to leave room for improvisation. I look forward to reading a development or two I hadn't quite thought of.

Nick, you mean you're not going to join us?

Zoom.
 
 
Captain Zoom
13:52 / 15.05.02
Can someone tell me how I change the name of a topic?

Zoom.
 
 
We're The Great Old Ones Now
13:59 / 15.05.02
May easily play, but I think I might also try something solo in blog/journal form. Been fascinated by the idea of fictional blog-writing since I first heard of the things.

Hell, if I was Stephen King, I could charge for it.
 
 
grant
14:04 / 15.05.02
To change a topic, one waits for Cal, in his infinite splendor and glory, to come again as was promised in the past to restore His Divine Functionality to our Fallen Board.

I really like the idea of a livejournal as a lovecraftian story - no antiquarian stuff, necessarily, just another geeky monologue as it happens.

"Last night, I saw it again. It's really hard to describe - sort of like bubbles overlapping. The smell was awful, and there was this sound like a buzzing. It was so loud, I thought my ears would explode. Then it stopped and everything was normal. My roommate never heard a thing.

I wonder if I need help."

What might be interesting is to get a livejournal page and use barbelith as the notes - and just PM each other the shared password. LJ does allow you to edit and delete posts.

And, if like so many of these things, we never reach a conclusive ending, it might make the journal even more creepy if someone stumbles across it.
Part of the trick might be to engineer the "likes & interests" of our doomed narrator to have some crowd appeal, lure readers.
And part of the fun would be to get comments and reply to them.
 
 
rizla mission
14:08 / 15.05.02
oooh .. what fun. I can hardly wait.
 
 
Captain Zoom
14:20 / 15.05.02
grant, that's a great idea. This place is perfect for the notes. I'll look into getting a new journal today.

Zoom.
 
 
deja_vroom
14:26 / 15.05.02
DO it on blogger, it's easier to work with
 
 
rizla mission
14:28 / 15.05.02
but that way there's no fun stuff like comments & replies..
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
14:45 / 15.05.02
I'm sure you could dig up a guestbook from somewhere and stick it in your blog. Or just post the link and get people to comment here.
 
 
Sax
14:51 / 15.05.02
Deal me in.
 
 
Captain Zoom
15:29 / 15.05.02
I'd like for there to be a comments section. If we do it on Livejournal, I'd put our ficticious person on my friends list and leave comments and stuff. That way the realism would be enhanced for anyone who just stumbles across it. I'll tell you what, let's make a decision by the weekend and try to start by then. Of course, if we decide earlier, we can start earlier. Anyway, I'm for livejournal, but that's only because I'm familiar with it.

Zoom.
 
 
deja_vroom
16:03 / 15.05.02
Blogger has a really easy to use comment feature, man. It's called YACCS and it's free, you just have to cut and paste some bits of code inside the blog's template. Then you get a neat "comment" link underneath each post that generates a pop-up with all the comments. Anyway, just a suggestion. The link is here. Take a look at my blog, and click where it says "co-mentes". You'ss see the thingy while it works.
 
 
Trijhaos
16:08 / 15.05.02
If you decide to go with livejournal, how about having the guy leave comments on other people's journals? That way, he seems a bit more real to those people who read his.

Just a suggestion.
 
 
Captain Zoom
16:10 / 15.05.02
Okay, cool. I think they're all comparable set-ups. Is there a comparable sort of community for blogger as there is for livejournal. I really feel the realism aspect for someone who casually comes across it is important, making it both an online collaborative fiction and a piece of performance art in a way.

Zoom.
 
 
gridley
17:57 / 15.05.02
this is brilliant. I would like to join in on the fun. please?
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
20:33 / 15.05.02
I'm not really a livejournaller so I don't know the details. I know you can submit your details to search engines from Blogger, and that generates quite a bit of traffic. ( Some of it completely inexplicable, but hey- c'est l'internet.)
 
 
Mystery Gypt
21:56 / 15.05.02
given that it's not going to be written antiquarianly (since that would make it obviously fiction) and given that it is an online modern person, i don't exactly see why the "can't be a female" rule is quite so clever. seems this is the sort of contextually appearing reasoning that keeps females fictional characters in the can far too often.
 
 
Captain Zoom
22:01 / 15.05.02
We could choose a name that is nice a vague sexually. But then it would be a matter of not having anything included that might give away the sex of the person. Kind of an online Pat. I'm okay writing women, but, as might be obvious, I write men better. That should perhaps be the first thing decided. Male or female?

I, with no offense intended to anyone, vote male.

Zoom.
 
 
rizla mission
09:17 / 16.05.02
Uh, yeah, also with no offense intended to anyone, if we're trying to keep the old-school Lovecraft feel, the protagonist has to be a male, introverted, bumbling Librarian/scholar type character whom you feel is probably suffering from massive psychological disfunctions which he keeps thoroughly repressed. It's part of the deal.

And I'd imagine writing a blog without giving away gender would be very difficult indeed..
 
 
Mystery Gypt
09:23 / 16.05.02
do bumbling introverted librarians publically write about their life electronically? seems like sort of a younger person, extrovert thing to do, doesn't it?
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
09:25 / 16.05.02
I'm in on this, if you'll have me. I'd chuck in a vote for male, but that's largely because I am one. Otherwise, I don't see it making too much difference.
 
 
deja_vroom
11:21 / 16.05.02
Male.

Make him shy and make him use a pseudonym, to lend credibility. Give him a digital camera so he can post his obscure findings (hey, there's plenty of weird pictures on the net - and a lot of occult-looking artifacts in lovecraft-dedicated sites)
 
 
deja_vroom
12:00 / 16.05.02
As I said, plenty of weird stuff...
 
 
grant
13:56 / 16.05.02
Mystery Gypt: do bumbling introverted librarians publically write about their life electronically?

Yes. You'd be amazed.
 
 
grant
14:25 / 16.05.02
Livejournal shyness interest list.

Livejournal library interest list.

There are similar ones for antiques and introversion, but books returns too many results to be shown.
 
 
grant
14:29 / 16.05.02
Bear in mind, more than a few people use livejournal as an anonymous support group....

That said, a female protagonist would be sort of fun. Sort of modeled on the younger sister from "Ginger Snaps," and Winona Ryder in "Heathers."
 
 
We're The Great Old Ones Now
16:29 / 16.05.02
And now, all of a sudden, I'm burning for a female protagonist. I'm contrary that way.

What about a web of interlinked journals?
 
 
Trijhaos
16:40 / 16.05.02
How about 2 journals? One for the protagonist and one for his girlfriend. That way, after he disappears or whatever she can start getting really worried. Then maybe she could disappear after discovering whatever it was that he stumbled onto. Hell, give them a couple friends too.
 
 
deja_vroom
17:17 / 16.05.02
That seems way too much complicated to coordinate...
 
  

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