The novel project, a team effort

[it]

Hello everyone,

I was reading an article a while back on the most successful, different types of story, now I'm not talking fiction or romance I'm talking 1 or 20 authors. 

I wish is hot start a mission, we as a forum shall write a novel on tyranids. Each person shall write 1-3 chapters each, but you will not really know what the others are writing, we shall figure out an overall plot or checkpoints in the story where you need to be at the end of your section so that there is still continuity.

One of the most successful romance books ever was done in this fashion, as in one chapter she was a devoted wife the next chapter, in love with the priest. 

Imagine née that with nids, one second the swarm could be on the brink of loss, the next completely dominating.

When enough people have shown there interest we shall sort out the finer details, such as fleet name, who they are fighting, colour scheme, one planetary battle or the fleets entire life span.

It will be an interesting read, not only for the readers, but also the authors.

when we have sorted out the details and everyone has been assigned there section I'll give you my e-mail so I can stick it all together and present it here.

This will be a long term project and will require the hives best efforts and support. 

So show your interest below and sorry for this being so long.

thanks

[Bot]

I'm in.

I always wanted to join the fanfic comps, but I just always forgot to submit something. Hopefully it will be a little different with a larger project. How many people would we need to be to get this started?

[it]

I have no idea how many we will need, it completely depends on how much each person writes and how in depth the story and plot goes.
the more the merrier I suppose

[it]

Any more takers?

[ilovethenids]

I'd love to. Personally I think it'd be great if we tried to publish it at some point, maybe giving a preview on here so that people would be interested, and would go out and buy it to support a good book and their fellow Hive members. Plus, that way it would get out to more people, even if those people aren't members of any 40K forums.

If we did get to publish it, I think a good thing to do would be to make it understandable to someone who has never read any 40K fiction/has never been introduced to the 40K universe - that way it appeals to a larger audience. I think one of the biggest problems with a lot of 40K novels/fanfics is that they rely on the fact that the reader already knows what things such as carnifexes, skitarii, etc. are.

I've actually written a few short stories that, with a little editing/extending, could be used as a start for the novel.

[it]

Hello all

An extract from my conversation with ilovethenids;

I really liked it especially the fact that it's from the perspective of the lictor, so many story's involving tyranids are from the perspective of humanoids and place the tyranids as truly mindless beasts, but I have a fair understanding of animal nature and have seen surprising traits from even the most humble creature. The ability to learn is present in many creatures and I personally find it very hard to see tyranids, super evolved apex's of life, to not have fundamental thoughts above instinct. I like to think that outside the will of the hive tyranids personal thoughts, morals and beliefs come forth. Outside of synapse, they are not acting on pure instinct but are dealing with the battle as they see best. Well that's how I see it anyway.

I was just wondering if you all have the same view and if this is where we should take the story.

I had an idea for a background to the story. Our fleet has lost connection to the inner hive for some reason, Zoanthropes having massive brains, obviously have great intelligence and since they are no longer employing all there might in synapse and psychic  powers use there minds for more humble uses, thoughts, emotions and creativity. Imagine a swarm that does not only uses raw bloodshed and simple shoot n' eat tactics but truly creative, intuitive traps. Something I believe is a far more deadly foe.

[ilovethenids]

I like that idea, although I think we have to keep any "emotions and thoughts" purely tyranid-y. Creating traps based on them being able to understand enough about emotions to predict their prey's reaction would be fine, but i think making the tyranids themselves have emotions goes a little too far. But that's just me.

[terrorfexx]

I could include the result in my planned fanbook. I get more and more PNs of contributors. You defenetively need a skilled designer to make the result look high quality - I volunteer

[ilovethenids]

Well if it's going to be a full novel, I don't think it'd fit in a full on fanbook

As for the overall story arc, I actually came up with a few ideas on the bus ride to campus. I'll PM them to you (it), since I don't want to ruin the surprise when it's all said and done

[it]

I did not mean full emotions, but just beginning to develop these at a basic level, fear, self preservation and hatred. I believe that our fleet should understand others as well, understand what will happen if you strategically kill men, but leave some of their comrades. I had the idea that as the story progress the Tyranids develop this understanding just a little bit. And also a story needs emotion for the enjoyment of the reader, emotions draw the reader in the most, so are sort o required. If we have simple emotions it also portrays contrast between our emotional state and tyranids base level, it will show non-warhammerers that tyranids don't think. Sort of like that droid off Alien, his emotionless being was always there, but not screamed in your face. 

[Bot]

I hate to be that guy, be here's my two cent on a couple of things.

Jun 26, 2014 5:40:44 GMT it said:

Imagine a swarm that does not only uses raw bloodshed and simple shoot n' eat tactics but truly creative, intuitive traps. Something I believe is a far more deadly foe.

But Tyranids are capable of that already. Just read about the Ghorala swarm where the Tyranids Annoy Warlord Skarfang enough to lure him into an ambush of Venomthropes and Lictors.

To think that Tyranids are mindless beasts is a grave mistake. When you fight Tyranids you face not only those before you on the battlefield, but the untold thousands which seek to surround you, which attack your supporting units and destroy your supply lines in perfect synchronicity. These aliens have shown evidence of both tactics and strategy that speaks of a far worse threat than that posed by a mere beast.

- "Marneus Augustus Calgar, Chapter Master of the Ultramarines".

So yeah, Tyranids are already way more than just shoot n' eat tactics.

Also, I can't say I'm a fan of the idea of writing an entire novel based on the Tyranid perspective of an invasion. Not only because of the challenge of preserving the Alien mindset of the Tyranids without getting to humanizing it too much, but also because I think it's going to be really dull, following unnamed Tyranid characters, which ultimate goal is to devour human/eldar/ork (etc) characters we only barely know about through tyranid analysis.

That said, I still think we can include sections of chapters where we take the view of a tyranid lictor or something like that. But most of the story probably should be taken from a human perspective (Or Ork, Eldar, etc).

Also, as much as I love surprises, I think all the authors should have a say in what happens in the overall story arc, so please do post ideas in this thread instead of just sending messages to (It). If you don't want the readers to spoil the story for themselves put your text in Black, like this.



=

Spoiler(
Hi, this text is a spoiler)
[ End of Spoiler]

[ilovethenids]

Yeah, that means that only the people who will be actively contributing in the project will be able to see the spoilers? I'll copy the text I pasted in my message to It. Also one of the reasons I'd like to try at least partially from a Tyranid's perspective is because I feel like if we wrote the story almost exclusively from the perspective of another race, developed very 3D characters with personal histories and personalities, we might have an inclination to have them emerge victorious in the end. The only novel I've read that ended in a Tyranid victory was Desert Raiders - any other Tyranid victories were short stories. All other Tyranid novels ended with the main characters winning. Even if someone doesn't feel an attachment to a character on an emotional level, they may appreciate it for other reasons (ie for clever strategies or something). Plus, if well done, I think people may start to appreciate the perspective of the Tyranids more - they don't kill for any other reason than to consume. They don't feel joy when they kill. They are not motivated by personal vendettas or hate or a sense of superiority; while they are extremely intelligent and capable of complex strategical maneuvers, they are far more like animals than people. Tyranids consuming a planet is like a lion killing a gazelle - they're doing it for survival. That's part of why I chose them - out of all the factions in 40K, they have no sense of morality and thus cannot be truly "evil" because in order to be "evil" one must be doing things they know to be wrong.

[it]

I think it will be good if we do it like 'a song of ice and fire', as in how each chapter is from the perspective of different characters, this gives a much broader vie and understanding of what is going on. spoiler ( I like your idea, especially as it is not just two races, because often in war there are many contributing armies. I was also wondering if any of you had read about the possibility's of Eldar and Tau origins, that the Eldar sensed the coming of deamons from the warp so they created the tau which completely stay out of the warp to continue the battle once the Eldar had gone exinct. I was thinking we could use this premise for our story.) end of spoiler

[ilovethenids]

I like the idea of different chapters from different characters, although I think there needs to be a limit - if you keep switching to a new character every single chapter, it's going to be far too difficult to follow along with the story and get attached to the characters. I think that altering between say, 3-4 characters, chapter 1 being character A, then chap 2 character B, 3 character C, 4 character D, and then repeating the cycle.

[ilovethenids]

Bumping this because I want to see if we're still going to be doing this. If not I may just take my idea and work on it myself, but i don't want to do that if we're still planning on doing a group effort project.