Chatterbox: Inkwell

What if some of us, together, created a story? Like, not one book or anything, but like a complex story with a world and lots of characters and stuff and no one narrator, and we wouldn't necessarily write it out in one big thing but we could do various little things to illustrate the story.  

submitted by Feline Fantasy
(January 18, 2021 - 3:45 pm)

That would be cool! Would it be a mmorpg like World of warcraft?

submitted by Lazerbat
(January 18, 2021 - 4:14 pm)

Oh, that sounds cool! I'm definitely going to participate.

First Question: What genre should it be?

I think it should be Fanticy with elements of Adventure, Mystery, and Dystopian.  

submitted by MoonHalo, Neverland
(January 18, 2021 - 4:32 pm)

Yeah, sounds cool! I like the idea of fantasy--maybe fantasy that also has modern technology? Urban fanatasy, basically.

submitted by Sybill, age ???, Ikea
(January 18, 2021 - 4:53 pm)

Ay. I'd love to take part in this. I've had only a little experience in worldbuilding, but I think I'd be able to have fun with this! My personal opinion for the genre would be to make a fantasy world, but I'm fine with any genre. 

submitted by Dusk S., age ????, ????
(January 18, 2021 - 4:55 pm)

To answer your question, Lazer, it wouldn't really be an RPG because we wouldn't be roleplaying. I was thinking of it more as a story we create together by discussing what should happen and also world build. There would probably be a main story that has a bunch of storylines and characters to it which different people could focus on and make art, write short stories for, etc..

I also think it should be fantasy. My only current idea would be about "stopping a war" because I feel like that is something that could have various interconnecting strings all over but I feel like that is done often. Maybe we should figure out a basic idea like that at the same time as genre?

submitted by The Fictionalist
(January 18, 2021 - 5:22 pm)

I love love love this idea! I think an urban fantasy of some type would be cool...but I feel like there should be something to set it apart from a stereotypical fantasy thing...hrm...any ideas? Brain is blank right now.

submitted by Azalea, age 14, Somewhere only we know
(January 18, 2021 - 5:25 pm)

I love this idea! I do like the idea of "stopping a war" or something like that! I also agree wiht a fantasy genre. 

submitted by Cynthia M, age 12, USofA
(January 18, 2021 - 5:49 pm)

Here's an idea: 

The steryotypical lord of the rings fantasy world, but it's in the modern day. Castles are made of steel. Horses are sports cars. Magic has almost become a sport. But magic quickly starts being used in awful crimes, and gangs are mass producing wands and staffs. The world is slowly descending into chaos. 

submitted by Lazerbat
(January 18, 2021 - 5:56 pm)

I definitely agree with Aza about going away from stereotypical fanticy. I think there should be a world but no plot. We can create a history and current events, but I don't really like the idea of  having just one problem in a world. Think about earth. Do we only face one problem at a time? No, we always have hundreds of them, not counting personal problems. I think we should create this world, create groups of people, religions, idols, countries, speicies, types of magic (if it has any), and other things. Then we can add small stories in the world about the people in.

submitted by MoonHalo, Neverland
(January 18, 2021 - 5:58 pm)

I love worldbuilding, but fantasy isn't my strong point in writing, so I don't get to do it that much, so I would love to do this. 

submitted by Twilight
(January 18, 2021 - 6:29 pm)

Here's an idea--

Lazerbat's idea is the "main" problem. But like MoonHalo said, there are also many smaller problems--possibly related to the main one.

For example, if these gangs are the ones making all the money off selling magic, more "good" sources of magic sales (shops, etc.) could be going bankrupt, which might mean an international economy problem.

And also, maybe some problems arise from people trying to solve the problem. For example, maybe there's a group who thinks the best way to fix the problem is to completely ban magic. Maybe there's another who thinks everyone should get magical supplies and that they should be free. And maybe, at the same time, there are countries who are going to war. Maybe because the gangs are using the money they're making to like, build an army or something, so their leaders can take over--so obviously there are groups trying to fight them, and maybe there are corrupt governments who are getting paid by the gangs so the governments will give the gangs power. So with any main plot you pick, there are automatically going to be smaller problems. 

submitted by Sybill, age ???, Ikea
(January 18, 2021 - 6:39 pm)

@Halo my idea was that there ould be multiple problems but all tied toegther. It wouldn't be, like, everything that is happening in the world, but it would go into more than most, say, book series would. I want there to be story as well as a world, though, still.

I'm not entirely sure about the modernized fantasy things . . . maybe there could be a clear divide between cities and villages like that, where cities are advanced and villages are falling behind, that would be cool. The crimes idea would be cool too -- like I said earlier, we could have many problems tying together. To put a less often done spin on the stopping a war thing, we could instead have the world in a state of uncertainty. Some say that there is, in fact, war; others say that there is not, there kingdoms or whatever they will be are at peace. Some are trying to start/continue a war for valid reasons (maybe the crimes could go here?) and others are trying to create/maintain peace for valid reasons.

submitted by Feline Fantasy
(January 18, 2021 - 9:14 pm)

I love this idea! Lazer's idea that Sybill elaborated on is super interesting... maybe there's rivalries between different magic gangs? Maybe there's laws against magic people running for any tpe of public office and dragons and other mythical beings are being freely hunted for sport? This idea is awesome, I'm joining and can't wait to see where this goes!

submitted by Silver Crystal, age Infinity, Milky Way
(January 18, 2021 - 10:06 pm)

Yesss totally doing this :D

submitted by Honeybee
(January 18, 2021 - 11:25 pm)

Ooh, these are all great ideas! I'm definitely joining. My mind is already starting to come up with characters XD

submitted by Peppermint
(January 18, 2021 - 11:31 pm)