Mad Utopia

Writing In a New Era

Today I launch the first in what I hope to be a series of explorations into some innovative writing and publishing projects. As mentioned Monday [add the link], there is a lot of upheaval and turmoil in the the publishing world, with new challenges faced by everyone from the writer right on up through and including major publishing houses. But challenges mean opportunity. Today I discuss an innovative collaborative writing project, Chinese Whisperings, with co-editors Jodi Cleghorn and Paul Anderson.

Mad Utopia: What is Chinese Whisperings?
Jodi & Paul: Chinese Whisperings is an anthology of interconnected short stories by ten emerging writers. The first volume, The Red Book was created using these guidelines:

1. Each writer was to take a secondary character from the preceding story and make them the main character in their story.
2. Each story had to reference back to the story preceding it.

Mad Utopia: Who is involved?
Jodi & Paul: Jodi Cleghorn and Paul Anderson are the founders of both eMergent Publishing and the Chinese Whisperings anthology, as well as being the editors and two of the contributing writers.

Our other writers for this first volume, The Red Book, are:

• Jason Coggins
• Annie Evett
• Paul Servini
• Tina Hunter
• Dale Challener Roe
• Jasmine Gallant
• Rob Diaz II
• Emma Newman

Mad Utopia: What was the genesis for the project?
JODI: All great projects need two things in the beginning – a great idea and someone to believe in it. In the case of Chinese Whisperings it was lots of tiny ideas which I had filed away in the “too hard for now basket” which then cross-pollinated each other.

To grow the idea I needed to share it, to see if others thought it could possibly work. I enlisted the help first of my partner Dave, followed by my Dad but it was Paul I really needed. Was it possible for ten writers to write ten stories and weave them together? Yes, he said. “It is crazy enough to work.” Along the way we got distracted and eMergent Publishing was also born.

Looking back now, without Paul, there would be no Chinese Whisperings. The task of writing, editing, designing, administrating, personnel management and publishing has been colossal and beyond anything I could realistically have done alone.

PAUL: Jodi and I had been kicking around a business idea for the better part of a year, but knew we needed a relatively low-risk project to test the waters with. In a previous NaNoWriMo Jodi had toyed with the idea of an incredibly ambitious series of interconnected short stories. We combined that concept with our own proto-business – eMergent Publishing – and Chinese Whisperings was born.

In many respects it was also born of a frustration at the publishing market, the perception that people won’t buy short stories the way they will buy novels, and if you didn’t fit in to the rigid boxes the major publishing houses assign you to, you wouldn’t get picked up, published or promoted.

We decided that authors had to take ownership of their creativity, and market themselves and their words. Of course, this also entails a larger share of the pie for the writers

Mad Utopia: What do you hope to achieve in the course of executing the project?
PAUL: First and foremost, we want to create an anthology that is exciting, well-written and well-received, one that sells and, if it doesn’t turn a profit, at least breaks even.

We want to raise the profile of our writers, all of whom are just starting out.

We want to generate enough enthusiasm and interest to keep this project going for several more volumes of anthologies, with a larger stable of writers involved. Eventually we’d like to have two volumes coming out each year; one from the Northern Hemisphere and one from the Southern Hemisphere.

Finally, we want to prove our idea isn’t crazy, so we can move on to Phase Two of eMergent Publishing…

JODI: My big hope from the start was to create an anthology which stood out from the rest – one which has readers excitedly anticipating the end of one story and the beginning of the next. If one person reading our anthology falls into this category I will be happy. If hundreds or thousands do – I’ll be ecstatic.

The second thing I wanted to do was create an opportunity for collective writing. Paul and I have both written collaboratively but the opportunities beyond blogging are rare. Collaborative writing is fun, crazy and it pushes most, if not all of your buttons, but for the brave there are so many benefits to writing this way, as most of our writers have fond.

The next thing was to value the input of writers. We didn’t want to just “buy” a story but for the anthology to be an “ongoing financial concern” for all involved. Each writer gets 8% of the sale price, with the remaining 20% going to cover the cost of administration. This is an important part of eMergent Publishing for the future – writers getting the lion share of the sale price of their work.

Lastly we wanted to market a product which would be available for purchase in “your local currency.” This means when readers go to purchase the electronic form of the anthology from our website they will be able to so in Australian, US or Canadian dollars, the Pound or the Euro. We’re also considering other currencies.

Mad Utopia: What challenges had to be overcome to achieve success?
PAUL: The challenges have been numerous. Jodi has edited non-fiction before, but not fiction. I had never edited anything before! That has been a steep learning curve. We swap the “good editor” “bad editor” caps around.

The logistics of such a project have also had their own particular issues. You can plot timelines as much as you like (twelve times in our case) but Life Gets In The Way. Personal problems, computer disasters, misunderstandings – the whole gamut of problems that any project could encounter have arisen at various points.

The project features 10 writers, but recruiting 10 people was tough, as was retaining them. Since inception, 13 writers have been attached to the project.

We can look back and laugh at the original 90-day project timeline – but it is sobering to think that originally this was all going to be over by the start of August…

JODI: It sounds quite silly in many ways – but time differences have been really challenging. I’m in Brisbane, Paul is in London, the rest of our writers are scattered across the planet. As I write this the three Aussie writers are awake (unless Jason did night shift last night); the Pauls, Emma and Jasmine in the UK/Europe have been asleep for hours. Dale, Rob and Tina in North America are getting ready for bed.

This means three things – final dates for things have to be managed from a last person to be in there point of view – which means for me half way through the following day. Secondly conversations in real time are difficult. For Paul and I to meet up and talk it’s meant, until recently, one of us has had to sacrifice sleep.

PAUL: Usually Jodi…

JODI: All I am saying is it is a good thing we Skype and not video conference at 5am. Lastly, it is rare everyone involved is running at full, alert, mental capacity. The fact we’ve got this far, given this fact, continues to astound and amaze me.

The other challenge has been combining three opinions of a piece of writing into one final piece. Most of the writers involved are previously unpublished, few have had editorial comment or guidance and many have been challenged by having their work edited – in some cases quite extensively. It has meant, for us as editors, supporting, nurturing and encouraging our writers, opening channels to allow three way conversations and giving everyone permission to say “no” if they don’t like the edits or the direction. I’ve learnt editing is often more about listening than it is about telling.

Chinese Whisperings: The Red Book is available for purchase as an electronic download or via POD from December 1st. If you have questions about Chinese Whisperings, eMergnet Publishing, or collaborative writing in general please don’t hesitate to join the discussion in the comments section. Jodi and Paul will be happy to discuss their approach to Writing In a New Era.

Jodi Cleghorn

Jodi Cleghorn is an Australian writer, based in Brisbane , who works across genres. Influenced by theme (and the voices in her head) her stories fly under the thematic banners of love, loss, betrayal, the dynamics of power, time and the eternal question what if? Fiction and nonfiction collaborations in 2008 spawned a new respect for the process of writing, the value of co-writing and a renewed admiration for the talents of fellow writers, ultimately leading Jodi to found Chinese Whisperings with Paul Anderson. You can begin your exploration of Jodi’s creative world at Writing with Passionate Abandon.

Paul Anderson

Paul Anderson is a Scottish writer who lives and works in London. The work isn’t writing, and it doesn’t provide a living, but you can’t have everything. He writes urban fantasy, gothic horror and “stuff that freaks his wife out”. Chinese Whisperings will be his first publication as an editor, and also as a writer. It may not even be his last.