Multimedia Shared Universe?

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sunandshadow

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I could not figure out which subforum to ask in, but I somehow ended up in the position of starting a new shared universe project, but I don't have all that much experiences with shared universes, so I want to ask about others' experiences with this kind of thing. I gather that I need to set up an introductory webpage and a forum, and explain how editorial oversight of projects within the universe will work, and what we want to do for archiving free works within the universe and selling for-profit works within the universe, then I have to recruit participants... the administrative aspects seem a bit overwhelming. :idea:
 

Pterofan

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I'm going to be watching this thread with great interest. I'm on a blog (Shapeshifter Seductions) with four other romance writers, and we sort of fell into a shared universe format. Together, the five of us created a town full of shapeshifters and peopled it with recurring characters. Our individual blog posts are (free read) flash scenes depicting life in the town. We freely use each other's characters, not always with permission or warning. One of my characters just got married in another writer's post. Didn't see that one coming.

We haven't really sat down and discussed it, but we've kind of agreed any novels written in this universe will have to be self-published, to avoid any claims of rights ownership or plagiarism by publishers. Two writers have already self-pubbed stories set in our universe. I'm working on one myself, and yes, it does include characters I didn't create. I'll probably run it by the rest of the group before I self-publish, to make sure no feelings get hurt.

We don't have any contracts or legal agreements in place, but that would be an excellent idea. What would happen if somebody's book suddenly took off and became a best-seller? Are the rest of us entitled to a share of the royalties? That should probably be decided upon before we go any further.
 
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