there are quite a lot which are not particularly good (including mine)
You sell yourself way too short, my friend. Smokeheart is IMO in the top echelon of the fan fics here at AJB!
I second that! It is definitely one of the best fan fics on this site.
May I also recommend The Vanguard Secret by Neal Kydd to all those who haven't yet read it. It is without doubt one of the finest fan fics I have read.
One question I wanna' ask is where do we go with this, as we've touched up on a little bit of everything recently, with the Hollywood-esque grand save-the-world story which then shaped into a more small-scale villain vs. Bond. I was thinking we could stay at the small-scale level, not necessarily having Bond save the world from nuclear destruction or obliteration by a satellite. Perhaps (with CR coming out), we could have Bond deal with something involving sports gambling (ATS, O/U), or perhaps we could have Bond try to take down some drug smuggler...
Here's a thought: How about some sort of 'Anthology' of short stories ala For Your Eyes Only or Octopussy? I know that many of the Fan Fics are short stories, but maybe an 'collaborative' collection would be an interesting addition to AJB. Anyway, it's just a thought.
I rather like that idea Daren. I think CBN do something like that.
The question would be whether all the stories submitted would be included in the anthology or if there would be a contest, and the best ones would be published? I rather like the idea. It sounds like a nice idea to me - it might tempt me to pen another 007 novella if we decided to go for this idea.
If Novel 6 does turn out to be another collaborative like the previous 5, I thought up of an idea: With the Olympics not that far away, why not have Bond go to the Olympics, possibly to stop some terrorist attack or perhaps a platform of which he uses to further acquaint himself with the main villain?
(I know, hooray for attempting to breathe into a near-dead horse...)
I also like Daren's suggestion of an anthology of original 007 short stories by various authors.
Speaking only for myself,and in deference to Scaramanga 1's position as the team leader on all of the previous collaborative novels,I'd hoped we'd be able to wait for him to return before we went back to writing the novels again.
However,although I know that Scaramanga 1 will be coming back to AJB, I cannot say with any certainty precisely when he'll be here once more.And with that said, I think our members have been very patient considering the unusual and entirely unforeseen circumstances regarding his absence.
There's really nothing to stop a group of writers from assembling a team of their own and writing a collaborative novel completely independent of Scaramanga 1's involvement.
As always,all it'll really require are enthusiastic and creative volunteers who are organized and committed to the task at hand.Just decide upon a leader,select the members of the writing team,establish two threads--one for sharing ideas and the other for the story itself--and come up with a schedule and a deadline.Then go for it.;)
One caveat:and this has always been true for all of the collaborative novels of the past--once any new team book has begun, it should always be completed.:)
One idea that was popping up in my head was to have Bond go target a terrorist organization that's receiving it's armaments directly from a major weapons manufacturer.
Another would be to have a very loose variant of CR (where Bond has to gamble to financially ruin some WD wannabe)
(I know, I should have probably posted this in the newer, related thread, but more ideas have been placed here)
Jot all of your ideas down.If everything goes according to plan, Scaramanga 1 will be back at AJB in April.:)
I've spoken to Scaramanga 1 and he should be back first week in April. I'm not sure just how much time he will have available to devote to the next fanfic - perhaps a team will write it and he will oversee and edit it where neccessary.
The name "Viper" seems to stick out for a Bond girl for some reason. Just thought I'd drop it in here...
scaramanga1The English RivieraPosts: 845Chief of Staff
Hi guys I'm back! only on dial-up at the mo though -but will certainly be helping sort out novel 6 soon. So watch this space as I get back into the swing of things.
Good to see you again Mr Scaramanga. I thought that maybe 007 had got rid of you. . .
I sure hope to see Novel 6 get off the ground soon. There's been a bit of a fan fiction drought in the last year.
scaramanga1The English RivieraPosts: 845Chief of Staff
don't worry novel six will start soon -plus there are a couple of other fanfics on the way including one I have written whilst being offline -so soon there will be plenty for everyone again.
I would just like to give you all my heartfelt wish of good luck for Novel 6.
I had a great time collaborating with those of you on Novel's 4 & 5, and it looks like the production on 6 is really starting to fire up.
I look forward to reading your work!
Drawn Out Dad.
Independent, one-shot comic books from the outskirts of Melbourne, Australia.
twitter.com/DrawnOutDad
Hi guys I'm back! only on dial-up at the mo though -but will certainly be helping sort out novel 6 soon. So watch this space as I get back into the swing of things.
WB Scaramanga1!
scaramanga1The English RivieraPosts: 845Chief of Staff
edited April 2007
thanks for the welcome back guys! I am in the process of adding the final touches to a 007 story called THE SPIDER AND THE FLY and will start on novel six properly come the second half of next month. But in the meantime I think we should start looking at locations that we want to include in the tale -and maybe even think of a decade to set the tale in! The reason I say decade is that it would be interesting for the team to write a story set in a certain period -so interesting background things can be added -details of the time such as fashion, music -politics poular foods well anything really that sets the tone of the tale.
so anyway I look foreward to seeing any suggestions anyone might have.
Firstly, glad to hear that a new fan fiction is about to hit the shelves. And judging by Sc1's previous work, it should be something special.
As for novel 6 being a period piece, I like that idea. I'll give some thought to ideas about period and location etc. and let you know what I come up with.
And judging by Sc1's previous work, it should be something special.
Thanks for the endorsment my friend -I hope I don't dissappoint - The Spider and The Fly is different in a few ways from my other work -but soon returns to familiar ground and the formula we all love.
I'm just polishing it a little now and will probably be passing it on to Si in a week or so.
As for novel six I'm excited about getting into the swing of creating a tale that builds tension etc and delivers what we all enjoy so much -but what I look foreward to most is working again with likeminded people who enjoy creating pieces of work that can be shared with everyone.
Ideas for some locations... I was thinking some popular Hollywood-like locations such as LA or NY, but y'all're prolly sick of having Bond in America again.
Don't the locations depend on what the film is about?
Story starts with theme and character so we should work out the theme and sketch our villain and his goals first - then the settings will follow from there.
So who is our villain? What does he want? What drives him? What does he fear, hate, love, want?
In CR Bond's intervention in Le Chiffre's business (by killing the two terorists) precipitates the meeting at the casino.
Here's the basic process theory:
Why?
Who/What?
Where/When/How?
scaramanga1The English RivieraPosts: 845Chief of Staff
Yes themes are important etc -but with the past five novels we have always looked at locations first so as to help focus the writing team on things to research that then inspire themes that develop into the general plot. Its sort of a way of brainstorming -if we have places we'd like to see 007 then we can use any of those as a starting point. Remember when you write as part of a team it is different from a solo project. Your own personal ideas may conflict with other peoples that is why we have to find a common ground and finding suitable locations is a good place to start -as we already know 007 will be facing some sort of master criminal and that there are likely to be various henchmen and women that he will be up against. Also if you look back at source and Ian Fleming -location is extremely important to a 007 tale.
I was thinking that it was time for a more "lesser-scale" villain as opposed to the WD types that Bond tends to confront all too often.
I had a story idea (it was actually for a fic I was beginning on) where a black-market weapons dealer has been mass-shipping stolen military weapons and M sends 002 to investigate (with the previous statement being a supposition based on military weapons suddenly vanishing). While 002 is able to confirm the stolen weapons, she fails to make it out alive, and as a result M (reluctantly) sends 007 to discover what happened to 002 (reluctantly considering Bond may turn things into a personal vendetta because of 002 being one of his "women" on a previous assignment).
scaramanga1The English RivieraPosts: 845Chief of Staff
Feels like putting the cart before the horse to me...
The idea that story starts with character and theme isnt mine, you'll find it in any textbook on writing.
There were some posts on this thread a while back where I listed some possible Bond plots - Id like to hear some ideas of plots from the writing team.
You are right but believe me when you writing a collaborative novel with maybe a team of say eight writers the coventional way of doing things doesn't always work. There are five full legnth novels that have all been written here and they have worked successfully due to the way things have been sorted out beforehand and locations has always been one of the first things we have looked at. I'm sure that those that have taken part in the writng of the previous novels will corroborate what I am saying. It is important that if you are to be part of the team that you understand that writing a story online in the way we do here it is an almost and organic process, and that is why there will be two threads running together-one which is the actual story and another that is the suggestions and criticism thread.
So if working in this manner doesn't feel right then perhaps solo projects are your better option. Either way it is always good to have fan-fiction writers willing to contribute things to the site.
I was thinking that it was time for a more "lesser-scale" villain as opposed to the WD types that Bond tends to confront all too often.
I totally agree with that. It is certainly my preference when it comes to villains.
What I was thinking for novel 6, is that it would be nice if Bond has to do some serious spying just to find out who the villain is. As opposed to something like Casino Royale, where Bond is told about the villain and is sent to stop him. I would like to have a plot where Bond has to do a bit of detective work, piecing together bits of information to find out who the villain is, and have the villain be a nobody (i.e not the type of person who is on 10 most wanted list or something like that) just to make life harder for Bond. Another thing that I think would be nice to work into the story would be something to do with signals intelligence and cryptography. We could have Bond working with someone from GCHQ trying to work out how the villain communicates with his network of evil.
As for the villain's plot, I don't have any bright ideas at the moment, but I just thought I'd share these ideas at this point.
Comments
I second that! It is definitely one of the best fan fics on this site.
May I also recommend The Vanguard Secret by Neal Kydd to all those who haven't yet read it. It is without doubt one of the finest fan fics I have read.
The question would be whether all the stories submitted would be included in the anthology or if there would be a contest, and the best ones would be published? I rather like the idea. It sounds like a nice idea to me - it might tempt me to pen another 007 novella if we decided to go for this idea.
(I know, hooray for attempting to breathe into a near-dead horse...)
Speaking only for myself,and in deference to Scaramanga 1's position as the team leader on all of the previous collaborative novels,I'd hoped we'd be able to wait for him to return before we went back to writing the novels again.
However,although I know that Scaramanga 1 will be coming back to AJB, I cannot say with any certainty precisely when he'll be here once more.And with that said, I think our members have been very patient considering the unusual and entirely unforeseen circumstances regarding his absence.
There's really nothing to stop a group of writers from assembling a team of their own and writing a collaborative novel completely independent of Scaramanga 1's involvement.
As always,all it'll really require are enthusiastic and creative volunteers who are organized and committed to the task at hand.Just decide upon a leader,select the members of the writing team,establish two threads--one for sharing ideas and the other for the story itself--and come up with a schedule and a deadline.Then go for it.;)
One caveat:and this has always been true for all of the collaborative novels of the past--once any new team book has begun, it should always be completed.:)
Another would be to have a very loose variant of CR (where Bond has to gamble to financially ruin some WD wannabe)
(I know, I should have probably posted this in the newer, related thread, but more ideas have been placed here)
I've spoken to Scaramanga 1 and he should be back first week in April. I'm not sure just how much time he will have available to devote to the next fanfic - perhaps a team will write it and he will oversee and edit it where neccessary.
Bond battles a gourmand who makes the best pate in the world. Title: "The Long Liver"
Bond battles a manufacturer of spirits who is obsessed with making the perfect martini. Title: Shaken Not Stirred"
I sure hope to see Novel 6 get off the ground soon. There's been a bit of a fan fiction drought in the last year.
WB, BTW
I had a great time collaborating with those of you on Novel's 4 & 5, and it looks like the production on 6 is really starting to fire up.
I look forward to reading your work!
Independent, one-shot comic books from the outskirts of Melbourne, Australia.
twitter.com/DrawnOutDad
And, to echo everyone else's sentiments, it is good to see you back, SC1 {[]
WB Scaramanga1!
so anyway I look foreward to seeing any suggestions anyone might have.
As for novel 6 being a period piece, I like that idea. I'll give some thought to ideas about period and location etc. and let you know what I come up with.
(Yes, I know, continuity is a very loose term in the world of 007...)
Thanks for the endorsment my friend -I hope I don't dissappoint - The Spider and The Fly is different in a few ways from my other work -but soon returns to familiar ground and the formula we all love.
I'm just polishing it a little now and will probably be passing it on to Si in a week or so.
As for novel six I'm excited about getting into the swing of creating a tale that builds tension etc and delivers what we all enjoy so much -but what I look foreward to most is working again with likeminded people who enjoy creating pieces of work that can be shared with everyone.
What about Canada or the Nethlerlands?
Story starts with theme and character so we should work out the theme and sketch our villain and his goals first - then the settings will follow from there.
So who is our villain? What does he want? What drives him? What does he fear, hate, love, want?
In CR Bond's intervention in Le Chiffre's business (by killing the two terorists) precipitates the meeting at the casino.
Here's the basic process theory:
Why?
Who/What?
Where/When/How?
The idea that story starts with character and theme isnt mine, you'll find it in any textbook on writing.
There were some posts on this thread a while back where I listed some possible Bond plots - Id like to hear some ideas of plots from the writing team.
I had a story idea (it was actually for a fic I was beginning on) where a black-market weapons dealer has been mass-shipping stolen military weapons and M sends 002 to investigate (with the previous statement being a supposition based on military weapons suddenly vanishing). While 002 is able to confirm the stolen weapons, she fails to make it out alive, and as a result M (reluctantly) sends 007 to discover what happened to 002 (reluctantly considering Bond may turn things into a personal vendetta because of 002 being one of his "women" on a previous assignment).
You are right but believe me when you writing a collaborative novel with maybe a team of say eight writers the coventional way of doing things doesn't always work. There are five full legnth novels that have all been written here and they have worked successfully due to the way things have been sorted out beforehand and locations has always been one of the first things we have looked at. I'm sure that those that have taken part in the writng of the previous novels will corroborate what I am saying. It is important that if you are to be part of the team that you understand that writing a story online in the way we do here it is an almost and organic process, and that is why there will be two threads running together-one which is the actual story and another that is the suggestions and criticism thread.
So if working in this manner doesn't feel right then perhaps solo projects are your better option. Either way it is always good to have fan-fiction writers willing to contribute things to the site.
I totally agree with that. It is certainly my preference when it comes to villains.
What I was thinking for novel 6, is that it would be nice if Bond has to do some serious spying just to find out who the villain is. As opposed to something like Casino Royale, where Bond is told about the villain and is sent to stop him. I would like to have a plot where Bond has to do a bit of detective work, piecing together bits of information to find out who the villain is, and have the villain be a nobody (i.e not the type of person who is on 10 most wanted list or something like that) just to make life harder for Bond. Another thing that I think would be nice to work into the story would be something to do with signals intelligence and cryptography. We could have Bond working with someone from GCHQ trying to work out how the villain communicates with his network of evil.
As for the villain's plot, I don't have any bright ideas at the moment, but I just thought I'd share these ideas at this point.