The history behind the saga ‘Exiled, A New Beginning’



It started a few years ago when the Writing Lines Group used to hold weekly ‘Chat’ nights. Any member who wished to could join in the discussions which usually pertained to this genre we love to write and read about.

An idea was introduced about us writing a story together. Anyone interested was invited to take part in what we at the time thought would be a short-lived activity. You can only imagine our shock when the story took on a life of its own. Mind you, the story did not get to point where it is today without hitting some bumps in the road.

Several time frames, settings and story lines were put forth. As a small group of about sixteen or eighteen members, we voted on these and then on a title.

We began with twelve writers who each introduced anywhere from one to four characters. We had thought it would just be a question of everyone taking part in what we later learned was similar to a role-playing scenario.

We quickly discovered that was not going to work. The story was moving along too fast and it became necessary to set up a few guidelines. We decided that to start with each writer could only submit up to four characters in order for all to have a fair chance without the number of characters becoming overwhelming. Needless to say, this decision was not welcomed by all and as a result we lost one of our participants.

Because of the rapid development of the story, a couple of other writers had to remove themselves and their characters. By this time, we were getting ready to post our first chapter and had to delete those characters. Fortunately, most were replaced by other writers willing to pick up the slack. This did not present a problem at this early stage of the story. However, that would soon change as the story progressed and chapters got posted.

So another guideline came into being. If a writer was no longer able to participate, his/her characters would become the responsibility of the Mods (who will be named later). We soon found ourselves down to eight writers and chapter two on the drawing board.

RL caught up with two more of our writers and they had to drop out, leaving their characters to be taken over by the Mods. By the way, the Mods had the option of giving the newly acquired characters to any of the remaining writers who were willing to take them on. By chapter four we were down to six writers. This number eventually dropped down to five and finally resulted in the entire story being revamped and two of the characters being totally replaced.

As readers, you may wonder how we got the story to flow so evenly…as if there was only one writer. Well it wasn’t without growing pains and a great deal of cooperation on the part of each writer. As parts of the story were submitted by each writer, the parts were reviewed and adjusted to fit the storyline by our two betas and our ‘mesher’.

Each writer had to be open to his/her submitted part being changed in some way. Many things were taken into account. Words, events, mannerisms, songs, published works were looked into to make sure they fit the era of 1880.

For instance, words such as ‘hooked on’ or ‘flying high’ when referring to addiction could not be used. Although truth be told, addiction and withdrawal were not actually spoken in reference to drug usage before the 1920s. However, there really were no adequate substitutes so we were left with little choice but to use addiction and withdrawal. Medical developments were also studied in great detail. Most of this research was done by the Mesher who for the most part was unrestricted by RL pressures.

One of the tricks we used to put out a scene was handing out ‘assignments’. An example of this would be the discussion about what became known as ‘the switching’ by the younger men. This entire scene was done by one writer and the other writers were asked if they were comfortable with how their characters were written. These assignments were handed out several times during the development of this saga.

We presently have only three writers left, and so future chapters may be a bit slow in coming. But rest assured, we are working on continuing the story. 


Now to list who was who, and who wrote who for the most part.

MODS: Mike, Jodie and Deb

BETAS: Mike and Teri

MESHER: Jodie


WRITERS & THEIR CHARACTERS:

Mike

Thomas Fields
Dr. Lakota Evans
Gille Wheaton
Troy Harris +
Levi Harris +

Teri

Wayne Bentley
Wesley Bentley
Samuel Boyd (in part) + *

Deb

Larry West
Quentin Bradley +
Halyward Spencer
Kelby Curtis (in part) + *

Jo

Kevin McCaw
Dallas Carter

Jodie

Galen Manara
Aiden Shea
Yancey Hayes
Raythe de Torgul +
Spyke Lambert +
Walker Drummond +
Thad Sawyer +
Jordan Adams +
Brock Foxx +
Brodie Baker +
Seth Edwards +
Nathan O’Sullivan +
Hendrik Van Der Berg +
Preston Chadwick +
Mitchell Wolfe +
Alfred O’Sullivan
Wallace Henderson
Shay and Jay Liang
Kelby Curtis (in part) + *
Samuel Boyd (in part) + *


(It is easy to see who had a lot of time on their hands. LOL
And who probably had the most fun.)

Additional note:

*Indicates a replacement character
+ Indicates a character originally introduced by another writer



2 comments:

  1. wow what a job you have have done and so seamlessly. The story is incredible and you all have nurtured it and made it real to all of us. thank you so very muh

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