Andrew vs. The Collective
A Fiction project in San Francisco, CA by Andrew Fitzgerald ·
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Update #13: "Possibility" - Story #6
Posted on March 16, 2010
Wow. That was an epic weekend of writing. Two full days of hammering away at my keyboard and then all of last night editing. And this story is, as promised, EPIC!
As promised/threatened this one turned out long. I would recommend that you not read it in HTML, that you print out the PDF to curl up on the couch with, but the environmental impact of all those printer pages gives me pause. Heck, I’m tempted to just tell you to not read it at all...and wait for the forthcoming young adult book that will take this story, flesh it out and clean it up.
Woah, what’s that? A book? Yes, Collective – of all our joint efforts, I think this one's got the most potential to become it's own novel! (Unfortunately I am exhausted of writing so it’s not going to happen soon. But this is definitely going on the Idea Shelf.)
The writing of this story had two phases. The first (the day of Saturday) was when things serendipitously fit together and my mind spiraled out with the possibilities into a whole new universe to explore. The second (the day of Sunday) was when I got over half way through it and I wanted to go back and re-edit the whole goddamned thing. It wasn't until the story got to Chicago, for example, that I realized it could have been better served by having Isla hail from say present-day suburban Kansas instead of the valley of Gwyndyr. Alas and alack. That's for the forthcoming young adult novel!
A few awards for this week:
The two hardest to highlight in the text: Jonathan Ryan wanted me to show a little sympathy for the devil - allow the audience to empathize with the villain. Travis Flournoy wanted a a fake situation in which "they aren't sure if the -wrong' is fake-fake, fake, or actually real."
Setting: Alternate universe Chicago from Gavin. There was so much detail in this submission I just barely squeezed 60% of it in.
Character: I know she was reluctant to give her up, but Steph Whiteside's assassin who makes knitting needles out of the bones of her enemies was awesome!
Sentence: From Sarah Dennis: "I know from personal experience that you can lose a lot of things in bed--marbles, teeth, your virginity--but no one in the history of this world or any other has ever lost that before!!"
Word: From the setting of Robin Sloan: "were-lizard". Now that's an image that sticks!
This week's soundtrack:
Wolf Parade - Dear Sons and Daughters of Holy Ghosts
It pains me to write these concluding lines to the sixth story update. Yes, I'm exhausted and cannot wait to spend a weekend not writing. But I have also enjoyed this process so much - and I have all of you to thank for that. You, The Collective, your creativity week to week was so inspiring. You are an intimidating bunch of ideasmiths! I expect this won't be the last project like this I undertake - and I hope you'll join me in whatever the next one is. (Or invite me along if you decide to do something similar yourself!)
Sometime this week you'll get a request from me for some information about how to get you your copy of the book. I certainly hope you enjoy it.
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Funding Successful
This project successfully raised its funding goal on March 12, 2010.
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CHALLENGER: You get to submit one adjective per story. // You'll receive: You get to follow along with the project with all of the emails and digital PDFs backers receive. (But that's it. No novel.)
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ADVERSARY: You get to submit one noun per story. // You'll receive: All the emails and digital PDFs AND a copy of my very first novel The Collective.
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FOE: You get to submit one sentence per story. (Think about the power you'll wield!) // You'll receive: Emails and PDFs, obviously. And I will mail you a SIGNED copy of my book.
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ENEMY: You get to submit a character. Give me a name and as much or as little of a description as you want. (You can have some fun with this one: Your friends or family, historical figures, even yourself!) // You'll receive: Emails and PDFs and the signed copy of The Collective.
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16 Backers
NEMESIS: You get to submit a setting in which some of the action has to take place. As with the character you can give me as much or as little as you want. // You'll receive: Everything above AND (here's the big one) a signed printed book of the six stories making up Andrew vs. The Collective! I'm not planning on making this one available for sale - so this will be a very rare commodity (that you helped to write!).
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EVIL DOPPLEGANGER: Send me an email. No, seriously. You can give me any direction you want. Anything you can come up with. Just send me an email. // You'll receive: Everything above and I will include your name in the acknowledgments of The Collective as you are truly a giving benefactor for my writing career.
Project By
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I'm a media-creator and journalist. I've been trying to write novels since I was five years old (Hardy Boys: Case of the Pirate Treasure) but I just finished my very first one (The Collective). When I'm not excitedly hammering out first drafts or slogging through re-writes, I do online news for San Francisco-based Current TV.
Bravo my young imaginative friend! You have made Tuesdays so "PIZZA" and I will miss the anticipation of another story. I can't wait to read the book.
I am printing these out with a typewriter font and binding them, they will be placed on Nick's library bookshelf along with the autographed copy of your novel (after I read it!). Thanks again and I cannot wait for your next project.
Congratulations, never doubted that you would surpass your goal. Look forward to reading The Collective.
Congrats! Glad I got in on this before it was too late!