More than once, I’ve toyed with the idea of an “open-source” IP — a fictional universe that anyone can write stories in, for free or for money. It would be quite a departure from ho most created worlds belong to their authors or to larger corporations.
However, while there are undeniable advantages to an open model, there are also significant drawbacks to look out for. Nonetheless, I believe the concept is viable if one is careful.
An open-source, Creative Commons-licensed IP sounds like an excellent idea. One person does not need to do all the writing; other authors can fill in the details of the initial worldbuilding. It presents the possibility of differing implementations of a single concept, creating an interesting tapestry of variation. “Bad” continuities can be forked in favor of “good” continuities. An expansive universe can be created in a short time as multiple creators make multiple works and release them all at once. It promises an innovative approach to franchise-building in which fans build canon rather than just consume it. It will give its fandom a sense of ownership over an IP like never before.
However, as promising as this appears, it comes with a major weakness that I will call the Rich Spoiler: a person with a lot of resources and visibility who can use that capacity to hijack the IP and create a definitive version that overshadows all others, leading the public to see the Spoiler’s version as the “true” version.
Rich spoilers would be unstoppable, for no amount of impassioned blog posts or angry YouTube videos would overpower the massive fandom that the Spoiler would gather. One can argue that Spoilers would have little incentive to overtake a freely-available IP since they can’t have a monopoly on it, but one shouldn’t underestimate a vindictive person with money to burn.
The obvious solution is to be the Spoiler yourself and establish the definitive take with your own big-budget work (this is basically the approach Dan Salvato took with Doki Doki Literature Club, the closest real-life analogue to this model that I know of.) The problem is, most folks don’t have big or even moderate budgets for this kind of thing.
Thus another solution is to manage the IP more closely. Instead of making it completely open, either give trusted people permission to create works or curate stories written by random others. As you decide which works to accept and which works to discard, you can maintain a sense of creativity and openness without any threat of IP theft. I believe the IP does not need notoriety to attract creators; in fact, curation is easier when the number of contributors is small.
Of course, one must be ethical. If the writers must create for free, the works should be released for free, with no profit going to the IP holder at all. If the stories will be sold in any form, accepted creators must be paid a fair price. Open-sourcing an IP is no excuse to avoid paying creators whose work you plan to sell.
An open-source IP can work if managed correctly, but it will require a lot of dedication. Only experimentation can tell if this can work. I myself can’t do it, for I have too many other commitments. Maybe someone else can; indeed, this has the possibility of reviving short fiction via anthology magazines devoted to standalones set in an open-source IP.
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Shining Tomorrow Volume 1: Shadow Heart is not open-source, but buy it anyway.
What you are describing used to be the norm in genre fiction. One author would invent a concept like “hyperdrive” and everyone else would start using it. Or places like Luna City, Marsport, and Venusberg. Or made-up deities like Cthulhu and Haustur.
Is all Space Opera part of one IP? Well, not usually (unless you’re playing Traveller, of course) but they are certainly part of the same thematic universe. What about Zombie Apocalypse stories? Closer, they usually have similar timelines.
For me the issue is not so much trying to fit all stories into the exact same world, but to create an environment in which authors feel comfortable taking ideas from other authors without worrying about being sued.
I think the Eldritch Earth setting worked as a good trial balloon for the concept. The Deodanth of “Darla Of Deodanth” wasn’t quite the same city as described in “The Queen Of Shadows” (and neither of them were exactly what I had envisioned when I put the place on the map) but they are both good stories, and it’s possible to enjoy them both without being concerned with which one is the “real” Deodanth.
The Tal Shar Anog of “War Of The Ruby” and “Shapes In The Fog” isn’t quite the hometown of Michorn from “In The Gloaming O My Darling”, but I don’t mind at all. Brian K. Lowe expanded on my idea and I love where he took it.
I think that it’s important to at least touch base with the originator of a particular setting and give her or him a chance to read a story and make suggestions, but I think we need to stop being afraid to play in each other’s sandboxes.
I would certainly be open to other people setting stories in Dracoheim, with the understanding that the city they are writing about isn’t quite the city I invented. (And I’d want to be able to put the kibosh on any ideas that were too far out of the original concept.)
Most likely, it used to be the norm because “IP franchises” were in their infancy; as far as I can tell, no one wrote a story to turn it into a business in and of itself. At best, they wrote to get paid when pulps and novels still paid a decent amount. Now that people want to create the next Harry Potter or Twilight, tight control of IP is the new normal.
This might be the best way to approach the superhero genre in particular as we seek to replace the converged big brands. One of the great things about the big brand superhero universes was their immensity, hundreds of characters that weave in and out of each others’ storylines; one author alone can’t construct all that in less than a lifetime. Silver Empire seems to be attempting something like that… I haven’t looked into it much yet, though.
How true.
One reason why I have metaorigins in my superhero tales (mostly in progress, one Through A Mirror, Darkly in print) is that it gives me a way to produce a whole bunch of superheroes at once without the slow build-up you need to have them all over the place — and still have some of the messy sprawl of a superhero universe, because if the heroes are too much alike it turns into something else.
(The other main reason is that the origins were aesthetically interesting in themselves. 0:)
I think Stan Lee did something similar in X-Men; mutant powers exist so that he didn’t have to give each hero a separate origin story.
Then DC copied them with the metagene.
Metaorigins! So useful that even the ones that grew their worlds over decades add them!
Sometimes, of course, as a retcon.
It’s a very useful tool.
That’s exactly what Hero’s unlimited is attempting. The hub is Serenity city but there are other cities mentioned in the other books.
So there are different sandboxes but related to each other.
xavier
Good point. Let’s see how well everything pans out.
Rawle
Overall I’ve been quite pleased by the various stories. I hope to see some epic crossovers.
Another superhero series I haven’t read yet but intrigues me is CC Eceke’s.
xavier
I looked this CC Ekeke up. This man is no slouch.
Is that the Silver Empire one? I should get around to looking into it… I admit it would excite me a lot more if they had some comics in addition to the novels; visual media seem better for superheroes.
You’re not the first to make that observation. I would actually agree with you there regarding superheroes and visual media.
Rawle
An apt observation.
Paper doll Mary
That’s a legitimate desire. I don’t like English language comics. But Jon, the Alt hero and many crowd funded comics are changing my mind.
xavier
The only way to make a change is to do it oneself.
What I’ve read of Heroes Unleashed is quite good, so at the very least, pick up Morgon Newquist’s Heroes Fall.
Raw le
I’ve already read it. Absolutely outstanding debut novel kicking off a series
In fact i’ve read all of them. Ben’s is mind-blowing pulpy and you see the Babylon blue vibe.
JD’s is a really good intro to iseki for people who know nothing or don’the case for it.
I’m really looking forward to Jon’s upcoming book.
invisible man meets James Bond with a damsel in distress..
xavier
It seems like not much is happening, then it hits all at once.
Rawle
Yup. I regard the quiet times to be for planning,coordinating and editing. All to ensure high quality and consistency.
So I prefer a slower than pulp speed pace ias it maintains the high quality engaging stories.
Nonetheless, it’s better for us to keep up the pace. Ideally, I want to be fast and good.
I read the sample of Gemini Warrior; it didn’t grab me, but I still want to explore further. As I said to Mr. Basora, it would excite me more if they made some comics too.
Heroes Unleashed isn’t totally open source as you describe, because not just anybody can participate. But it does seem to be in that direction.
I liked Gemini Warrior quite a bit.
Silver Empire is a small press. It’s run almost entirely by Russell and Morgon Newquist. In addition to Heroes Unleashed, they’ve got a LOT to juggle, including other SE books and series, behind-the-scenes infrastructure, editing, logistics, and so on. They want to make sure every book meets the highest possible standards before launch. While the original plan was to publish a superhero book a month, it’s been severely delayed (we aren’t even done with Phase I yet!). But I think Phase II will kick off sometime next year.
Serenity City is the canon origin point for the entire series, but none of the authors are expected to set a story there. (I’ve worked in a mention, but that’s it.) But do expect characters from other authors to show up in each other’s works, the way the big superhero comics do.
I think SE would be open to partnering with artists to create comic book adaptations of the Heroes Unleashed universe. If you know any artists who might be interest, I might be able to broker an introduction.
And thanks Xavier!
Yeah; I can see the Newquists have a lot on their plate.
Both ideas are bad.
Fiction is a lie–even when it speaks to the truths of human nature–so the longer, the more detailed, and the older an IP becomes, the more likely it becomes that the writers will contradict themselves. For a story to be big enough to warrant an “open-source” IP in the first place means that only the spergs who obsess over the smallest of details would be suitable to write for the IP, whether to continue the “main” story or to write successive spin-offs.
And as an autist myself, believe me when I warn you that you do not want to put up with sperg after sperg lining up to expand your work. They may exceed your expectations as authors, but their social and spiritual incompetence will abhor you.
An understandable position, but people love their stories. If I don’t tell stories competently, others will.
That’s not the issue. A great many authors who aren’t mainstream can tell competent stories, but coordinating their contributions to not contradict each others’ would prove to be a nightmare. You would still have to micromanage the “official” contributions to the IP, unless you would be OK with a trainwreck of contradictory bloat that would compare with that of a fan fiction site.
Good point. It’s certainly not something to be taken lightly.
Even in my stuff, I’ve seen it.
I’m working on two separate superhero universes because they needed different metaorigins (and both needed to have one and only one metaorigin).
Sounds complicated, but I hope it bodes well for you.