John Scalzi has announced the creation of Ficlets, which is basically a social app consisting entirely of collaborative short fiction. And it is a phenomenal idea. At the very heart of the concept is what we’ve been trying to do over at the Evil Avatar Writer’s Guild. Which is concentrate writing into short collaborative projects that everyone can participate in.
First, you create a profile. Luckily, Ficlets is one of the growing number of social sites to include myopenid single sign-on functionality. Then, you begin creating short (very short — maximum of 1,024 characters) pieces of fiction. It can be anything. Not only that, but you can go through and read everyone else’s submissions. You can rate other authors’ written works, leave comments, AND you can even create a “prequel” or a “sequel” based on their writing. I have one piece out there right now that is a sequel to another piece, which was in itself a sequel to something started by John Scalzi. And in those simple three hops, the “story” (more of a collaborative “chain”, really) has become something completely different.
Fun! And absolutely brilliant.
And if you’re looking for some quick inspiration, Ficlets has you covered. Randomly-generated Flickr photos can be queried and displayed. Click on any image, and a new story entry opens with your inspirational image to the side for your to reference as you write. They even have randomly-generated story starters and story enders that you can use to get ideas flowing. Find something you like? Save an author’s work to your Favorites. Or save pieces of text in your Clippings.
Ficlets completely embraces the web 2.0 open mantra. In addition to utilizing such services as myopenid and Flickr, it also includes RSS feeds of all authors’ works and comments, extensive tagging functionality, and the ability to add authors as “friends” and track their content.
As I continue to focus more on my writing, I plan to hit Ficlets often to throw quick pieces of fiction out there. If I keep my mind moving and my fingers tapping, I can hopefully keep the ideas fresh and fabulous. Or, at the very least, topical.