# Open-source literature? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 5, 2014, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-source-literature/680558 "2014-02-05T06:01:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-source-literature/680558/1 "2014-02-05T06:01:25Z")
Are there examples of books written Wikipedia-style, meaning written by multiple public collaborators working together, debating about what happens next to the characters, and then voting on plot changes? Were any of them good? ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-source-literature/680558/2 "2014-02-05T16:36:30Z")
Perhaps not exactly what you were thinking of, but it was written in 1969, long before the Internet or the concept of open source: [_Naked Came the Stranger_](http:// [Naked Came the Stranger - Wikipedia](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_Came_the_Stranger)) [QUOTE=Wikipedia] Naked Came the Stranger is a 1969 novel written as a literary hoax poking fun at contemporary American culture. Though credited to “Penelope Ashe”, it was in fact written by a group of twenty-four journalists led by Newsday columnist Mike McGrady. McGrady’s intention was to write a deliberately terrible book with a lot of sex, to illustrate the point that popular American literary culture had become mindlessly vulgar. The book fulfilled the authors’ expectations and became a bestseller in 1969; they revealed the hoax later that year, further spurring the book’s popularity. [/QUOTE] The Wikipedia entry doesn’t describe the collaborative process, but ISTR that each chapter was written sequentially by a separate writer who only saw what had been written before (and maybe not all of that). So not the cooperative effort that you’re proposing. [QUOTE=Reply] Were any of them any good? [/QUOTE] It was intended to be bad, but it was _popular_! ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-source-literature/680558/3 "2014-02-05T16:49:19Z")
After a little more Googling, I found this at the [Museum of Hoaxes](http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/archive/permalink/naked_came_the_stranger/): > [@](#): > > Naked Came the Stranger subsequently inspired a slew of other collaborative novels, many of which adopted versions of the ‘Naked Came The…’ title in homage to the original. Examples include Naked Came the Manatee, Naked Came the Phoenix, and Naked Came the Sasquatch. I leave it as an exercise for the reader to uncover other members of the slew. (Interestingly, in my first Google search for Naked Came the Stranger, to my surprise, autofill first suggested “Naked Came the Manatee.”) ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-source-literature/680558/4 "2014-02-05T16:52:34Z")
F. Paul Wilson has done this at least once. He helped write a book called [Draculas (A Novel of Terror)](http://www.amazon.com/DRACULAS-Novel-Terror-J-Konrath-ebook/dp/B0042AMD2M/ref=la_B000AP9H7M_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1391618787&sr=1-8), with four other people. I thought it was pretty good. There’s also a group of books and novellas called Wayward Pines that Wilson has written one for. Blake Crouch wrote the first book or two and a few others have written more. I’m not sure how much collaborating was really done, but I think in the Draculas novel they handed it back and forth. I could tell a bit which parts Wilson had written. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-source-literature/680558/5 "2014-02-05T16:57:06Z")
[The Floating Admiral](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Floating_Admiral), a 1931 mystery novel written by 14 members of the Detection Club (including Dorothy L. Sayers), is pretty much exactly what you said. 14 different authors, each of whom wrote a chapter, adding in whatever plot developments they felt like and passing them on the the next author. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-source-literature/680558/6 "2014-02-05T17:08:11Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > After a little more Googling, I found this at the [Museum of Hoaxes](http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/archive/permalink/naked_came_the_stranger/): > I leave it as an exercise for the reader to uncover other members of the slew. > > (Interestingly, in my first Google search for Naked Came the Stranger, to my surprise, autofill first suggested “Naked Came the Manatee.”) **Naked Came the Manatee** was an attempt to write a mystery-humor book done in the same style as _Naked Came the Stranger_. Among others, Dave Barry, carl Hiassen, and Elmore Leonard contributed chapters. > **[Naked Came the Manatee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_Came_the_Manatee)** > > Naked Came the Manatee (ISBN 978-0399141928) is a mystery thriller parody novel published in 1996. It is composed of thirteen chapters, each written by a different Miami-area writer. It was originally published as a serial in the Miami Herald's Tropic magazine, one chapter per issue, and later published as a single novel. Its title is a reference to the literary hoax Naked Came the Stranger. The book was conceived of and edited by Tom Shroder, then editor of Tropic. Dave Barry came up with the fi... I’ve read it. It’s awful. Each author was trying to pull the story in his/her direction, so it ended up sorta flopping around, with wildly discordant voices and tenor. Some authors would effectively “cancel out” what previous authors had written. This has generally been my experience with these sorts of multiple-author books. There have been others. Jack Chalker, George Alec Effinger, and Mike Resnick tried a science-fiction version with only three authors, but writing round robin. It’s pretty awful too, and for much the same reason. I’ve read others, too, but can’t recall the titles. > **[Red Tape War: Chalker, Jack L., Resnick, Mike, Effinger, George Alec:...](https://www.amazon.com/Red-Tape-War-Jack-Chalker/dp/0812512820)** > > Red Tape War \[Chalker, Jack L., Resnick, Mike, Effinger, George Alec\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Red Tape War even Shared Universe story cycles tend to be pretty messed up if people don’t try to keep things consistent. Read **Medea: Harlan’s World** sometime. Harlan Ellison tried to set up an alien world that authors would write stories set on. well, Hal Clement wrote a Hal Clement story set on one world, and Larry Niven wrote a Larry Niven story that seemed to be set on a completely different world, with hardly any connection between the two. There are lots of Truly Big Names in Sf contributing to this volume (with even more chiming in on the discussion sections), but it doesn’t really add up to a consistent whole: > **[Medea: Harlan's World](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medea:_Harlan's_World)** > > Medea: Harlan's World (1985; .mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\\"""\\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{... It’s almost like Tyler Perry’s Madea was in charge. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-source-literature/680558/7 "2014-02-05T17:50:23Z")
Or we could talk about what the OP is asking about. Just Google open source literature. Or go to the site [opensourcenovel.org/](http://opensourcenovel.org/). There are many more true open source novels than collective novels. Finding somebody who has actually read one and can comment on it is the true challenge. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-source-literature/680558/8 "2014-02-05T18:04:47Z")
[Atlanta Nights](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_Nights). And, no, it isn’t very good. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-source-literature/680558/9 "2014-02-05T18:06:35Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > After a little more Googling, I found this at the [Museum of Hoaxes](http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/archive/permalink/naked_came_the_stranger/): > I leave it as an exercise for the reader to uncover other members of the slew. > > (Interestingly, in my first Google search for Naked Came the Stranger, to my surprise, autofill first suggested “Naked Came the Manatee.”) Apparently Google knows a little something special about you. And now we do too. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-source-literature/680558/10 "2014-02-05T18:57:27Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > Are there examples of books written Wikipedia-style, meaning written by multiple public collaborators working together, debating about what happens next to the characters, and then voting on plot changes? > > Were any of them good? I don’t know about voting, but another kind of collaborative work is “shared world”, such as _Thieves’ World_ or _Man-Kzin Wars_: an editor manages contributions; individual writers submit short stories with their own POV character and involving other writers’ POV characters as secondary or participant (or even antagonist) characters. Maybe it’s not what you’re thinking of, since you cite a wikipedia-style editing regime. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-source-literature/680558/11 "2014-02-05T21:13:13Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Apparently Google knows a little something special about you. And now we do too. 😃 Oops! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/open-source-literature/680558/12 "2014-02-05T22:14:03Z")
In addition to the Git mentioned in Exapno’s post,There’s a another **[form](http://madebyloren.com/github-for-writers)** of Git, **[Penflip](https://www.penflip.com/)**, which is a GitHub for collaborative writing. I imagine these works lack a singular vision.