"Shared story authorship" inquiry

[Ron Edwards]

Hi there,

On an actual play thread, James (DJamesIII) wrote,

Ron: this next question is for you, and it may be a new thread in a new forum. Is the technique of shared story authorship a technique uniquely wihtin the Nar box? Is it a required, if nor sufficient, condition for Nar play?

The problem with "shared story authorship" as a phrase is that it means anything the reader wants.

1. Insofar as people jointly contribute to the Shared Imagined Space at all, they are sharing authorship to "story," where "story" means "whatever happens."

2. Insofar as people are getting their Creative Agendas met (regardless of whatever those are), they are being "authors," where "authors" literally means putting X in and getting feedback Y from the chosen audience (fellow role-players).

3. Insofar as people are Addressing Premise (i.e. doing #2 above from/with a Narrativist CA), they are playing Narrativist.

So either the answer to your question is "no" because #1 applies, "no" because #2 applies and the CA is not Narrativist, or "yes" because they're playing Narrativist (but in which case the question and answer are circular).

I hate to be so unhelpful, but unless you can give me a much more specific technique (or better, a set of interactive techniques) than "shared story authorship," I can't say anything else.

Best,
Ron
[/quote]

[TonyLB]

James, are you talking about heavy use of Director and Author stance by players?

[JamesDJIII]

TonyLB,

No, not really. More like in combating play arrangements where you have the Impossible Thing Before Breakfast.

I gota parse Ron's response and figure out just what exactly I wanted to know.

Back to the whiteboard for a minute...