Down in Flames?

Hi Guys,

Thanks for stopping by. It's been a busy weekend here at "I want a word". The good news is that a few more words have been sold, bringing the grand total up to 19. Still a long way to go before I reach 10,000, but definitely on the right track.

Less welcome has been some of the feedback that I've received over the weekend. On Friday I posted a message about "I want a word" on a writing forum. I was hoping to get some advice from other writers but was instead met with a maelstrom of suspicion and cynicism. Don't get me wrong, within the responses there were some valid criticisms, but many of the posts were just ridiculous.

The whole debate is too long to publish on here, so if you want to read it in full you can find it here. In the meantime here are some of my favourite posts, along with my thoughts on them:

• "Have to agree with the others, it won't work. How do you intend to collect the £1's to start with, which ensures the contributor is guaranteed their word- what happens if a word is selected too frequently? Pretty expensive word!Many people view things like this as a potential scam, and will avoid it. What effect could this have on other legitimate work, now and in the future?"

So, where to start with this one?! The first point is ridiculous: does the poster honestly imagine that I haven't thought about how to collect the money? Even if it wasn't ridiculous a simple glance at the website would have been enough to show how I was collecting the money. The second point raised is also addressed on the website. So, after two questionable points the poster goes on to suggest that the project is not legitimate. How she came to that conclusion without even looking at the website I don't know.

• "I think this is a hoax. If it isn't, come down to earth, friend, and think logically and sensibly about a writing career of your own."

This poster doesn't tell us why she thinks "I want a word" is a hoax but on her forum profile she says that she is "working currently with spirit companions to write books."

• "I don't think this a hoax Dorothy, have you seen the web site? I just looked."

This poster didn't give her opinions on the project, but I am grateful to her for at least taking the time to look at the site before deciding whether on not this was a 'legitimate' project.

• "There are certain groups of people I have no time for whatsoever, and in some case don't deserve - I dare not print what I want to say. Among that groups are cheats, I think you fall into that group chris.Try another site where the members are more gullible"

Ok, this must have been the most extreme reaction that I got. And I'm not really sure where it's coming from. If someone doen't like "I want a word" I can understand that, but at all times during this project I have been completely open and upfront about what I am doing and why I am doing it. I have in no way attempted to deceive or defraud anyone. It's possible that "I want a word" might be a bad idea (although I don't think it is!), but that doesn't make me a cheat.


I think those are the most interesting of the posts: the others were very much variations on the same theme. Now, I was a bit shocked by these responses as most of the other feedback I've got for the project has been pretty good, and not just from people I know. For example, the comments I've been getting on the "I want a word" myspace page have been generally positive.

I guess the question that's raised is "why is this group of writers so opposed to I want a word"? The honest answer is that I don't know. But in a way it saddens me that a group of people can be so cynical and close-minded. When greeted with a new idea most didn't even bother to take a look at it, just instantly dismissing it as a scam.

At the same time as I was posting, there was another active thread posted by somebody who had just received their first letter of rejection for an article they had submitted. The responses to this were uniformly positive. Everybody was saying things like "CONGRATULATIONS! [That] certainly does mean you are a writer." I don't want to belittle this guy's post - sending off your first article is a big deal and, in terms of rejections, I've been there myself. What was strange though was that the forum users seem to feel that there's only one way to become a published writer, and that is to do exactly the same thing as everybody else is already doing. I disagree. I think that writing (along with many other industries) is just so competitive nowadays that you have to do something to make yourself stand out from the crowd. I guess we'll find out if this is a good way to go about it!

Thanks for checking out the blog, and I hope you're thinking of your words! Before I go, I'll leave you with a quote from the Scottish chemist James Dewar:

"Minds are like parachutes; they only work when they're open."

Take care,

Chris

http://www.iwantaword.com/

Monkeys with words

In the modern world, words are all around. Our constant companions as we go about our daily life: on walls; on doors; on cars; on computer screens; on food; everywhere. But even so, you don't expect to see giant words held aloft by 30ft monkeys. So, you can imagine my excitement last week when I read an article about a Scotland-wide art exhibtion currently on show. The exhibit in question is part of a global project by the Austrian artist Stefan Sagmeister called "Things I have learnt in my life so far" and features six giant monkeys in different cities around Scotland, each holding a different word which, when combined, make up the phrase "everyone always thinks they are right".

All well and good you might think, but what does that have to do with "I want a word"? Well, on the face of it perhaps not much. But I think it's interesting to see that I'm not the only person interested in looking for new ways to use words. Admittedly our approaches are slightly different, but an interesting comparison nonetheless.

On Saturday afternoon I headed down to Princes' Street Gardens to check out our local monkey for myself, and was disappointed to find it had gone AWOL. The reason, I presume, was that it was extremely windy on Saturday, which is not ideal for a 30ft inflatable. The exhibition's on for a few more weeks though, so maybe I'll get to check it out later. I'll let you know...

There was a bit more disappointment on Sunday too. Last week I was interviewed by "The Sunday Post", a Scottish national paper, and I was hoping that the resulting article would appear in this week's edition of the paper. Unfortunately it didn't, so I'm now crossing my fingers for next Sunday.

Don't be too distressed though, the weekend wasn't all bad news as I did find out that someone in Brazil had written about "I want a word" in their blog. I've no idea what it says, but I thought it was pretty cool anyway!

I guess that's all I've got to say for the moment, except for a big thank you to the people that have bought words over the last few days.

I hope you're all doing ok.

Chris

http://www.iwantaword.com/

I guess I'm not the only one...

Yesterday, quite by chance, I came across a blog article that someone had posted about me, or more specfically about "I want a word".

That somebody was a Texan by the name of Mark, also an aspiring author and also with his own community writing project designed to further his career. His project is called Plotastic! and he is looking for people to take a survey that he's set up, in which you get the chance to vote on various aspects of his novel-to-be. It's definitely a good idea and, from the sounds of Mark's blog, it has been generally well received. In fact, he has now had over 100 responses (he's aiming for 1,000).

Mark also gave his own opinions on "I want a word", which I'm pleased to report were generally supportive. However, he did also raise his concerns about the project. Now, that might not be something you would expect me to be happy about, but in fact I am. It's good to see these things from an outside perspective, and if Mark's got some concerns, then it follows that my potential contributors might share those concerns, and this gives me a chance to address them. So, here's what Mark had to say:

• "Pay-to-play: Chris asks each contributor to pay one pound (nearly two American dollars) just to make their contribution. His reasoning for this is that he needs to support himself while writing. Well, I need to support myself, too...plus my wife and two kids. So I have a full-time job. That means I'll write in my spare time. I don't like the idea of asking your contributors to pay for your time. And I don't think a lot of possible contributors care to pay, either. We'll see."
  
  Personally, I think that every time you buy a novel you are paying the author for their time. Admittedly, in that case you already know that the novel is of a high enough standard to have made it into a shop, so it is perhaps a bit less of a gamble. However, the price is considerably higher (amazon seems to suggest that the standard RRP for a paperback novel is around £7.99) and you don't get the chance to contribute to the novel yourself.
  
  I should also add that supporting myself is only part of the reason that I am charging a fee for word submission. The other is that I think it will encourage people to think harder about their choice of word. If people didn't have to pay there would be much more of a temptation to just stick in the first word that you thought of. By charging £1 per word, I hope that I will encourage people to think carefully about the word they submit. In the long run I hope that will lead to a better, more interesting book.
  
  
• "Inviting trouble: If you take a look at the words so far you will see that Chris is inviting a lot of trouble. By making the contributors' submissions entirely open-ended, he is just asking for it. I prefer to set the parameters myself, and then let others choose their favorite result."
  
  This is definitely a valid point: some of the words that are coming in are very obscure, which is going to make life difficult. However, I think it also makes the project more exciting: at this stage I genuinely have no idea what I will write about. And it gives contirbutors more freedom to express themselves in the way that they want. My aim is "one book, ten thousand authors" and I think if I'm to achieve that goal, I have to let contributors have as much freedom as possible.
  
  
• "A daunting goal: I thought 1,000 contributors was going to be tough. I can't imagine how difficult it will be to attract 10,000 contributors. And at two dollars a pop!"
  
  Again, a fair comment; it is going to be difficult to get 10,000 people to contribute to the project. However, I'm optimistic that there are people out there who will see this as a genuine chance to part of something new and orignal, something worthwhile and to which they can make a real and lasting contribution.

Ok, so that's what I have to say in response to Mark's concerns. I'd love to know what anyone things about those concerns and/or my responses, so feel free to leave a comment.

In the meantime, I'd like to wish Mark all the best with Plotastic!: I hope that it's a big success, and that we'll meet someday as published authors.

Take care, and I hope you're thinking of your word!

Chris

http://www.iwantaword.com/

Welcome to I want a word

Hi,

I'm Chris and I'm the founder of a new writing project called "I want a word", which has the aim of producing the biggest multi-author book in history.

Basically, I'm looking for 10,000 people to each contribute a single word via my website www.iwantaword.com. You can choose any word that you like and when all 10,000 words have been submitted, I'll add a few more of my own to create a single, coherent story. One book, ten thousand authors - that's the aim.

So, I thought I'd start this blog to keep a record, of the project and how it progresses. It's been going for almost two weeks now, and to be honest it's got off to quite a slow start - so far I've sold 9 words. I say sold as I'm charging people £1 for the right to choose a word for the book. The purpose of this fee is, firstly, to support myself during the project, and secondly, to really encourage people to think about the words that they submit. What I've learnt from the nine words that I've sold so far is that writing the book is going to be pretty tough. Don't get me wrong, I never thought it would be easy, but some of the words that have been contributed I've never even heard of. Still, as a famous man once said "nothing great is easy" (that famous man died whilst trying to swim across the rapids at Niagara Falls...).

Although I haven't sold many words so far, I am still quietly optimistic. I think that if the project is to suceed, publicity will be key. And yesterday "I want a word" received its first press coverage, in my local paper: the Edinburgh Evening News. Since the Evening News is part of the Scotsman group, the story also appeared on the scotsman.com website, and you can read it here:

http://living.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=746622007

It's only a small story, but hopefully it will generate a bit more interest and things will build from there. Keep reading this blog to find out!

It was pretty exciting to see I want a word in the paper, but what was even more exciting was that, when the story was first posted, I was up there alongside a couple of other Edinburgh authors - J. K. Rowling and Ian Ranking! I'm not sure if it's a bit lame, but that was really exciting for me. So exciting, in fact, that I even captured a screen shot! If you want to check it out, it's at:

http://www.iwantaword.com/scotsman_screenshot.jpg

Well, I think that's all my news for the moment, but keep an eye on this site and in turn I'll keep you up to date with all the developments at I want a word. In the meantime, don't forget to check out the site at www.iwantaword.com, and get thinking of your words!

Chris