

I published my first short novel, and it is on Github - albanlv
http://albanlv.tumblr.com/post/33568493339/i-published-my-first-short-novel-and-it-is-open-source

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tarr11
Imagine if LOTR was on github...

I like the idea of modularization in fiction. This already happens in fan
fiction, but you have to extract most of the parts yourself (I think?)

It would be really useful in SF/Fantasy novels where you have to build out
lots of worlds, characters and miscellaneous details like languages,
landscapes and history.

If you could "borrow" a lot of the structures that are in a Creative Commons
license and use them in your story, you could focus on the parts that are
important to you, and let others focus on what works for them.

Artists could come in, draw characters. Cartographers could make maps. App
developers could make interactive features. Linguists could make fictional
languages.

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albanlv
It reminds me of Tube, that aims to create an animation movie with content and
data cc licensed. The idea is to make elements (modules) such as a characters,
moves, light patterns, easily reusable. <http://urchn.org/>

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zachalexander
I think writing a novel on Github is a fascinating idea, if people can read
your revision history and see the entire evolution of the text.

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albanlv
Silvia Hartmann is exploring the idea of allowing the reader to follow the
creation of a novel by writing on Google Docs. you can follow her on real time
here
[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AwxZlO1uVnFFKh_NWAlZ78oK...](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AwxZlO1uVnFFKh_NWAlZ78oK2c5gxzvVCfrYbe7EOE8/edit?pli=1#heading=h.f0dths2bdy48)
With Github we can add to this the revision history plus branching, forking...
I think we can go beyond the idea of a novel as a unique finished version
written by a unique author. Novels could be as open source software : you
don't have a finished product, but versions, and you don't have an author, but
several contributors.

