Shared universe

Shared universe is a literary technique where several different authors share the same back-story, exchanging background information, events, and even characters, and referring to each other's stories to create one larger universe. Common devices are false documents and entwining the events and characters in real historical events.

Some examples of shared universes include the Cthulhu Mythos (originally created by H. P. Lovecraft), the Thieves' World (Robert Lynn Asprin), the Man-Kzin Wars (Larry Niven), and comic book universes such as the Marvel and DC Universes, and the Disney Duckburg stories.

Role-playing worlds are based on prefabricated shared universes where the gamemaster plans the campaigns based on some existing background material and the players respond to that story, creating more of it; fan fiction is similarly based on some existing stories on top of which fans create their own stories.

There is no clear dividing line between authors who use online methods to coordinate shared universe stories, and roleplayers who rely on player consensus in preference to gamemaster or dice to determine the course of events. The use of online chat and forums for roleplaying purposes has given rise to a great deal of collaborative story-writing, of varying literary merits. Some newsgroups play host to long-running shared-universe stories created in this way.

Table of contents

1 Shared-universe etiquette
2 Threaded time
3 See also

Shared-universe etiquette

Originally, shared universe stories were typically written by a small group of authors (most commonly, only two) who were already on friendly terms. With online stories, material may be written by a large number of authors who are strangers to one another.

This state of affairs often gives rise to friction between authors with conflicting visions; one of the most common points of disagreement is when authors seek to promote their favorite characters over those of other authors.

To avoid these conflicts, online forums frequently develop codes of etiquette that govern interaction. These codes vary according to the forum, but often include variants on these elements:

Restrictions on story scope, e.g. "No technology beyond that available on present-day Earth", or "No explicit sexual material".
Statements of aim, e.g. "This setting exists to explore the interactions between characters who wouldn't usually be able to talk to one another. Please don't change it in ways that would detract from that goal."
Each character is the property of a specific author; do not write speech, thoughts, or actions for another author's character except with their permission.
Do not involve another author's character in certain types of subplot (often, any subplot) without that author's consent.
Certain settings are 'common ground' and may not be significantly altered without agreement by other authors.

Threaded time

The threaded nature of some forums, and the fact that such stories are usually visible to readers before they are complete, can present a difficulty in keeping events in a linear chronology. If unchecked, story time can 'branch' in the same way as threaded conversations do. Approaches to this problem include:

Planning out events likely to branch 'behind the scenes' before making them public (e.g. over email between authors).

Retconning as necessary to restore linearity.
Imposing rules on who can add to the story, when, to ensure that each author's contribution is taken into account before the next is added.
Accepting 'threaded time', either as a reality of the shared universe or by doing one's best to ignore it.