Fictionsuit FAQ

What is Fictionsuit? What's the mission?

Fictionsuit is where we invent new worlds at the same time as we document them Wikipedia-style. Jorge Luis Borges called these "fictives;" we call it a great way to write fiction collaboratively. To get all the details, read around in the old blog. That details a lot of our influences and likes.

A fictive is a fiction in the clothing of non-fiction. The most common example is an encyclopedia of a world that doesn't exist (c.f. Borges' short story Tlon, Uqbar, Orbus Tertius) or glossary of words or slang terms not actually used by any existing people (say, Milorad Pavic's Dictionary of the Khazars, or that rogue journalist who made up a bunch of slang for Seattle grunge musicians in the early '90s and saw it reported as fact in Newsweek).

Fictionsuit is not so much intended for "the truth about lies" (that is, an encyclopedia about the Hogwarts School or some other pre-existing creation), nor for "lies about the truth" (humor or alternate-history about things that might be in a real encyclopedia - see uncyclopedia.com for that). The idea here is that nobody knows the full scope of the encyclopedia or glossary (or whatever) when the project starts... or even when it's going. The project admins, who function as editors and referees, manage the project as though it's an improv game, and either set out rules for when it's done, or help the group come to a consensus that it's over.

If this is a game, what are the rules?

Write as if you're writing a nonfiction reference work. The only general rule to observe is, don't contradict the "facts" set out by others in their entries. Improv performers (and others) would call this the "yes, and" rule - telling someone else they are wrong not only destroys the illusion of a coherent reference work, but it makes the project devolve into pointless bickering. Consider the assertions of others as constraints meant to challenge your creativity - as game rules in and of themselves, essentially. "Yes, and" is the golden rule of Fictionsuit.

Some projects will set out special rules, guidelines, or format requirements on top of this; for example, a project that aims to create TV listings might stipulate that each page contain a time, channel name, show title and duration, and that nobody "schedule" shows at the same time on the same channel. Or the rules around challenging facts might change - say, if a project is meant to depict a collaboration between scholars who disagree about some key fact of an event. Always check the project's info screen and weblog for any such desires on the part of the admin(s).

I'm new here. What do I do first?

Have a peek at our mostly-official discussion area, which has an interface just like an ordinary Fictionsuit project. When one project concludes or we feel the need for another, you'll find talk going on there. Feel free to introduce yourself and chip in. If there's not much talk at the moment, you might look at the current public projects and comment on the project info introducing yourself, or contact the project admins to see if there's anything they want you to know before contributing. Many projects will tell you these things in the project info and encourage everyone to jump in. Also, don't forget to hit your account info page and edit your description. Most people use this space as a means to give a little background on themselves and on what sorts of things they might want to work on here.

What if other folks don't want to do the project I want to do?

The public projects are only one side of Fictionsuit - the group activity. If your project isn't getting traction in negotiation, or if it's a special-purpose project not really intended for the public anyway, we can create a private project for you. Just send some mail to admin at fictionsuit dot com, talk a bit about the nature of the project, and let us know what it should be called and which Fictionsuit users should have access to it. We'll create a user group and give you administration of both the group and the project, and give you the URL to access it. (You'll need to be logged in to Fictionsuit already.) Note that we're gonna be less enthusiastic about hooking up projects that don't fit the mission statement as outlined above.

Hey! I want to link to another page in the project, but I don't see a linker widget here and doing it in HTML sucks. What gives?

If you put the title of another page in the text of yours, it should be linked automatically. (It may be case-sensitive - I'll have to check on that.) If this seems like it should be working and isn't, try contacting an admin.

Hey! Why doesn't my project have any RSS feeds?

Private projects don't get RSS feeds because we trust that you'd like your project to stay private. Once a feed hits an online aggregator like Bloglines, there's no real way to keep it secure. Until this is fixed, we'd rather trust that you'll stay on top of new contributions in private projects without help. We are considering adding email notification of new pages if there's demand.

Hey! Seriously, how do I contact you people?

Email: admin at fictionsuit dot com, or, failing that, misuba at gibberish dot com. (The latter has a challenge-response spam filter on it, so watch your inbox for a minute after you hit Send.)

Got a question that isn't here? Please check Fictionsuit Updates and Fictionsuit Discussion. If all else fails, mail admin at fictionsuit dot com (or just let us know that you think something should be added here that you found elsewhere).