Shared universe

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A Shared universe is a literary technique in which several different authors share settings and characters which appear in their respective works of fiction, often referring to events taking place in the other writers' stories. It can also be called a "shared setting." It can be a metafictional device. Shared fictional universes tend to appear more frequently in fantasy and science fiction than in other genres.

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Corporate examples

  • The Star Wars franchise is unusual in that, at least in theory, every official work in it is considered canonical and must fit with all the others, although George Lucas is not bound by the latter restriction.
  • The Star Trek and Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchises each have a vast empire of subsidiary and mostly non-canonical novels and comic books, and a vast community of dedicated, sometimes obsessive fanfiction writers.
  • All Doctor Who licensed fiction is, at least in theory, set in the same shared universe as the television series on which it is based. However, since the BBC has a somewhat laissez-faire attitude towards the Doctor Who canon, divergent, sometimes contradictory, versions of the Doctor Who universe have appeared in different media (novels, comics, and audio dramas). These strands are sometimes referred to as separate universes (for example, "the Big Finish universe" or "the New Adventures universe"). Furthermore, due to both artistic and legal considerations, spin-offs from the spin-offs such as the Bernice Summerfield and Faction Paradox series, may or may not be considered to be part of the same universe as the officially licensed novels in which they originated.
  • The Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game has millions of players worldwide, many of whom play characters in shared settings such as Faerûn, Eberron, and Ravenloft. There are also many novels and magazines dedicated to these shared settings. In addition, although these settings differ from one another in history and geography, they have many other elements in common (eg: elves live for several hundred years, but are not immortal; wizards must memorise spells each day); these settings are actually separate parts of a greater shared setting (Planescape).
  • Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Archie Comics, and many other comic book publishers over the years have each had proprietary shared universes, in which characters from one comic book (such as Superman) often interact with characters from other comic books in the same universe (such as Wonder Woman). Series featuring a group or team of characters, each with their own individual adventures written by other writers, are common. From time to time, two comics publishers may jointly produce a "crossover" in which characters from their respective universes interact; these stories are commonly presented as "out of continuity" to avoid entangling the universes. At one point in the 1990's, DC and Marvel cooperated in the temporary, highly hyped, Amalgam universe, which blended elements from the two universes, including merged characters (e.g. Batman and Wolverine were combined as the Dark Claw).
  • The cartoon libraries of Warner Brothers, Disney, Hanna-Barbera, and other animation houses each contain somewhat-independent stories featuring various combinations of their respective characters, created by a variety of writers and animators. Furthermore, Who Framed Roger Rabbit featured Toons from various cartoon universes, most notably a musical interlude with Donald and Daffy Ducks, and an action sequence with Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse. Doing so implied a metafictional "tooniverse" that produces animated movie stars, which later Toon-related works have expanded upon.
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Professional examples

  • Thieves' World, created by Robert Lynn Asprin, was used as the setting for a series of anthologies and novels by a variety of writers Asprin was friendly with.
  • Liavek, edited by Will Shetterly and Emma Bull.
  • Merovingen Nights, edited by C. J. Cherryh.
  • George R. R. Martin edited the Wild Cards series of short story anthologies, set in a shared fictional universe involving costumed superheroes.
  • The Man-Kzin Wars is a series of anthologies of short stories by different authors set in Larry Niven's Known Space, the same science fictional universe as his Ringworld and "The Warriors". Niven stated that, as he had never experienced war first-hand, he did not feel competent to write war stories set in the interstellar war period of his future history, and so allowed others (including Poul Anderson and Dean Ing) to try their hand at it.
  • The Temps, Weerde and Villains! universes, created by the Midnight Rose Collective
  • Heroes in Hell, edited by Janet Morris
  • Florida humor writer Dave Barry and Florida 'environmental thriller' writer Carl Hiassen collaborated on a 1998 novel entitled Naked Came the Manatee, a parody of the earlier novel by 20 Long Island Newsday writers called Naked Came the Stranger, in which Barry wrote the first chapter, using entirely new characters, and then passed it along to a chain of 12 other writers in what Barry refers to as the "South Florida Bunch of Whacko's" genre, culminating with a final wrap-up chapter written by Hiaasen. Many of the writers introduced their own series characters into the book -- making it, in most of the cases, the only time those characters ever shared the pages of a novel.
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Posthumous retroactive shared worlds

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Amateur examples

The Internet boom in the 1990's made it possible for amateur authors with similar interests to write stories in the same shared universes. Since these authors mostly came from the role-playing game, furry fandom, and fanfiction geek subcultures, the resulting shared universes tend toward those themes and genres most prevalent in those subcultures.

While professional/corporate shared universes usually attempt to maintain overall continuity, the sheer number of amateur writers working in any given shared universe make for less stringent continuity between writers. This is particularly true in fanfiction; because fanfiction stories draw heavily on canonical characters and events, such elements will inevitably be written about by many different authors, making some contradictions inevitable. A subgroup of writers may strive for continuity with one another, while disregarding others working within the same setting.

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.

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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.
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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.
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See also

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External links

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