There are several universes here on SOL that many authors contribute to. It seems to me that several authors push the limits that the original author set.
I know every author likes to put their own spin on their stories. But how do you feel about authors bending the rules of known universes.
But how do you feel about authors bending the rules of known universes.
My $0.02 (US)
This can't really be discussed in the abstract.
A lot depends on the specifics of what rules they are bending, how they are bending them and why.
Bending the rules to do something the original author tried to expressly rule out is bad.
Bending the rules to fit a scenario that the original author didn't anticipate at all would be a different matter.
I don't mind authors bending rules to advance a story.
It aggravates me when they change the rules just to make their character stand out.
This.
That said, I wrote an NIS story with fantasy critters, because I wanted to make the universe fun. I like to think that's an unanticipated scenario, rather than breaking a core concept, but some I'm sure disagree.
In my opinion - if you agree to follow the rules that is what you should do. Pushing one or more rules would be acceptable, but not violating them.
If you want to violate one or more rules, create a similar universe with different rules. There are likely to be other authors who would like to violate the same rules that would post stories to your universe.
It seems to me that several authors push the limits that the original author set.
You do realize that the author who creates an universe has three choices:
• closed (other authors can't contribute stories), IIRC it's the default.
• two versions of public universes:
** Public universe with permission
* Public Universe
the asterisks are used by SOL in the list of universes.
If the author wants to make his universe public without losing control who is contributing and what is contributed, "public with permission" is the way to go.
HM.
One thing to note: I mainly write in The Swarm Cycle. Once I was given permission to post my first story in the Cycle by the creator, Thinking Horndog, I can now post all my new stories there, unless he removes permission. So, I could go off on a very weird tangent and it would get posted before he even sees it. I think that has happenedmore than a few times in that universe.
That's IMO a serious flaw. If he removes permission, can he at least get the offending story removed from the universe?
I would've expected this permission to be story-based or if author-based the stories get first to the universe's creator and if he doesn't object within lets say two weeks the story gets posted to the universe.
While writing this I thought about how to get it working for serialized stories still in writing and think it must be chapter-based. Chapter-based would prevent an ongoing serial violating the rules of the universe e.g. in its Chapter 217 (assuming the creator still pays attention).
HM.
