Storytelling could take on more life and meaning through collaborative writing. There are so many writing apps that provide daily writing prompts, and exciting new opportunities for self-publishing. We all know that deep down, there’s always more that storytelling can do for us. It’s like a second sense. You to that the future is changing, and it is just there at the edge, ready to tip over. As a writer, you want to be part of history as it unfolds. The tools we have available to us have always been a part of that process that makes evolution happen. Imagine that all you had were your pieces of bone, stone or wood, how would you write Shakespeare sonnets, Romeo and Juliet or the Great Gatsby?

The time, and effort it takes to create plots and scenes today cannot compare to what it was 30,000 years ago. Now you have your laptop that processes thousands of commands in microseconds. Publishing is not as herculean as it used to be. You have Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, Lulu, Smashwords, Blurb, and several self-publishing outlets. The world is a better place. You don’t have wild animals chasing you while you try to carve your story about breakfast into the side of a cave. Writing could not be any easier!

Yet, would you say that we have reached the pinnacle of expression? Have we seen our best creations? Every day, these are the questions that drive thousands of budding writers into groups; on social media, in book clubs, at writing conferences and so on. You want to know if there’s something new and exciting that would change the history of writing forever.

In the history of storytelling, humans have evolved just as our styles, media, platforms and publishing options. The more our needs to pass on our stories, the more we evolve to achieve this noble endeavor. We look for the tools at any cost. The story is a driving force that man is compelled to obey. Starting from the caves, man has always had a need to give expression to his ideas in a way that is artistic and emotional. Matt Peters describes the narrative voice in writing as a part of man’s everyday cultural life. In describing the early history of storytelling Matt says, « The Ancient Greeks lived on islands and fished for food. They discovered ways to use their tools to carve messages into tombs and slates. Their stories for thousands of years were communicated only through oral storytelling. The Greeks are also the first known civilization to develop writing and apply it to storytelling, which they used to leave messages and write poems. »

Oral tradition and folklore were man’s baby steps towards a vast and exciting future of creating art and history. The possibilities as it now seems are endless. It was not always so.

Caveman had crude tools; sometimes the same ones with which he fought for survival, for his writing. Then came the Greeks with brilliant imagery and bright colors swaddled in elegant poetry. The need to publish and be heard inspired paper and print. We could duplicate and publicize. It was important for storytelling to be captured and preserved. So, print came in handy.

From the times of great Orators like Demosthenes who instigated Athens to oppose Phillip of Macedon and later his son, Alexander the Great. To contemporary writers of magic and enchanted forest, the likes of J.K. Rowling. The tastes buds for storytelling have grown accustomed to enthralling ventures by writers who dared the impossible.

The domination of the digital age, and computers, have made it even more tasking to create stories that keep you spellbound. There are just too many writers out there looking for some spark of magic.

The entrance of Story Wars into this wild foray, is one that signals something on the edge. Writers have found a new way to pursue their storytelling collaboratively and with the zest of caveman survival. Story Wars was designed to leverage the power of gamification in storytelling. By allowing writers to competitively collaborate, Story Wars seems to have opened a minefield of hidden talents and possibilities.

On Story Wars, writers can collaborate with something extra. This is beyond just collaboration and anthologies. Story Wars takes the process of collaboration, infuses interactive communities and a voting system that eliminates stories poorly written, hardly written, or not heartfelt enough. Writers can pitch story ideas. The moment the story is published, it becomes an adopted project on the Story Wars Community. Other users can write a chapter for the story that they like and want to contribute to. There’s a catch! For a user’s chapter to be accepted into a story, it must be voted in by other users.

There are elements of fanfiction, self-publishing, and gamification demonstrated by Story Wars. The uniqueness is born out of a well thought out process that understudies the most effective writing tools that have evolved over centuries. Humans compete, we tell stories and we share in communities. This is what makes up some of our best folklore and stories. What if we could make this part of the storytelling process?

The writing process on Story Wars now allows multiple authors to be part of creating a single book. Inclusion is solely based on the merit that a storyteller proves in an open vote. Writers are rewarded for demonstrating creativity, team spirit and ultimate mastery of the art.

What would you want to see with a tool that allows you to collaborate, write and own a story together with several other writers? You’d think that is all there is to such a powerful work of genius. Story Wars is set to introduce voice stories just like it was in the times of oration and moonlight stories. With the power of collaboration and a competitive spirit, this would unleash something unprecedented in the art of storytelling.

The human expression is basic to the transformation of our species. It sits solidly behind human evolution, communication, commerce and trade. As we embrace a global existence, Story Wars is set to usher us into something even bigger than we can imagine. One voice, one story, many hearts.

References

https://www.meetcortex.com/blog/the-history-of-storytelling-in-10-minutes

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Demosthenes-Greek-statesman-and-orator