Tips & Guidance

What is Scriptopus?

Scriptopus is a round-robin writing game or "collaborative fiction" for people who like to write. Start off by reading a randomly selected segment written by another user and continue writing the story as you see fit - just do it in over 250 and under 1,000 characters (roughly the length of five "tweets"). You have 15 minutes to complete your contribution. Once you publish your segment of the story, it will pass on to another person, until ten contributions make for one completed narrative. The ten users who have made up one story will be alerted by email when it's finished in order to read the whole thing. You'll also be able to start new stories and browse other completed ones.

1. There’s no right answer.

Don’t worry about trying to guess where the previous writer was going with their idea; don’t feel obliged to follow the main theme of their narrative. Pick up and write on whatever strikes you.

2. Consider alternatives.

There is often more than one way to understand a word, phrase or event. If the “obvious” meaning of a passage doesn’t inspire you, ask yourself if it could be interpreted differently.

3. Leave building blocks.

Try to put enough detail into what you write so that you create several jumping-off points for the next writer. This tip isn’t just about being helpful to the next writer; it will help you build more structure, complexity and meaning into your own writing.

4. Take care of the housekeeping.

Part of the discipline of writing is maintaining clarity and legibility while you let your imagination soar. It won’t matter how great your idea is if your readers have to struggle to decipher it from poorly structured sentences, incorrect spelling and bad punctuation.

5. Rules are made to be broken.

You may decide that you want to play around with words, dialect or sentence structures. ‘Poor’ grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. may form an important element of the story you want to tell. Do it intentionally, not accidentally!

6. Be sensitive to your readers.

We’re not fans of censorship, and we want you to express yourself as freely and creatively as possible. Having said that, purely gratuitous expressions of racism, sexism, homophobia, religious intolerance and other forms of discrimination should be avoided. Remember that the next user could be an impressionable teenager. Or your primary school teacher. Or your granny.

7. Be original.

This should go without saying but … write your own stuff! If you quote another writer please make it clear, via quotation marks or context, that that’s what you’re doing.