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Sure, they are
unusual, but it often takes something relatively common to trigger them. Think
about this for a moment...
Most of us have been
in endless traffic jams, seemingly coming out of nowhere in an otherwise freely
flowing road. The truth is, you don't need a large crash to trigger a jam. It
can be something as small as a car getting too close to the one in front and
having to brake.
Many of us also
remember the Black Monday stock exchange crash of 1987, when the Dow Jones fell
by 23% in a single day. Economists are still debating the cause of the market's
collapse, as no major events or news have occurred prior to that day.
Kind of like the
domino effect, it only takes a relatively small falling rock to create a
potentially deadly landslide. On a brighter note, think about the last time an
apparently unexceptional event turned out to be for you a source of great joy
or inspiration. For Newton
it took only an apple.
This type of
behavior, that is the size of an outcome being disproportionate to the size of
the input, seems to be rather common in how the world works. The goal of EndOfThisWorld is to create a novel that takes this idea and
stretches it to the limit. A novel written interactively by you and the
billion-strong community of the World Wide Web. A novel beginning with an
account of events that took place on a Monday and ending with... the EndOfThisWorld.
Of course, writing
this type of story and telling it nicely requires a fair bit of imagination.
This is where we're asking for your help. Even though there exist single
individuals that could do a pretty good job in coming up with a story about the
end of the world, one can only imagine the storytelling potential of a diverse
community of authors bringing together their imagination in synergy.
Our idea of
implementing this is quite simple: Lay down a set of transparent and democratic
rules and the story will emerge naturally and spontaneously by the
collaborative action of the community. To say the least, the community could be
establishing an all-new approach to writing! Visit www.endofthisworld.com/
there you will get clearer.
Cheers!
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