Stories to read, collect, and create
December updates for the Wordler Village project: a new storyline, a premium vignette, co-author rights, an upcoming website, and a chat session
It’s been a while since the last newsletter. Not because there’s been nothing to write about, but because there’s been too much.
I wrote and released another Wordler Village storyline, welcomed the first couple hundred Co-Authors into the community, and will be co-hosting another Twitter Spaces writing chat later today that I hope you’ll be able to attend, or that you’ll check out the recording afterward.
We have so much to talk about!
Samhain 2022
My November goal was to release 30 Wordler Vignettes over 30 days. It took a bit longer, and there are 31 vignettes because the last was split in two, but the Samhain 2022 storyline is essentially complete.
30 vignettes are currently free to collect at Wordlers.Cent.co, plus a premium token within the story that’s being offered for $5 USD. This will be an interesting experiment in providing a way for readers to support my work while also providing early supporters with a special keepsake.
The utility of the premium token is that it completes the set. Over 14,000 Samhain 2022 vignettes have been collected in total, but so far only 4 people will ever be able to hold a completed set.
Something else I’ve been busy with…
Addressing the Fanfic Dilemma
For many of us, part of the fun of reading or watching a story play out is in imagining our own versions of the characters and what else they might be doing before and after the canonical story. But traditionally, if you wanted to write your own story set in someone else’s story world, you’d either have to negotiate a license agreement or navigate the legally murky world of fanfic.
A license agreement sets out what you can and cannot do with someone else’s intellectual property and establishes fair compensation for the rights-holder. Unfortunately, license agreements have tended to be prohibitively expensive, difficult, and time-consuming to secure, when they’ve been available at all. Until now, official rights-granting agreements have been available only to folks with the resources and contacts already in place for large-scale distribution of professional-level work.
For most authors, the venue of fanfic has provided the only available outlet for adaptive creativity. Technically, all fanfic stories are violations of intellectual property rights, owing their existence to the fuzzy doctrine of fair use and a spectrum of tolerance, indulgence, or tacit approval displayed by the original rights-holders.
To determine where the original author stands, fanfic authors have had to rely on a series of clues: statements on an author’s website, answers given in an interview, or a lack of legal action taken against previous infringing stories.
Some authors provide conflicting signals as their thoughts on fanfic change over the course of their careers. Rights can be transferred to litigious publishers or studios. Upon the death of an author, their estate may clamp down to preserve a legacy or protect the heirs. In the absence of a written contract, any rights given or implied can be withdrawn at any time.
Commercialization is often seen as a bright red line. Fanfic authors, like all creators, deserve to be fairly compensated for their work. But if the fanfic author gets paid while the underlying rights holder doesn’t, the risk of a lawsuit skyrockets.
The Token-Mediated Co-Author License, or ToMCAL, is a license agreement for the rest of us. Rights to individual IP elements are tied to limited-release tokens, which can either be given away or sold. Multiple tokens can be collected to form the building blocks of a story, and whenever the tokens are resold on the secondary market, the original author receives an ongoing revenue stream. The licensees, meanwhile, are granted legal use of the original author’s characters and settings, including the right to sell their own original works set in that story universe.
You may already be a Co-Author!
Check your bingo cards, er, Cent Pages accounts. If you collected NIGHTfall #16 back when it was available, or if you’ve since acquired it in one of our fine royalty-respecting marketplaces, your personal and commercial rights in Wordler 408, the Vampire HQ setting within the Villager refugee camp, and the timeframe from midnight to midnight on Day 408 have just been secured.
Belinda, designated as Wordler 408, became a vampire by choice, out of a desperate need to save her child during the chaotic aftermath of the NIGHTfall incident. In subsequent vignettes, we see Belinda use her powers to help others, and witness her capture by the armed forces of Del Fenwick and their leader, Captain Glover.
Belinda’s original story, included below, only scratches the surface of her character journey. Her vampiric transformation takes place “off-screen” in a Vampire HQ within the camp that remains undescribed and undeveloped. Even more story potential can be explored by combining the rights granted by the QUART Token with the days, locations, and characters unlocked by other tokens in the series. Rights to each Wordler in the NIGHTfall storyline also include a license to tell a flashback story set during the events of NIGHTfall which, for Belinda, has never yet been told.
I’m developing a website where these story elements can be futher refined and Co-Author works can receive a venue and recognition. Look for details soon.
Flashback to NIGHTfall #16
At the Del Fenwickian border, 408 days after a wizard cursed the REALM…
On the border of Del Fenwick, in the Villager refugee camp, in the children’s medical pavilion, the situation had grown dire. Some humanitarian aid had trickled through, but only enough to blunt the edges of starvation and a sickness that ravaged the camp. Lacking cots, caretakers had collected rags and piles of straw to keep the sickest children comfortable. Food and water were strictly rationed, medicine was non-existent, and hope was the only commodity most Villagers had left.
Belinda had lost her husband during NIGHTfall, and now she had no hope left for their son.
A few hundred yards away, beyond a garrison of well-fed soldiers, lay the Regency of Del Fenwick. Across the border, a mile down the Gold Road, was the Village of Weffix. Less than a mile, as the crow flies. In better times, Belinda had traded there, but even then, the Fenwickians had eyed visiting Villagers with suspicion. Now, under the Word Wizard’s curse, those better times were gone.
“Momma, don’t be sad when I’m dead,” Timmy had rasped, and Belinda had had to leave the tent, sprinting from her own child to spare him the sight of seeing her cry. She collapsed between two refuse bins and sobbed out waterless tears. Dehydrated as she was, it felt as if she were crying out dust.
A sympathetic zombie approached, and placed a comforting arm around Belinda’s shoulders. Belinda had always avoided the zombies of Wordler Village. Not that she had anything against them—they seemed like such nice people—but there was always a chance that one of them would lose control of their cravings.
“There’s a difficult choice that many Villagers are making for their loved ones,” said the zombie. “Our condition makes us the ultimate survivors. We don’t get sick, and we don’t strictly need food.”
Belinda wiped her eyes and nose. “You don’t?”
The zombie shrugged. “We are always hungry. So what’s a little more hunger on top of that? You get used to it.”
Belinda shuddered. “It sounds like endless suffering to me.”
“It’s better than death, at least for me. Maybe for you as well, or maybe not, but consider well. A bite from me would reverse the ravages of cholera, malaria, and malnutrition. Once the zombie condition takes possession of a body, it doesn’t like to share with other diseases.”
“You seem well-intentioned,” said Belinda. “I’m sure your offer is meant to be charitable, so I hope you don’t take this the wrong way. I’d rather let my child die than for him to lose his humanity.”
“No offense taken.” The zombie smiled. “I completely understand. But if you change your mind, there’s a growing number of us available to help.”
The next day, Belinda awoke by Timmy’s bedside with dried tears gluing her eyelashes shut. Nearby, a blue notepaper rested on the ground. “Do whatever it takes, Wordler 408. You have until sundown.”
“And now this,” Belinda grumbled. From the entire REALM, the curse had singled her out on that day, and through its magic she somehow knew that her failure would mean Timmy’s death as well as her own.
“Whatever it takes?” She sighed.
Outside the tent, the zombie was waiting as if he were already aware of her plight. Maybe he’d even been waiting there all night, as his kind didn’t need to sleep. “Good morning,” said the zombie.
“There’s nothing good about this morning,” Belinda shot back.
“No improvement to your child’s condition?”
“What do you think?”
“Ah.” The zombie nodded. “I am sorry to hear that.”
“I…may need some assistance.”
The zombie bowed. “I am at your disposal.”
“Do you know where I might find a vampire?”
“Ah.” The zombie wasn’t quite able to hide his disappointment. “I know a vampire, and I’d be happy to make an introduction. But don’t get your hopes up. They don’t turn children.”
“I know.” Belinda bit her lip, remembering an old nursery rhyme about Wikki Vikki Vamp and the pint of blood that made her into an undead monster. Probably for an adult, it would take at least twice as much blood. She wasn’t looking forward to the taste of it, but the Fenwickian Village of Weffix was less than a mile away as the crow flies.
Or the bat.
—Greg R. Fishbone, Mythology Disruptor