Community Novel Project at Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library

Bryan Voell is the Local Arts Librarian for the Johnson County Library in Johnson County, Kansas. He is a regular contributor to the LAIP, where he writes about innovative library arts programming and projects. Enjoy! ~ Laura

by Bryan Voell

Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library’s Community Novel Project pretty much epitomizes library-initiated collaborative creativity. We are fortunate to have Public Services Specialist Miranda Ericsson and Librarian Lissa Staley share their experiences with organizing this successful project.

Give us an overview of the Community Novel Project. What was the impetus behind the project?

Miranda: For seven years prior to starting this project, our library presented “How to Write a Novel in 30 Days” programs and write-ins each fall as part of the National Novel Writing Month initiative. Through that engagement of our writing community, we heard from writers who wanted more relevant programming– editing, traditional publishing, self-publishing. When the idea of a serialized project was mentioned, it made sense to start  with the writers who were already attending library programs. After the first year’s novel was finished, everyone wanted to do it again, both for the experience of collaborating together to create fiction, and to see the final book in print.

Each year, the Community Novel Project brings area writers, artists, and editors together to collaborate on a work on fiction. The project is collaborative from start to finish—participants work as a group to agree on a premise and direction for the novel, establish characters, brainstorm ideas for art, decide on a title, write a blurb…you know, pretty much everything involved in creating a novel!  Each participant writes a section of the book, respecting the characterizations and arc of the story that have been established by writers before them. Each author’s work is shared with the group for editing through DokuWiki before it is published online or in print. Participants from the community even help with proofreading and layout as we prepare the final manuscript for print and ebook release, and participate in promotion by being guests on our library’s podcast, meeting readers at the library’s author fair, and more.

Photos provided by Topeka & Shawnee County Library.

What have you learned most over the last four years about coordinating such a project?

Miranda Ericsson: From start to finish, this project has many moving parts and pieces. We continue to work in pilot-project mode, trying new elements and letting go of others. Rather than perfect the correct way to do this, we learn and change through each project alongside our writers. In various projects we have experimented with creating a premise for the work, developing the early chapters and characters, passing the work forward from writer to writer, editing, including illustrations, serializing online, laying out a print manuscript, formatting for ebook publishing, recording an audiobook, creating marketing materials and interviews, selling preorders and planning a book launch.

Lissa Staley:  I think the thing I have learned most about coordinating these projects is respect for each person involved. Many people are contributing their time and talents freely. The passion for creating, the enthusiasm for encouraging each other and the shared goals mean that the journey along the way is the best part.

Miranda Ericsson: I joined the Community Novel Project during the second year, as a writer and editor. Working with other writers to cooperatively move a story forward was an amazing experience. I had never collaborated with other writers to create written work prior to this project! Since then, writing collaboratively and even true co-writing has become comfortable and easy. Lissa and I pass work back and forth regularly, each adding our own voices and smoothing it together. We’ve co-written fiction, academic work, site content, program descriptions, and even the interview answers that you’re reading now. We’ve also combined our efforts with writers from the community, so that often a blurb or a particular passage of fiction contains the words of half a dozen writers. Sharing your words and putting everyone’s names on the result requires breaking down personal barriers and putting egos and ownership aside. I believe that collaborative writing helps writers to step outside of themselves to think about other writers, and co-writing forces writers to focus more on the resulting work and less on themselves as a name on the manuscript. Relaxing personal boundaries and the ability to shift the focus off of myself as the author has been very beneficial for my own creative writing.

I have definitely learned a great deal of adaptability and flexibility from working as a project coordinator for the Community Novel. No matter how well we plan, there are so many unknowns that it is impossible to really chart the course of this project. Not everything works, but we remain committed to raising the bar for ourselves and our participants, and engaging new writers in supportive community programming at the library.

Writers at the Premise Workshop for the Topeka & Shawnee County Library Community Novel.

What has the public response been to the project?

Miranda: In our community, we’ve had great response – new writers join the project, many writers return for another year.  Customers purchase the book when it comes out or check it out from the library. A librarian at the Stanislaus County Library in California heard about our project and called us for advice before they did their own community novel writing project. http://ift.tt/1PiQfbm.  Buying their book from amazon.com was almost as exciting as seeing our own books launched.

Lissa: The idea that the public library can help people create fiction as well as help them find a great book to read seems to resonate with the public here in Topeka and elsewhere.

How has the success of the Community Novel Project affected or influenced other aspects of TSCPL’s community outreach and involvement efforts?

Miranda: At the same time as this project has progressed, the library began focusing on working out into the community more. We have partnered with community centers to offer outreach programming at their locations; we have staff embedded at the local makerspace. Writers are usually solitary workers and independent business entities. Bringing writers together to collaborate on a project at the library is an example of targeted community engagement with the goal of increasing the skills and successes of everyone who participates, including library staff.

In addition, the Community Novel Project has sparked inclusive writing programming that supports the project but appeals to a wide range of writers. This year, our library offered focused workshops on fiction writing techniques and publication layout, drawing the interest of a number of writers who were not participants in the project.

Read more about the Community Novel at the Topeka & Shawnee County Library website.

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