A community novel is made by a group of people who write it, with inspiration and input from others in their local community. The process is guided by a ‘facilitator’.
There are lots of ways to take part. Previous experience of creative writing is not essential, in fact it can be beneficial. People can learn the craft of writing as they go along.
A community novel is made with pens, laptops, and apps on smartphones. A mix means anyone can take part, using whatever device works best for them.
The most importance skill is to be able to collaborate with others.
This guide How to Make a Community Novel sets out five types of participation:
PROMOTION: ways to get people involved and invite other community groups, volunteers, and individuals to contribute.
PLAY: playful ways to devise raw material for a novel; create characters, make settings, find a theme, and put them together in rough draft scenes.
PLAN: map the story with a narrative arc from start to finish.
PRODUCE: write the novel in full, learn how to ‘show not tell’, use dialogue, craft chapters, and critique drafts together until the novel is polished.
PUBLISH: options for serialisation, online publishing, and self-publishing.
A FACILITATOR or group leader guides the process. They need to know how novels are written: how to plan, write, revise, and edit a novel, and how to guide people as they work together.
A community novel can be whatever genre the participants decide. The Joined Up Writers took inspiration from their local area, its contemporary concerns and its history, but the events and characters in Trevow are entirely fictional.
Trevow took almost a year to plan, plot and start drafting. The writing and editing took a further year and and a half, including working together online during the Covid-19 lockdowns.
Read a sample chapter.
joined up writers 