Each Collaborative Project is managed and run a little differently to one another. Partially to keep things fresh and interesting for team members who may be returning to ‘play’ again, and partially to cater for the specific genre the series is based upon. The mix of backgrounds and skills of individuals for each series, along with the ’emotional buy in’ to the collaborative process determines the experience team members will ultimately have.
Our teams are made from Spinners, Weavers and Beta Readers – each an important cog within the entire machine which produces the end product.
Spinners
The spinners are our incredible writers who are drawn from all over the world.
They spin the tale firstly in their own little worlds of three, then it is shared and threads pulled, spliced and interwoven.
Weavers
Our weavers pull the threads of stories together, intertwining and meshing them, in order to give the reader a rich textural experience.
To call these talented people “Editors” would be a disservice to what they do.
To name them “Line Managers” would discredit the amount of work and high level thought process which is required to undertake the role.
……. and they are far more than ‘just writers”.
Our team of weavers not only edit and guide their teams of writers through the process, they also collaborate amongst themselves to ensure the threads and stories are seamless, writing chapters and links which bridge the tales.
Beta Readers
Our awesome beta readers are drawn from a hand picked pool of established writers and editors.
They are our critical eye, unbiased opinion and our first real ‘reader’ before the stories hit the public. Our Beta Readers work closely with both editors and writers, offering their expertise with the aim of improving grammar, spelling, characterization, and the general style of stories as they progress.
Unsung heros in the writing world, this projects aim is to honour the contribution beta readers give.
Click on team members name to find out more.
Aabraham is a shy wordsmith and likes to insert a certain amount of crazy into every day.
Abigail is part day dreamer, part word wrangler and part enigma… and no relation to any other famous Stiller – Ben, Jerry, Albert, Amy, Dan or Cheynee.
Adam sifts through the ennui and detritus of life and catalogues them as potential story ideas. They are pretty much a pad of sticky notes on the fridge door.
Annie Is a prolific scribbler of characters, weaver of story lines, champion of the return of the short story and professional cat herder.
Carrie is a distracted wordsmith; intrigued by ancient history, poetry, horrific delights, open spaces and forks.
Chia is a writer, lawyer, dancer and knitter.
Catherine swears her rough drafts are in the process of editing for publication – that is after she stops editing and beta reading for other people.
Christopher has been known to throw his cowboys into fights with robots, vampires, and the ambiguities of purgatory.
Ed likes to pretend he is a humourless and dry editor, but the team at CYOA know better.
Edge insists he is a geek and not a nerd .
Eileen has spent time as a journalist, social scientist, and retail manager and is eager to share her worlds promising they’ll be much more fun than reality!
Emma is an over-caffeinated writer and mother of one.
Heather received a degree in English and Professional Writing, and uses this as a weapon against those who would litter the world with extragrammatical apostrophes.
Icy is half writer, half evil supervillain. She dispensed with sleep some time ago.
John juggles work, his family and his ongoing megalomaniacal ploy for world domination.
Justyn drinks too much red wine and coffee, is known for his emotional outbursts which manifest themselves in poetry, music and a darned good tale.
Kari has enjoyed writing short stories for several years. She is honored to have been part of 100 Stories for Queensland as a beta reader, and with CYOA History’s Keeper & Dust and Death. She looks forward to future opportunities with CYOA as well as other writing projects.
Krista says she is an author because she doesn’t believe in hard work.
Laura warns you not to be fooled by her sweet portrait. Infused with the power to create, control, direct, and even snuff out the lives of her characters, she is quickly discovering her leanings toward world domination.
Neshamah escapes into her safe world of poetry and social commentary to get away from the madness of the current environment.
Susan is juggling a novel, a collection of short stories, and a number of collaborative projects.
Tanya has found her feet in the make believe world of a first time novelist with a newly acquired literature degree in hand.
Tina enjoys giving her characters horrible challenges to overcome – just because she can.
Tomara is a mad scientist, underwater breakdance champion, brain worm enthusiast, and fabricator of reality–she writes fiction, so pick and choose what you wish to believe about her or feel free to make something up.
Tony’s work is often funny, but that’s just because the most dangerous things in the world are the ones that look the most harmless.
