Junkie Brainstorm Session: GFL/Siglerverse numbering system
scottsigler
Allright, you lazy, good-for-nothing beatniks! Get out of that got, drop your linnen and stop your grinnin'!
This year is going to see as many as six new Dark Øverlord products enter the marketplace. ARealGirl and I are starting to plan for the far future, and we want your brains (for doing stuff brains are actually supposed to do, not to put in our belly).
Soon we will release the Mur Lafferty novella THE REPORTER, a story that takes place between THE STARTER and THE ALL-PRO. We have more novellas planned for 2013 and beyond, including TITLE FIGHT, which takes place between THE ROOKIE and THE STARTER. We want to develop a naming system that shows the exact timeline of Siglerverse cannon, and have that nomenclature be included in titles. We want people to be able to see, at a glance, the order of Siglerverse books.
Remember that all Siglerverse books happen in the same universe and timeline. Things that happen in CONTAGIOUS influence things that happen in THE CRYPT, and so on. I will eventually have series that are not part of the Siglerverse, like HUNTER HUNTERSON & SONS, but those stories are not part of this discussion.
Here's a tricky part: I have four "eras" of the Siglerverse planned out:
• "Olden Times" for stuff that happens before 2000
• "Modern Day" including INFECTED, CONTAGIOUS, ANCESTOR, NOCTURNAL and anything I write that takes place in our current world
• "Crypt Era" for all the stories that take place about 500 years from now
• "GFL Era" for the stories that take place 700 years from now
• "Modern Day" including INFECTED, CONTAGIOUS, ANCESTOR, NOCTURNAL and anything I write that takes place in our current world
• "Crypt Era" for all the stories that take place about 500 years from now
• "GFL Era" for the stories that take place 700 years from now
Because things in "Modern Day" affect things in "Crypt Era" and "GFL Era," some people will want to read all of the stories in order. At the same time, some people will eat up the military SF of "Crypt Era," and not give a crap about "Modern Era" or "GFL Era." So, this numbering system has to serve the fans that want to read everything from beginning to end, as well as cater to fans that just want to enjoy their little piece of the Siglerverse.
OPTION 1 - SEQUENTIAL DECIMAL SYSTEM:
One way is to identifying each series, then tack on a "Siglerverse" number at the end. THE ROOKIE, Book 1 of the GFL Series (Siglerverse 4.1) , THE STARTER, Book 2 of the GFL Series (Siglerverse 4.2), and so on. That means TITLE FIGHT would be described as: TITLE FIGHT, Book 1.5 of the GFL Series (Siglerverse 4.1.5). THE REPORTER would probably be Book 2.1 of the GFL Series (Siglerverse 4.2.1). THE CRYPT, Book 1.0 (Siglerverse 3.1) would be followed by THE CRYPT, Book 2.0 (Siglerverse 3.2), and if I go back and write things that happen in-between, it would be THE CRYPT Book 1.5 (Siglerverse 3.1.5)
Here's where it gets tricky: say we put out eleven stories that take place between THE ROOKIE and THE STARTER - eventually, we would have to put out something like: THE MANAGER, Book 1.5.2 of the GFL Series (Siglerverse 4.1.5.2)
PROS:
1. At a glance, you can see the exact order of the stories. When new Junkies enter the Siglerverse, if they so choose they can read the entire GFL series in order.
2. Infinitely expandable: we can keep adding stories for decades, and the system will continue even after I'm dead and some other entity takes over the Siglerverse franchise.
1. At a glance, you can see the exact order of the stories. When new Junkies enter the Siglerverse, if they so choose they can read the entire GFL series in order.
2. Infinitely expandable: we can keep adding stories for decades, and the system will continue even after I'm dead and some other entity takes over the Siglerverse franchise.
CONS:
1. What happens if I eventually add an era between "Modern" and "The Crypt?
2. Fifteen years from now, could get kludgy. Imagine ARealGirl and I find some great franchise characters in THE MVP that we want to develop with their own stories and/or series. Or, imagine Quentin's detective Frederico is a breakout star with y'all, and we want to give him a series of books. As the stories pile up, we could see cumbersone names like THE DETECTIVE, Book 3.5.1.4 of the GFL Series (Siglerverse 3.3.5.1.4)
1. What happens if I eventually add an era between "Modern" and "The Crypt?
2. Fifteen years from now, could get kludgy. Imagine ARealGirl and I find some great franchise characters in THE MVP that we want to develop with their own stories and/or series. Or, imagine Quentin's detective Frederico is a breakout star with y'all, and we want to give him a series of books. As the stories pile up, we could see cumbersone names like THE DETECTIVE, Book 3.5.1.4 of the GFL Series (Siglerverse 3.3.5.1.4)
OPTION 2 - DATE SYSTEM:
The other method we came up with was to just ad the date of the book's first day of action, and incorporate that into the title. For example, say THE ALL-PRO story begins on January 2, 2684, the title would be: "THE ALL-PRO, Book 3 of the GFL Series (Siglerverse 2684.1.2).
We would go with year first, I think, so if we have a system that sorts alphabetically by the "Siglerverse" number, it would flow correctly.
PROS:
1. Shows clear order of the stories.
2. Ten characters max (4 for year, 2 for month, 2 for day, plus two decimals)
3. Infinitely expandable. We would have a limit of 365 possible products for each "year," but we'd never hit that number, so we'd be able to drop new stories into the timeline whenever we like without multiple sequential decimals.
1. Shows clear order of the stories.
2. Ten characters max (4 for year, 2 for month, 2 for day, plus two decimals)
3. Infinitely expandable. We would have a limit of 365 possible products for each "year," but we'd never hit that number, so we'd be able to drop new stories into the timeline whenever we like without multiple sequential decimals.
CONS:
1. Don't we still need series numbers for the stories that happen between major books? For example, THE REPORTER, Book 3.1 of the GFL Series (Siglerverse 2684.5.10)
2. It might not be clear that things take place at the same time as other books, unless we put the full date range. For example THE REPORTER happens during THE ALL-PRO. Unless I put a full date range (beginning date, end date), it might not be clear that one story takes place during another. Not sure this matters as far as reading things in order, but it is a factor.
2. It might not be clear that things take place at the same time as other books, unless we put the full date range. For example THE REPORTER happens during THE ALL-PRO. Unless I put a full date range (beginning date, end date), it might not be clear that one story takes place during another. Not sure this matters as far as reading things in order, but it is a factor.
You are the fans, the Junkies, so give us your thoughts on these systems or another system.
KEEP IN MIND: ARealGirl and I are developing a massive universe that someday will include novels, novellas, short stories, comics, web series, movies and video games. Some stories will be comic-only, others might be video-game-only. We want to make sure fans that discover us 20 years from now can see the entire timeline at a glance, then best choose what they want to enjoy.
NOTE: If you want to play in this sandbox, please take time to think your system through before throwing in a comment. We don't want comments like "why don't you just number them in order?" that show you didn't read the post, and show you put down the first thing to pop into your head. This is a complex issue that we're trying to manage to better serve the Junkies.
60 Comments
putting more stuff on the Cover of a Book is a safe way to get potential buyers confused. I am a bookseller for 8 years now, and have seen it happen many times, too many times...
I side with Mr. Fahrenheit. Come up with 4 Icons, each for every Era and put that Icon/Logo on the Spine of the Books.
Then add a Timeline in the Front or the Back of a Book. The Expanded Universe Timeline of StarWars is very, very good and quite easy to decipher.
And u can include the newest timeline with every reprint of the current edition.
That way you can avoid the problem, with a non up to date timeline in older books.
Hope that helps.
Cheers from good old Germany.
(Sorry for my english, its quite early over here ;-))
•CBBC Fixer• Agent extraordinaire to the Siglerverse
Scott, the problem as I see it is you are looking at this all wrong. Think outside the box like when you write.
You are trying to bring your books and identify them into a system that is of our world, very one demensionally. This is just ass backwards. You need to be taking our world into yours.
Create your own system. For instance, create an alien type symbol and/or numbering system. (Sklorno, Kreterakian, or Quyth perhaps?) Blend them together to denote where they intersect each other. Then there isn't a dependency on sequencing like you are struggling with right now.
Think multi-dimensionally. Try not to look at time in a linear fashion but bend it and warp it how YOU want it to be. Identify them by where they intersect each other.
We're entering your world through your books, please don't try to bring your books into our world like this.
But, if you want a simple timeline like others have suggested here from Star Wars, meh.... I can certainly understand needing to dumb it down for mass consumption. Just my 2 cents.
As romanda said a YYYYMMDD.HH(mm) would be the best format to use. As for books which jump around the timeline, you could just assign them the stardate the over begining date (i.e. the book starts 2686 jumps to 2675 then to 2690 you could assign it 2675MMDD.HHmm).
As for what to put on the cover, I agree less is more. Simply putting the year on the cover/spine should be enough. You could place the complete number in the front or back page along with the most up-to-date (at time of print) timeline and a webpage to the visit to get the most current timeline.
Perry Dawsey >>>>M.O.P.A.I.<<<< Massively Over Powered and Infected
"Darkness within darkness--the gateway to all understanding."
---Tao Te Ching
Perry Dawsey >>>>M.O.P.A.I.<<<< Massively Over Powered and Infected
"Darkness within darkness--the gateway to all understanding."
---Tao Te Ching
I think you need to do a two tier system as you have made examples of but not use the initial decimal. State the era,OLD, MODERN, CRYPT, GFL, and then the book #, and sub story #, etc but keep it as short as you can. This also allows for expansion into new story eras (You can give me my own battalion in the army for that suggestion, I don't need my own tank).
let me re work your examples to show you:
( "THE ALL-PRO, Book 3 of the GFL Series (Siglerverse GFL 3) )
This is infinately expandable. Say your right and Fredericho is a big star and you start his own series, instead of " THE DETECTIVE, Book 3.5.1.4 of the GFL Series (Siglerverse 3.3.5.1.4)"
Give him his own prefix. FRED 1.4 FRED 1 Fred 2.5 FRED 5.7
and update the timeline in the new books, and your master timeline on the top of the web site, which I can't seem to find one easily anywhere (web site, siglerpedia, forums) (HINT HINT (ok that suggestion gets me my own helicopter)
ok hopefully that helps. I know it is not perfect, but maybe it can spawn a more perfect idea, and does break your problem of expandability.
Having a letter which represents a letter for each Era.
E.g.O = Old M = Modern, F = football era, N = Near Future.
Then for Books in the Series to Address the problems of denotion between a main book and subsets we could have M = Main Book, N = Novella, Then the final 4 numbers would tell you the sequence on the system cause there's going to be alot of books however to enable books to be added without having to go and renumber things later you could have a spacing of 100 between main books. Scott would have more of an idea of how many sub books there could be in certain situations. But the idea is the numbers is to try and keep the sequence in tact with the letters to provide the era and book type.
The Rookie would be GM0001
The All Pro would be GM0100
What do people think ?
Maybe junkies can buy the stickers and it be released with book 5 more incentive for existing junkies to get them and another thing to add.
What do people think ?