A Million Penguins - The More the Merrier

Penguin has launched its first wiki and in a project called A Million Penguins have created a space where anyone can contribute to the writing of a novel and anyone can edit anyone else's writing.

"Over the next six weeks we want to see whether a community can really get together, put creative differences aside (or sort them out through discussion) and produce a novel. We honestly don't know how this is going to turn out - it's an experiment. Some disciplines rely completely on collaboration, while others - the writing of a novel, for example - have traditionally been the work of an individual working in isolation. But with collaboration, crowdsourcing and the 'wisdom of the crowds' being buzz words du jour, we thought we might as well see if these new trends can be applied to a less obvious sphere than, say, software development." says
Jeremy Ettinghausen, Digital Publisher, Penguin Books.

Penguin are working with members of the Creative Writing & New Media MA at De Montfort University. A Penguin editor is on hand to write regular reading reports on the novel in progress, and the rest is up to the wreaders.

A Million Penguins

Can a community write a novel? Let's find out.