The answer is 31, if they’re taking part in a collaborative novel writing project like the one I’ve just been involved with.
New Writing Cumbria set local writers the following challenge: “One person writes the opening chapter of a novel, with a limited prompt – in this case: a couple are on their honeymoon, travelling around Cumbria in a caravan.
“They then email this to the next person, who writes their own chapter, carrying on from where the first left off. Collaboratively, we write a novel. What follows is anyone’s guess!”
Like 30 others, I thought it was a brilliant idea, so I applied. We were each allowed a maximum of 2,000 words and given a deadline of 72 hours after receiving the preceding chapters.
I was assigned the final one, so had the fun of pulling the strands together and wrapping them all up. Find out how it turned out here.
Or why not get together with some writing colleagues and create your own collaborative novel? It’s much quicker and easier than writing one alone!
The next novel 
Hi, I read this post with much interest as I have been involved in something similar before. Several writers looking to be published wrote a sci-fi, supernatural story with each writer taking a chapter and passing it on. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed the experience much more than writing alone. I would like to find like minded people local to Cumbria who would be interested in putting something like this together.
All the best with your new novel.
Regards
Scott
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Hi Scott. Thanks for your message. I’m sure there must be writers around Cumbria who’d like to get involved in another collaborative project. You could contact local writing groups yourself. But, if I were you, I’d email New Writing Cumbria (enquiries@newwritingcumbria.org.uk) and ask if they could put an invitation for writers to contact you in their next mailing. Good luck!
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