Be A Writer And A Judge With Eqlee, Malaysia's First Crowd-Sourced Novel
Eqlee will be letting the public decide the chapters they want to read!
By Rohini Rajaratnam — 14 Jul 2015, 03:48 PM
Remember the time we played "choose-your-own-adventure" in school and it always had the most twisted ending? We found you a grown-up version with Eqlee's first crowd-sourced novel
Until 16 August, you, the public can submit literature works of any genre and once the submission period is officially closed, you get to vote for the entry you think deserves to be the first chapter in the novel. The chapter with the most number of votes will be selected and this process will continue with further chapters till the novel comes to and end... or not.
"Since the story and its development depend on the readers, writers, voters, it’s hard to determine when this could end… if ever! So, if at some point, the general opinion is that the story is getting too complicated, or if it needs some closure, then we would establish a time period to submit a ‘final chapter’," said Victor Lozada, founder of this project.
So what triggered Victor Lozada, a KL-based digital strategist to start Eqlee?
It all began several years ago when he attended a writing workshop in Madrid. His interest was piqued when one day a professor of literature picked up a book, looked at the class, and said “this book …this story is not a story. It’s a process between the author, the story and the reader.”
"The example he gave was a romance novel. If you read it when you’re falling in love, it comes across as a completely different story than if you read the same novel after you just broke up. So it’s a process,” Lozada recounts.
It was at that moment, it struck Lozada: Stories are not static, even if they’re printed on the page. They are always evolving. Merging that with his experience in digital and online media (and the help of a friend), Lozada deemed it a good idea to provide people with the opportunity to come together and create a story.
“It’s a story for the people, by the people,” he asserts.
So far Eqlee receives an average of six entries per day but hopes to receive at least three-hundred entries when the submission period closes in August
How do you become part of the crowd?
Registration period: It's on right now - head to eqlee.com and register.
Submission period: Until 16 August, you can submit your potential chapter, with a maximum of 10,000 words. You're only allowed one entry.
Voting period: Over the span of 3 weeks after 16 August, viewers get to read and vote for as many potential chapters as they want by rating them on a scale of 1 to 5 stars. The one with the highest number of votes will be selected as an official chapter.
Reading period: The public gets to read the winning chapter and think about a potential continuation.
Submission period will begin again after 3 weeks allowing the public to submit chapters that continue the storyline of the previous winning chapter.