The Other Steve McQueen

You know, Isabella, I reckon I channelled the wrong Steve McQueen when vacuuming the other day as it was a pretty dull experience. However, this morning, plugging in the hoover, it was you that popped into my head and a much more inspiring visitor you proved to be!

I was thinking about this thought in your recent post:  
I’m not sure you can have maximum story and maximum co-creation.
I too wonder how far one, or rather, many can push the idea of a collaboratively authored story. Is the prevailing form* of “story” (and, I guess, I’m thinking standard novel here) so at odds with the concept of collaboration that they are, ultimately, incompatible? Does the single story at some point, fragment or simply disintegrate? At what point does this occur? Is it relative to the number of co-authors? Is top-down, directorial influence ultimately unavoidable? How could or should the original initiator of the story intervene? Should there be appointed curators or moderators of the story? So many questions – but I think this is part of a very interesting discussion and they reflect questions that Christa also raised  when I confided in her after the “Oscar debacle” 😉 I also wonder if it is not the idea of story that fails but the enduring strength of the single Author? (Though, to be fair, Barthes took a good stab at undermining this).
 * Because I wonder when it became this way. Of course stories existed and were born by word of mouth, morphing en route from teller to teller for a very long time before consolidating in the 19th Century printed novel…
I must add that I really liked the radar diagrams. I mentally plotted my own this morning with Wee Children, Blimmin’ Laundry (a category inclusive of SteveMcQueen style activities), Creative Activity and Critical Reflection on the axes…The fact that I didn’t manage to get around to actually offering a visual representation of this says a fair deal about where the polygon is weighted at present!!;-)