As time goes on, I’m more and more of a fan of creative commons. I especially like the creative commons share-alike, which (as I understand it) says: Feel free to use this as you will. Feel free to write something based on it, and get paid for doing so–provided whatever you write is also released under the same arrangement.
I think that’s nifty. It encourages cooperation among writers, which I think has the potential to create Lots Of Cool Stuff.
Obviously, this fits in beautifully with the shared world idea. Some of us had started a project doing exactly that a few years ago, but it fell apart because of personal problems among some of the creators.
Now, here is where it gets tricky: Is there any way to combine CC share-alike, shared world, AND traditional publishing with the usual copyright? At first glance, it would seem impossible. But I know so little about any of this that I’m not yet prepared to give up on the idea.
You see, there’s this book, due out from Tor in September of 2013. To me, it cries out to be the setting of a shared world. But for various reasons, the book itself needs to be published by the traditional model. Does that kill the idea?
Do you any of you know enough about copyright and such to have an opinion on the matter? I’d love to hear from you.
ETA: The license in question can be found here. Thanks to Peter Hentges.