Beyond The Barrier
A COLLABORATIVE NOVEL BEING WRITTEN AT
SUMMON YOUR INNER WRITER TO EXPLORE THE ORIGINS AND DANGERS OF HUMANITY.
You are invited to join our community and write the next chapter to the great story, Beyond The Barrier, a crowdsourced novel being written collaboratively right now at Next Chapters.
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membership at Next Chapters is free.
Simply register for a FREE account at Next Chapters to participate in Beyond The Barrier, a collaborative science fiction novel being written right now!
EXPLORE THE MYSTERIOUS PYLONS
Having finally reached the stars, humanity finds that we are fenced in by an unknown technology. At 22 light-years across, the area cordoned off by the mysterious Pylons is hardly small, though humanity loves to push boundaries. Enter the Dust Bus, a prospector ship cruising between stations when an inert, seemingly deactivated Pylon is discovered. What happens next throws all of human space into a panic and sends ripples across a galactic civilization spanning millions of years and near as many worlds.
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CHAPTER ONE
The starfield is warped, squished, and contracted, then smears into a wiggly snarl as the ship goes from multiples of light speed down to fractions within seconds. Dangerous in the extreme, leaving warped space without using a ring station puts tremendous stress on a ship and kills hundreds every year, but sometimes the risk is worth it.
“I got this,” whispers the captain through clenched teeth as she hits the emergency button, alerting others on board to hang on.
As soon as her ship collides with normal spacetime and exits the artificially compressed channel with a thunderous lurch and titanic bounce, the pilot’s early training comes flooding back to her in a flash. Wrestling with the flight sticks because the AI cannot keep up with the abrupt change in vector is where flight school, practice, and regular recertification pay off.
Her wizened flight instructor’s clumsy metaphor had been right. Flying a ship through compressed spacetime is like racing a wheeled vehicle; veer off the road, and you start to shake, might lose control, and possibly crash. When all of this plays out at velocities measured relative to the speed of light, it means you and your ship get smeared across a few thousand kilometers of open space if you fail to regain control Luckily, the “roads” in the case of interstellar travel are a few klicks across, and the slipstream of super-fast reality possesses a sort of current, so even if you run out of fuel or break down, you’ll be carried along and spat out of the next ring station.
Read more of Chapter One and add your next chapter for free at NextChapters.com
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HOW DOES THIS WORK?
Think you’ve got what it takes to be a science fiction author? We’re here to help you achieve your dreams.
Getting started is easy. Sign up for a free account at Next Chapters and follow the struggles of the crew of the Dust Bus, a novel already in progress on our writing platform. Then write and add your next chapter to the story.
While the plot and characters are outlined to help guide writers collaborating on this novel, you have complete creative liberty on your chapter, taking the story on whatever path you wish. You can suggest any change to characters or the plot that fits your vision for the rest of the story.
Your work will be read and considered for approval as an official chapter of this novel; meanwhile check some other great works on our platform and craft additional chapters there too. Or start that great story inside you waiting to be told for others to join in and write alongside you. If you’d like help improving your writing craft on this novel or one of your own, we can help there too.
If your chapter is accepted as a part of this novel, you will share in any profits generated from publishing and selling Beyond The Barrier.
And don’t worry about rejection! If the editors decide to go in a different path than your submitted chapter, you will have the option to continue writing a copy of Beyond The Barrier using the chapters including yours to finish and complete writing your story.
Want to write the Next Chapter?
Register for a free account at Next Chapters and submit your “next chapter” on the novel Beyond The Barrier today!
SOME OF THE CHARACTERS YOU CAN EXPLORE IN BEYOND THE BARRIER
Cocky and arrogant, though grown out of actually being one of the most capable people in any room. Underneath it all she's afraid of making a mistake that costs lives, using a brazen attitude to keep others at a distance.
JULIETTE JONES
Dust Bus Ship Captain
Knowing he can't woo the fairly remote Captain with smooth moves and one-liners, T is going for a long play, trying to win her affection through high aptitude and daring, the only things he has observed that she responds to.
TYRELL RUST
Ship Cartographer
As a piece of software designed without ego, it has none. According to protocols, the prime objective for ship intelligence is to make the campaign rich, maintain the functionality of the Dust Bus and monitor the health of the ship's crew.
"ALLY"
Dust Bus' Artificial Intelligence
While the plot and characters have been fleshed out for this novel, you still have full creative liberties to progress the story plot and characters however you wish in your chapter, including altering the plot or going substantially off-script.
Absolutely yes, you can kill off the main characters.
Just have a plan for the rest of your adjusted story too so others can still write the next chapter.
F.A.Q.
How much does it cost?
Registration on the Next Chapters writers’ platform is free. While we have some paid writing services you may opt to buy, it’s perfectly possible to start and finish your book at no cost to you. Participation in Beyond The Barrier and dozens of other novels is also free – no cost for a Next Chapters account as well as being free for you to participate in writing this novel!
Will I be paid for my work?
Yes! For every novel completed and published on our platform, authors are compensated a percent of the profits earned based on their contributions to the novel!
For more details, please check out our FAQ.
What if my chapter isn't selected for inclusion into
Beyond The Barrier?
Maybe your storyline doesn’t fit the idea set by the editors for this book, or perhaps someone else’s chapter was chosen instead of yours. No worries!
If your chapter isn’t selected to be included in this work, you will be able to take the story – using your chapter – as a separate novel in progress, with you as the editor of this new version. You can use all the prior chapters in your book, so you can complete the story taking place in outer space on the Dust Bus.
Similar to the original book, if your novel gets completed and generates a profit, you and all the participating authors will receive a share of that revenue.
I need help with something not mentioned on this page.
While we can’t fit everything on one page, we’ve never seen a problem that we couldn’t help overcome. Send us an email with any question or comment and we’ll get back to you!
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Beyond The Barrier
A COLLABORATIVE NOVEL BEING WRITTEN AT
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