You gave me the last chapter! I didn’t know the order so I wrote it as something either early in the beginning or around the middle. But it was the last! It’s fun to read the whole thing and see how it came out, I’m enjoying it a lot! I’m going “aha, that’s why I had to write this”, and “Wow, I never thought she’d do that”. This has been a lot of fun (I’m new this year), I hope it becomes a tradition!
I loved the whole exercise. It was great fun, and I enjoyed the challenge of trying to write stuff in such a way that it wouldn’t clash with other chapters whose plotlines I didn’t know. I didn’t quite succeed of course. Not least when Rog pointed out that my first submission attempt had a glaring location error, so I had to rework some of it to put Bauer back on earth where he belonged!
Oddly, it felt as though I was writing Chapter 2, so it was quite a surprise to find my section in Chapter 18. Maybe Bauer’s successor could undertake research into the effects of perception distortion when writing in isolation. 
And it looks as though three of us managed to squeeze in some dinosaurs (or a T-shirt, at any rate). 
Thank you, Rog, for a brilliant Novel In A Day experience.
I too thought my chapter must be the first, given the non-existent information on what had preceded it … and in then it turns out to be nearly the last! Who’d a thunk it?
But many, many congratulations to Tim for putting this all together again. I’ve read the first ten chapters and look forward to finishing it. My wife wants to read it, and I guess my daughter will want to as well, as they knew I was doing it.
I hope Tim sets it up again next year, or if he thinks it’s time to pass the baton on, I hope someone else will take on the challenge. Will I want to take part? I’ll wait and see how I feel when it comes round.
What taking part this time has taught me is how little doing English Literature at A-level taught me, and how little I take in style when I read (Victoria, if you read this, thank you for your comment above, although my post was as much intended as a self-deprecating joke as a plea of ignorance); and how much what I am truly interested in is the nuts and bolts of language, the rules and restrictions of the system and its relation to cognition, rather than in the artistic and creative side of language use. I suppose that, in a way, when I read it is to distract my brain from other concerns.
But there we are. My contribution was what it was; if I hadn’t thought I had been given the first chapter, I think I would have found it much harder to complete, though I guess that if it had been the first chapter it would have proved so anodyne no-one would have been tempted to read on …
X
This was as last year much fun, in a way getting my part after lunchtime made me not think too much but write as it came into my head.
Pigfender, you have done an awesome job again, and really hope after a years rest you will do this again next year. I send you a virtually bottle of bubbly :)) enjoy.
Like everyone else, I had so much fun writing AND reading this. (Siren, don’t feel bad: I, too, thought my chapter might be set on the space ship – luckily I asked, first.)
What first struck me on reading was how coherent the PLOT was despite how much the characters morph. (Who was it who had a character muse on how he seemed to be changing, as if different people were writing his life? )
As to continuity errors, I only noticed a couple minor things – I think at one point someone intends to consult with the already dead doctor, and apparently that hound Henry is cheating on poor Emily with some Elizabeth floozy.
And, of course, there was the huge one I created: Emily runs out of a mission control room at the start of a work day with a full complement of people about, and mysteriously enters a corridor at night in a building bereft of all except her pursuers… Oopsy!
Pigfender, I have to admire the structure you set up, with a ‘normal’ plot but somehow none of the writers could tell where in the plot arc they might be. I don’t think even the ones writing the first or last chapters could have known that they were. Very clever!
As for what other kinds of stories might work: maybe some sort of Indiana Jones, internally episodic adventure thingy?
file updated.
Err … that’s a message worthy of Morris!!!
Which file?
X
The .pdf had a duplicated chapter.
apparently there were two chapters (15&16?) which were duplicates.
Yes, I know. I just thought the telegraphic form of the posting was worth a comment!
I guess my sense of irony and humour doesn’t get across, and there are no smileys on this thread as it was started by Keith.
Actually, kudos to Keith too … not only did he churn out nearly 5000 words on the day, he also managed to keep up with answering tech questions on the forum at the same time.
X
all three were updated
Hi Pigfender can I ask what you use to format to ebook please, its very good
I hope you are joking - he uses Scrivener, of course! 
(I hope he did, anyway!)
Yes I know, but it woke you up:)
I enjoyed myself, though I did not have the time to devote to it that I would have liked. Hopefully soon, I’ll have some time to give it a read.
I’m embarrassed to realize just now that I had dragged all of the source material into a scrivener project’s Draft folder, which refused to import the image of the ship’s layout. Because I overlooked that file, I failed to note that the airlock was adjacent to the largest of the areas in the ship. headslap. So, if you find it odd that I say there’s only really room for 2 people to work at the entrance to the airlock, that’s why.
I meant to add a large grinning smiley and he never appeared lol
No, you’re right, it woke me up.
lol
I have to say though it really is brilliant and you should feel proud looking at the end result.
Hey and all these budding authors, you should maybe think of a publishing house next:)
I just wanted to pause & thank Pigfender again. It seems he has put in an huge amount of effort to make this whole thing work and he’s done a truly splendid job. I’m impressed that he was able to conceive of, and outline, the plot (don’t tell me how it ends, I’m still reading!). But that wasn’t enough. He then had to chunk it into 25 coherent chapters; brief 24 other writers with just enough (but not too much!) information; which meant he had to prepare those 25 briefs, plus character sheets, science briefs, set designs and a style guide. Then he coordinated all the offers and set a date. But as if that still wasn’t enough, on the day of NIAD he answered questions from us all during the day, wrote a chapter himself, edited chapters as they were sent, compiled them all and published the result in 4 different formats. Presumably he slept a little, ate some food and managed to include some breathing as well.
All I can say is… well, actually I don’t know what to say. “Thank you” just doesn’t seem enough.
To the great PF: I want you to know that the your efforts were worthwhile and truly appreciated. The process was a great challenge and the finished result is a lot fun. I learnt a lot about myself as a writer through the efforts of preparing my chapter, and an awful lot more about the craft of writing from reading the final result. Definitely, absolutely, worthwhile. You created something joyous.
If there’s a NIAD 3, I’m in.
Another triumph of preparation and organisation, Herr Schweinkotflügel…bravo!
Scottie’s post should be appended to every future iteration of NIAD.
Fluff