Creating a Class-Sourced Novel | Jay Rehak | TEDxNorthwesternU
The speaker argues that unprecedented global collaboration and shared experience are key to 21st-century survival, citing the digital sharing habits of fanfiction and Wikipedia as evidence. He illustrates this using his experience co-authoring nine novels with students, emphasizing that the collaborative *process* is more valuable than the final published *product*. He concludes by inviting the audience to participate in class-sourced or crowdsourced novels.
## Speakers & Context
- Unnamed Chicago Public School language arts teacher with over 27 years of teaching experience.
- Narrates anecdotes from his life, including a violent assault and later collaborative literary projects.
## Theses & Positions
- Connecting with students is vital because it enhances the learning environment, is key to survival, and brings joy and meaning to life.
- The ability to work together and respect one another—both face-to-face and remotely—will determine the future of the generation.
- The process of collaboration itself, rather than the tangible published works, holds the greatest value for individuals and for the species.
## Concepts & Definitions
- **Class-sourced novel / Crowdsource novel:** A literary project collaboratively written by an instructor and their students, demonstrating the principles of shared content creation.
- **Magic realism:** The final chapter premise where a protagonist's seemingly impossible transformation (living another student's life for 30 days) is explained as a natural occurrence.
## Mechanisms & Processes
- **Process of Co-Authoring a Novel (Five Steps):**
1. **Write a Shareable Chapter:** Author creates a chapter relatable to students and shares it on a blog (e.g., initial chapter for *30 Days to Empathy*).
2. **Outline/Character Mapping:** Used a Google Document spreadsheet to list characters and elements, establishing a fungible outline.
3. **Peer Editing:** Students were placed in groups of four to edit each other's work, teaching them that submissions were not sacrosanct and could change.
4. **The Perfectionist Edit:** Integrating feedback, sometimes needing to start over, and gathering illustrations/covers.
5. **Final Chapter Writing:** The instructor writes the concluding chapter, synthesizing the entire collaborative journey.
- **Digital Contribution Mechanism:** Technology enables individuals to become instant contributors, making content available if a venue exists, as demonstrated by fanfiction and Wikipedia.
## Timeline & Sequence
- **23 years ago:** Incident on Pulaski Road; attacked by three young men, blocked by a fourth man with a golf club, and finally rescued by an eighth-grader.
- **Past 10 years:** Collaborated with students on numerous books, including nine novels in the last three years.
- **Circa 2001:** First Harry Potter fanfiction websites appeared, showing early digital sharing.
- **2004:** Facebook was invented.
- **2006:** Jeffrey Howe of *Wired* magazine coined the term "crowd-sourced."
- **2012:** Co-authored the novel *30 Days to Empathy* with 30 seniors.
- **2013:** Won the Chicago Writers Association Award for non-traditional literature.
- **June 2016:** Date for the release of two more novels.
## Named Entities
- **Daniel Webster elementary school** — location of the speaker's assault.
- **Lawndale** — neighborhood where the assault occurred.
- **Pulaski** — street near the assault site.
- **CTA blue line** — subway line referenced during the assault.
- **Google** — Search engine mentioned in context of online presence.
- **JK Rowling** — author referenced for *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*.
- **Wikipedia** — platform founded in 2001, over 500 million contributions.
- **Facebook** — platform invented in 2004, currently supporting 1.2 billion users.
- **Jeffrey Howe** — *Wired* magazine writer who coined "crowd-sourced" in 2006.
## Numbers & Data
- Years teaching experience: **27 years**.
- Age at the assault: (Implied) After being an eighth-grader.
- Number of initial assailants: **Three**.
- Number of assailants who followed: **Four** (the man with the golf club).
- Number of students collaborated with on novels: **573** co-authors.
- Number of novels collaborated on in the last three years: **Nine**.
- Years for Wikipedia use: Since **2001**.
- Number of chapters in one fanfiction site: Over **300,000**.
- Year *Wired* coined "crowd-sourced": **2006**.
- Students in the *30 Days to Empathy* class: **30 seniors**.
- Book cost to produce: **Three dollars and seventy two cents ($3.72)**.
- Cost to students: Under **$120**.
- Number of closest friends collaborating on a different novel: **15**.
- Copyright binding period: For **75 years** after the speaker's life.
## Examples & Cases
- **Assault incident:** Attacked on Pulaski Road; confronted with the attackers demanding money, refused, and subsequently hit with a golf club. Rescued by an eighth-grader who escorted him to the Blue Line train.
- **Book Collaboration:** Co-authored *30 Days to Empathy* with 30 seniors, where the premise involved the protagonist experiencing a day in the life of another student. One student wrote about living in a drug den and self-harming while working at Potbelly's to pay rent.
- **Digital Sharing Example:** Harry Potter fanfiction sites starting in 2001, where people added chapters to stories they did not write.
## Tools, Tech & Products
- **Blog:** Used to share the first chapter of the novel.
- **Google Document spreadsheet:** Used to map out characters and story elements for the novel.
- **Portable camera/briefcase:** Used to block the blow from the golf club during the assault.
- **Wikipedia, Facebook, Google Docs/Google Shareware:** Modern platforms enabling content sharing.
## References Cited
- *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone* — book series sold over 400 million copies worldwide.
- *Wired* magazine — source of the term "crowd-sourced" (2006).
## Counterarguments & Caveats
- The final books are unlikely to make the New York Times bestseller list; the process is more important than the product.
- The speaker made no profit from the book royalties, dedicating them to a college scholarship fund.
## Methodology
- **Personal Narratives:** Using deeply personal, formative experiences (the assault) to anchor a larger philosophical point.
- **Literary Process Deconstruction:** Systematically detailing the five steps taken to co-author a novel, from initial concept to final edit.
## Conclusions & Recommendations
- The core key to 21st-century survival is the ability to collaborate and respect one another.
- The speaker invites the audience to participate in writing a class-sourced novel or a crowdsourced novel.
- Attendees are encouraged to send a copy of any class-sourced novel they create.
## Implications & Consequences
- The speaker and his 573 co-authors are legally and professionally "inextricably bound for the rest of my life and for 75 years after that" due to US copyright law.
- The positive emotional reward and community built through creating shared work outweigh the possibility of financial success.
## Verbatim Moments
- *"I believe that it enhances the learning environment because I think it's the key to our survival and because it brings joy and meaning to my life."*
- *"I said no and I ran into Pulaski thinking that if I somehow stopped traffic maybe somebody would take pity on me and help me out."*
- *"they shouldn't have done that to him mister react they shouldn't have done that to you"* (The eighth-grader repeating this).
- *"more important than the products we created are the is the process that we use to make those Diaz turned into reality"*
- *"the larger community made them somehow bigger than themselves and that was enough"*
- *"how did we create these these books there's a five step process to writing a novel"*
- *"I thought it was going to be humorous that's not what happened"* (Describing Sally's chapter).
- *"I can't promise you big dollars if you do that or a spot on New York Times bestseller list but I will tell you that if you do write a book with your friends collaborators and you publish it the joy that you feel and the community that you create or the community that you create and the pride that you feel will bring joy to you for the rest of your life"*
- *"I would ask you to send me a copy"*