Can a community write a novel? Wiki-novels and and other collaborative writing projects

In recent years, collaborative writing on the Internet has been the object of much scholarly attention. However, to date, there have been no specific studies of collaborative narrative writing on the Internet. The present research aims to fill this gap by studying three different platforms of collaborative narrative writing in the context of both Web 2.0 and new participatory trends fostered by user-generated content and social networking sites.
In order to lay out the framework of the analysis, the characteristics of both Web 2.0 and collaborative writing are scrutinised and defined: the former in the context of the lively debate on participatory culture and the latter, first in the light of the notions of authorship and texts, then according to the distinction between
narrative and non-narrative writing. Next, this work focuses on the convergence between collaborative narrative writing and Web 2.0, represented by different Web platforms for collaborative writing, which are analysed from both structural and thematic perspectives, showing how their overall architectures influence users’ participation. 
Findings of structural and thematic analysis reveal that the setting of both a fixed writing method and constraints on contributions is essential to the achievement of the platforms’ objectives. Moreover, an important role is played by discussions between co-authoring users by means of tools such as blogs provided by Web 2.0 applications. Such tools greatly increase users’ engagement in the common project.
The findings of the structural and thematic analysis carried out in the present work illuminate possible new directions of enquiry. Specifically, it would be useful to
consider the intrinsic aesthetic and literary value of collaborative narrative work, with a view to understanding how this is affected by both the medium (Web 2.0) and the specific modalities of creation (collaborative writing).