Proposal: Nouns Novel [17E]

[kortelin]

“Even the most important material herein can be altered and bent to suit the needs of individual campaigns. Where possible, true guidelines have been laid down to provide the barest of frameworks for those areas of the campaign which should be the most unusual and unique.” - Gary Gygax

The above quote by the co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons about world building is how I would like to contextualize my proposal to publish the first work of literary fiction starring Nouns.

PROPOSAL

Nouns exist as colorful portraits of anonymous characters in an undefined universe. The characters have no names, no history, and no world to exist in. In the interest of world building and turning pixels into flesh I propose to publish a 22,000 word three act novel starring Nouns as the main characters.

I have spent the past two years writing a novel about the fateful triangle of three characters set in the world of international finance in 1965. By making Nouns the main characters the final version of the novel will be a significant contribution to shaping the Nouns universe by creating source material that derivative content can be based on and unique concepts expanded upon.

If Nouns are to become the Mickey Mouse of the metaverse, this is a script to adapt and turn into countless different versions.

“Where do NFTs go from here? To quote one of the nounders, Punk4156, Punks are like the Citizen Kane of NFTs. LarvaLabs defined the form, but NFTs still don’t have their Jurassic Park yet.” - Noun 22

PRECEDENTS

1. Punks Comic

The pioneering literary work (albeit as sequential art) in NFTs that provided utility for CryptoPunks (Issue #1) and BAYC (Issue #2) by featuring selected avatars as characters in the story.

2. Nouns Comic

I was inspired by Proposal 11, Nouns Comic by @notundeadoracle, as a great example of world building that referenced ancient mythology, web3 culture and Nouns characters.

3. Jenkins The Valet

The first purely literary NFT work with a twist. A short story collection about BAYC characters where the content is decided by token holders who vote on the creative direction of genre, plot, ending and more.

NOUNS NOVEL: IMMORTAL SOUL

What sets the Nouns novel Immortal Soul apart:

1. The 22,000 word novel has already been written. The three main characters are two 26 year old former college roommates who build successful businesses and become involved in a love triangle with a mysterious woman. Read the first three chapters below.

2. The work is a meticulously considered blend of literary fiction and genre fiction, a character study propelled by an exciting plot-driven story.

3. Written for web3 audience. The genre is science fiction. The locations are international. The themes are universal. Short chapters are written in clear and concise language and are meant to be read on your phone. Every DeFi trader, NFT collector and gamer will relate to the story that, if I was stuck in an elevator with Steven Spielberg, I would describe as “James Bond meets The Wolf of Wall Street.”

BUDGET & TIMELINE

15 ETH - The complete 22,000 word text
2 ETH - Project management to survey Nouns owners about their level of interest in being represented as one of the 3 main characters and dozens of secondary characters and finalize the text

January 2022 - Interviewing Nouns owners about what role they would like to claim

February 2022 - Publish the novel in .PDF, .EPUB AND .MOBI file formats and make available for free download on the NounsDAO Discord

ABOUT ME

https://twitter.com/kortelin150mg/status/1470089108391301123?s=20

PREVIEW

Read the first 3 chapters here: Preview - Immortal Soul - Google Docs

[kortelin]

[kortelin]

[kortelin]

[goldy.mov]

I’ll be honest: This proposal confuses me, and makes me question if I actually understand what’s going on.

I have no idea why we’d pay so much money for naming rights to work that is apparently already complete (but not shared with us), seemingly has nothing to do with nouns, and probably wont contribute to nouns proliferation in any meaningful or desireable way.

I can’t see any value in this proposal and I would vote against in its current form.

What am I missing here?

[kortelin]

Thank you very much for your feedback Goldy! You are an extremely active member of the community so I’m sure you views are shared by others. To address your points in order:

1. Unfortunately all the comments so far have been about the compensation requested. If we add up all the ETH of Nouns sales and divide by the amount of days Nouns auctions have occurred, doesn’t Nouns collect over 20 ETH per day? So the DAO is objecting to funding one proposal with less than ONE DAY’s revenue?

2. Yes the work is complete. That is part of my value proposition. All other proposals are for work that has not even begun yet. In a DAO setting with CC0 artwork it comes down to execution. I have delivered a finished product.

3. My project is a Nouns derivative literary project where every character is a Noun. My proposal is to gather feedback from community about which Noun represents which character. There are dozens of characters in this story.

4. I would respectfully argue that “contributing to Nouns proliferation” is not the job of the proposer. That is Marketing and Business Development which the DAO core team and Nouns owners are responsible for.

[goldy.mov]

1. I can see its less than 1 day of ETH revenue, but that doesnt mean to me that we should spend that amount of ETH without consderation for its impact. To be honest I can’t see how doing this helps nouns, only how it helps you (with ETH in your pocket and the claim to being the first “official” nouns literature).

2. It is allegedly complete (although we havent actually seen this) but it has nothing to do with Nouns. You’re just slapping a noun name on it, this to me means that the story and characters etc will not have any meaningful relevance to the noun character or nouns ethos. It seems superficial and lazy, I’m not sure im seeing this as a benefit, I see this as the opposite.

3. It isn’t a derivative project though, right? It’s a totally independent project that you’re trying to slap nouns onto. Your proposal is actually 10% about choosing the nouns to be characters, its 90% about paying you for work you already did that has nothing to do with nouns.

4. Well as someone trying to decide how to spend the ETH of the Nouns treasury, i’ll disagree with that stance that its up to noun owners to work out the “proliferation” part of a proposal. I want to fund projects that I think are in the interest of nouns dao, whether proliferation or otherwise. Why else would I want to fund it?

It has still not been made clear me what benefit nouns has to fund this? Is the implication that the book is increible and will be a commercial success? Or is something else that value proposition?

[kortelin]

What is the Noun character or ethos? That is the question I’m helping Nouners answer with this story. So I’d say I’m providing a considerable service to the DAO by developing history, mythology and culture from scratch.

Punks have a book, BAYC has a book, Nouns don’t yet. I’m offering you one on a silver platter.

To answer your question about “what benefit nouns has to fund this?”: the book will begin by only being relevant to Nouns owners and the community, in the same way that Punks Comic benefits PixelVault community and BAYC benefits ape hodlers.

Value prop is described above. It’s all about world building.

I’d be happy to submit another proposal to the DAO for marketing and business development if that is your focus. No need to create new content beyond the NFTs generated daily. But I think David Horvath has that covered, right?

thank you goldy

[goldy.mov]

Honestly, I find all of your answers here and on discord vague and fantastical.
It seems like a willful misinterpretation to eschew a reasonable critique.
As it stands, I can’t really get on board with this.