The People's Novel
David Mooney has set up a site with an interesting idea; The People's Novel is just that, a novel written by the people. It started as a bet with a friend back in late 2003. The aim is to write a novel with 100 other co-writers by the 31st August 2004. Anybody can submit a paragraph to add to the story and, so far, 41 people have.
So, if you like the idea of becoming an author, but can't work your way up to a 100,000 word novel (FYI - looking it up, a novel is generally considered to be between 50,000 and 120,000 words in length) just yet, why not read the story and add a paragraph or two? Remember, the deadline's the 31st August 2004.
Like I said, I find the idea very intriguing, I may have a go at starting something similar myself.