anotherronism

Okay - I have the general idea. We'll have to hone the details or let this die a quick death

midnightpoet

-waits anxiously-

anotherronism

No word list. No word count.

Your mission writers, should you choose to accept it...

The idea behind ThinkDrawUS of the never-ending picture is a great idea. I'll refer you to previous posts in other forums about what I think the result will almost always be but that doesn't mean I don't like the concept.

So here's the concept for writers. NOT a never-ending story. Ugh!

Each story will begin and end with the torch-bearer.

The torch-bearer will provide the following:

A cast of characters.

A brief description and very, very short backstory for each.

A very, very general plot.

A genre.

A setting.

And a mood - this will be established by the torch-bearers own first chapter which will accompany these other things.

This is an example only.

I am the torch-bearer.

Cast:
Becky: Cute woman-girl. Always falling in love.
Jerome: Obsessed with education. Needs to better himself. Driven.
Quizzical Dog: Mutt - curly hair - golden. Loves people. Loves food more.
Old man: Quiet, mysterious. But also loves food.
Michael: Fourteen. Faint moustache. Brown hair and blue eyes. Loves Becky.
Street Vendor: Sells hot dogs. Talks. Talks a lot! Almost a carnival barker.
Mrs. Quinn: Elegant old lady. Radiates beauty and charm. Is always impecably dressed. But her apartment is threadbare and she's poor as dirt.

Basic plot.
Anycity, Anywhere. The not-quite slums. Buildings are old but the neighborhood could go either way.

Boy meets girl, man meets woman, man meets dog. But the WHO is the interesting thing in this story. And the how and the why.

The genre is light-hearted romance and comedy.

The mood is...

Qsilv

(ron! you are gooooood...)

anotherronism

So I would then write a 1st chapter.

No word count but let's please keep it real and keep it tight. No word count does not mean no editing. Keep it tight!

Each chapter submitted should follow the characters and plot previously developed by the other writers. But the original plot should also be pulled-back to at every opportunity. We are NOT challenging each other - we are cooperating. So don't kill Becky and make me produce an identical twin in the end for Micahel to fall in love with.

Stay in the genre. This is light so keep it light.

Post your submission. On the off chance that two people post in at the same time then the next write will determine which direction.

The torch bearer will always write the first and last chapters of each story.

He/she will then pick another writer to pass the torch to. He should not pass the torch to the person who passed it to him unless he gives a very, very compelling reason why AND get's at least one "second" from whoever participates in this thing regularly.

Please don't tie up the next chapter-writer with UFO's or time-travel (unless those things actually work).

The idea here is to Think BIG - to think beyond yourself - to contribute.

By the by...

If you are really, really in love with your stuff-of-the-moment you can feel welcome to post to your own post. Just don't suck up all the air in the room. Ya 'know what I mean?

That's all I got.

Anyone interested?

midnightpoet

Oh, I am SO interested...not sure if I'll be any good at it though.

anotherronism

Midnight - me too...

But I just went out and smoked a cigarette (I know! Please don't tell me again ) and thoughts of a couple of things...

First. I want to use my example as the first version of this thread. I'm gonna try to write chapter one tonight.

Second - I thought od the ThinkDrawUS idea of a forum and picture intermingled with the whole "I'm in", "I'm out" thing working to keep people from stepping on each other's toes.

And it occurred to me that writing doesn't happen on-the-spot. You have to read, digest, think, write and edit a contribution.

So I thought of this idea I'll call "dibs" for want of anything better.

If you read the story-so-far and have an idea of something you want to work on then you can post an entry to the forums. It just needs to be one word: "Dibs"

For non-North-Americans... "Dibs" is a claim of right such as "Dibs on that last slice of pizza." It's a boy-thing in America and is sacrosanct. If boys ran the Supreme Court major issues could be settled with the phrase (But, your honor, he called dibs."

One could easily compare the North Americanism to the term "Shotgun" for which kid gets to sit in the front seat. Once called - there is no turning back and no recourse for the non-calling petitioners.

So - in the ThinkBig forum - if someone posts "Dibs" it means they are working on a piece and have dibs on this plotline and time-slice.

But let's be reasonable. I will not set a time limit but if you call "Dibs" then you better have an idea and better be sitting at home typing as fast as you can and you'd better be editing as fast as you can and you'd better get that thing posted fast! Duh!

So - you didn't call dibs but you've got an idea.

I'd say - initially - wait one hour. If Dibs-caller hasn't posted in then start working on your next chapter. You can even post in a "Dibs" yourself.

But - here's the rub.

You've got to do your piece in a single hour but you've also got to grant "Dibs" to the original caller for that time as well.

So the race doesn't start for you for an hour but the race is still on.

In summary. Call Dibs. You have an hour.

Someone else calls Dibs it's a race and you're up against their intitial hour.

Bottom line: Don't call Dibs unless you're ready to write and get it done.

That's a lot of writing to define "Dibs".

But in the spirit of this thing - or in trying to establish the very thing - the idea should be COOPERATION. Call dibs only if you've really got something to add and break dibs only with the greatest caution. But also don't be timid about breaking it - if someone calls it carelessly - or abuses it - then break them! And do that right soon!

anotherronism

Dibs on chapter one.

anotherronism

“Hot Dog” by ThinkBig

Jerome Lincoln only referred to himself as “Jerome Lincoln”. Never just ‘Jerome” or ‘Joe” or even “Mr. Lincoln”, he was just simply Jerome Lincoln.

He was born here and he was certain he’d die here too: McFarland – McFarland, Ohio; the ghetto of Cleveland. Good old Cleveland.

Jerome Lincoln was forty three years old. His mother was dead. His father was in prison.

His father, Idaho Cleveland (yes – Idaho Cleveland from Cleveland, Ohio), was in prison for burglary. He’d been caught with his pants down, literally. He’d robbed a house and things went bad. He absconded to the roof. He climbed the chimney. And he fell.

His jeans caught on the torsion screw for the aerial antenna. His weight against him, he could not find the leverage to pull himself up enough to get loose. He made the decision that would alter his life, reputation and infamy. He undid his pants.

He slid out of them: They gathered at his ankles.

He hung there, upside down, until he was seen.

His rescue and subsequent arrest was broadcast on all three Cleveland local channels.

Idaho was quickly nicknamed “I-don’t-know” and his was a brief encounter with celebrity.

Jerome Lincoln visited his father on the third Thursday of each month. He always took his books with him. There was so much waiting at the prison. He might as well read.

solosater

Question is "HotDog" the chapter heading or the title of the story in full?

solosater

Dibs

solosater

Idaho Cleveland there’s a story, he was dumb enough not only to get caught with his pants down, he burglarized the home of a woman who had nothing.

Mrs. Quinn, Eliza to her closest friends though she has few, used to live in the house that Mr. Cleveland burglarized. She didn’t have a thing then but her good name and the good sense God gave her; she still possessed them and if her luck held she would for a long time yet.

The house itself was the only thing she had of value and after the break in she just didn’t feel safe living there alone; she sold the house and leased and apartment closer to her niece Rebecca, Becky she liked to be called. She furnished it with what of her old furniture would fit and a few pieces from the local thrift store. It was comfortable.

And she got a dog, a Golden Doodle, a fancy mutt if you asked her but he was very smart and seemed to listen when she talked to him. She called him Harry, the vet said his breed didn’t have fur but hair so Harry it was unless he stole food off the table then it was Harold. He was the runt of his litter so she got him for a song but he was healthy and he made her feel safe or safer at least.

Mrs. Quinn didn’t think about Mr. Cleveland often but she did feel the insecurity of a victim of crime, she was told it was perfectly normal. She wished it wasn’t.

She had to walk Harry every morning and every evening, she didn’t mind, it kept her young. Oh, but the people she saw out there, she couldn’t believe people were out in public in their pajamas! She never even went down the hall to pick up her mail in her pajamas. She didn’t even own a pair of jeans now that she didn’t have a garden.

She wasn’t a prude she was just very demure. There was of course place for pajamas, in bed, oh, perhaps on a Saturday morning at the breakfast table reading the paper, but really never out in public.

Rebecca sometimes came over looking a little less than put together but that was another story.

This evening, Thursday, she was taking Harry to his favorite place, the dog park where the hot dog vender kept his cart on Thursday evenings. The hot dog vendor was a very companionable man and she thought Harry would like him even if it weren’t for the hot dogs.

anotherronism

Well done Solo... That's the idea...

And "Hot Dog" is the story title...

solosater

Not to much?

anotherronism

A thought: It is entirely up to to the torch bearer, and his duty, to compile and edit, yes! edit, all entries into a cohesive and final story at the end of each iteration....

solosater

so????

anotherronism

Not too much at all. We have to introduce these characters. And we have to connect them. Having Mr. Lincoln robbing Mrs. Quinn's home is brilliant. It's our 1st connection. It's convenient that she is Becky's aunt but hey - it's up to the next person to make that not too convenient.

anotherronism

Solo" "So"? So - I realize that the final edit will require just aht - editing. But editing IS writing. It really is what writing is. Wether by self or other - editing is the final gauntlet any story must trevass.

And I'm still trying to figure out this "challenge". "So" I decided, just now, that the torch-bearer, being all-powerful, get's to start and finish the story but also gets the last work in compiling all entries into a cohesive 'whole'. He get's to edit us all.

(I am intentionally using "he" because I hate political correctness so 'sorry' to all the Nancy's!) [That was said with a smile ]

solosater

I fully agree, even if it is just that some people write in the first person and some in third or if someone wasn't paying close enough attention and renamed a character or local. That’s the stuff we catch in editing.

May I suggest that you copy and paste each entry into a word or other document with a spell/grammar checker? I’ve been doing that with “The Rift” and I can edit as I go, makes things way easier.

Also I'm not very politically correct and too, even the Bible uses "he" to mean "he or she".

anotherronism

It's up to the contributor to maintain tense and timing but the torch-bearer to pass-the-torch 1st but finalize the thing second - in whatever way he/she feels right.

This is just a thought - if it dies - it dies. But maybe it could work. Maybe.

Let's watch for a few days and see what happens. Not too much talky-talk stuff.