[Perhaps I should say: "Dear Storyteller(s),"]
We've had a lot of first-time visitors on the page over the last few days. I know many of you have come to see The Storyteller, but a lot of you have also taken the time to browse around and begin following the blog. Awesome! Thanks for stopping by in the first place, and thanks for setting up a portal through which you can return.
I have to tell you, I'm pretty thrilled with the way this Community Storytelling Experiment has worked. The story has turned out pretty awesome. The turnout has turned out pretty awesome as well.
I'm craving frozen custard right now [← sorry, random thought].
Because of the popularity of the Community Storytelling Adventure, and because we obviously don't want to muddy the comments section with discussion about the story, I wanted to share some thoughts, and I wanted to open an area where all of you can do the same.
First off (thoughts and comments of my own), one of my favorite posts was the very first addition to the story (courtesy of WOTV). She sort of dictated the direction in which the story was going, and I thought it was very creative.
Here is one contribution that made me inadvertently and out-loud say, "Wow." I thought it was pretty awesome: "However, he did not recall this scene in his memory. One of his sisters were born dead." (Courtesy of Aral.)
I loved Rebecca's command of the flow of her words when she said "It was children playing laughing."
I love the direction that Democracy pulls the story every time he jumps in.
I loved the idea Mark threw in, early on, about the storyteller having been cast from the tale for telling the story wrong (I wonder if we'll get back to that as a central theme).
I also love Kim and Lianna for keeping up with this so well - the multiple posts show true commitment!
The best part about a project such as this one is: Three sentences gives each of us enough room to influence the direction of the story, but it does not give any of us enough room to dictate the direction of the story.
It's so cool to see the different writing voices, but it's also cool to see the direction in which different people try to carry this tale.
I have to say, I am thoroughly impressed with the people who have either A) used fewer than their allotted three sentences, or B) worked with three short sentences. I'm too much of a control freak to do either of those - you'll notice, all of my contributions contain at least one fairly long sentence - and I'm pretty much in awe of those of you who can give us just a taste of your thoughts before stepping aside to see what others do with it.
I think I'll plan to introduce a new Community Storytelling Adventure sometime near the end of next month, so even if you don't feel like following or bookmarking or subscribing to this blog, make sure you check back at some point so you'll know when we do this again.
Any thoughts, my friends?
What have been your favorite contributions so far? What do you like or dislike about the story?
Comments? Ideas? Diatribes? All words are welcome...
P.S. Remember: "The Storyteller" ends at 4:PM EST on Friday, April 23. Get your sentences in before the window closes. And keep spreading the link! - http://bit.ly/9JkKyH - I love all the new storytellers we keep adding to the mix.
Other Places Where I Hang Out:
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(A Delicious Little Pre-Publication Sample Of The Great Lenore)
Posts
Thank you so much for starting this. I am really enjoying the experience.
ReplyDeleteI think the story is losing steam...once so many additions have been made, it makes it more difficult for new people to jump in. I think next time we might only do two days, instead of three.(?)
ReplyDeleteYes thank you for this -- I had fun and kept checking back because I couldn't wait to see where the characters had gone ... two days would be interesting to try out. The long scrolling to read whole thing was a minor inconvenience.
ReplyDeleteAubergineword - I can't help but notice that you haven't made an addition of your own to the story! Do you plan to jump in?
ReplyDeleteYeah, two days might be good...the only problem is foresee is, it takes a good half-a-day to get the word out when we start one of these. People will have to really help spread the word next time, if we cut down to two days. It would certainly be interesting to see where the story goes in so short a time!
I really did enjoy this little enterprise. I was interested by how the writers formulated the surreal and dark atmosphere of the story.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - I definitely thought it was interesting how so many people sort of inaudibly agreed to take the story in that Gabriel Garcia Marquez-type direction.
ReplyDeleteAnyone notice the early addition to the story by Lauren Elizabeth? That was my sister and my mom. They were trying to pull the story in a happier (or...at least, a less destitute) direction, but they were roundly overruled. Haha, we all love a nice, dark, twisting story, don't we!
Post number 47 (I believe it's number 47) on "The Storyteller" is possibly my favorite thus far (the one by EC Sheedy). She sort of broke the rules and exceeded the 3 sentence limit, but I sure love the new direction she decided to send the story! Less than one day left. I'm excited to see what happens!
ReplyDeleteFor a first timer, I like it. It's fun. Do more, I will surely come back :D
ReplyDeleteSorry - I have several different user names, Lianna and LJ are both also me! I thought it was interesting that the story didn't have more characters, well, there was Frederick the dead cat ...
ReplyDeleteGanz - Thanks for contributing; I can't promise that this will be a regular thing, but I'll certainly do it again.
ReplyDeleteLianna - Ah, how confusing! Well then, I guess you did add to the story - thanks! Yeah, I think people have felt it's easier to use their three sentences to further the existing characters than to introduce someone new. A few people tried (the gruff man in the marketplace, the guy with the five-pointed star and swastika, the young hero, the children), but the ensuing storytellers have brought the tale back to our original two. Right now there are two witch/warlock-type characters who are watching the storyteller. Seems like that might go somewhere. We'll see!
One of my favorite parts of the story was the unexpectedness.
ReplyDeleteI'd post my three sentences, know what I would do with the story, and where I would like to see it go. But once I hit "Post Comment" everything was out of my hands, and in those of another. I'd check back every few minutes to see where someone else steered the ship.
Honestly, I had to refrain from posting as much as I would have liked. This was fun.
I've read through the story a few times to decide what part was my favorite, and I can't decide. However, I did have a similar reaction to Aral's contribution to the story.
Thanks for fun, and the privilege of concluding the story, JM. Simon and I had both participated in BBCAA's Twitter community storytelling projects. They were quite a lot of fun. Anyone interested should visit their blog to read about it. The finished stories are recorded and available as audio podcast downloads (the second is actually in the works now). I managed to contribute nearly 40 lines... and a spork... to the latest one.
ReplyDeleteAgain, many thanks to all. It was tons of fun.
I will second that - these projects are always fun to participate in, to get in touch with other people's creativity (which nearly always differs quite a bit from one's own).
ReplyDeleteThat said, I would be interested in trying out something like this, but where we weren't allowed to drag the story into dark and goth-y gloom (which often happens, guess it's just more interesting there). If we had to write it as a happy story, with only some milder twists to get the story flowing, would that work at all? I think it would be an even bigger challenge, and might be more educational as well.
my two cents, thanks to everyone, will try to contribute more next time.
This was fun, and if I'm around for the next one, I'll be sure to follow the rules. (I'm just glad someone swept up the hag :-)
ReplyDeleteMark - Exactly! The thing about knowing where you would take the story...and then seeing where others took it was really a cool aspect. I liked how everyone had such different ideas, but things still (pretty much) all added up together.
ReplyDeleteDorothy - Seriously, that was a fantastic ending. Stories that come full circle are beautiful things, and an ending such as that one lends conclusion to a rather broad splatter of a story.
Simon - I love the idea of making the next one a happy story. In fact, I think "The Happy Story" will be the name of the next one. As Scott Fitzgerald said (paraphrasing) - "Anyone can build a house of cards and make it fall. That's not genius. True genius is the ability to make people laugh." It's definitely more difficult to make people feel good than to make them feel otherwise.
EC - "I'm just glad someone swept up the hag." <-- Hahaha! - awesome.
I enjoyed it. Definitely do it again.
ReplyDeleteAffirmative on the feeling good remark. That will no doubt make the next story more challenging.
JM, this was great! Thanks for doing it and send a message when you're doing another one (now that I've got the rules down, lol).
ReplyDeleteKaren ~
Kim - Isn't it funny how that will make it more challenging? I definitely agree with you, though.
ReplyDelete(Paul and) Karen - Will do. I'll see you on here again!
Thanks Jordan it was something a bit different for me. I'm not a writer and i can't spell but this had me on tenterhooks :o)
ReplyDelete