Keep storytelling Wednesday, 19 August 2009
Posted by Helen in Microstory competition, News.Tags: writing
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Have you enjoyed contributing 100-word microstories to The Lost Book? Are you looking for another outlet for your creativity?
I met Ken MacLeod, acclaimed author and writer in residence at the Genomics Forum, last night (and embarrassed him by enthusing about how much I like his writing). That reminded me that I’ve been meaning to tell you all about his Human Genre Project and some other fiction/microfiction sites.
• The Human Genre Project is great – “a collection of new writing in very short forms — short stories, flash fictions, reflections, poems — inspired by genes and genomics.” Anyone can submit work, simply by emailing Ken MacLeod. It launched last month and there’s a good collection of interesting writing already on the site. Go and take a look!
• 100 Word Stories – weekly challenge based on a theme, where you can vote on the winner. The current topic is “Over the falls in a barrel”, with submissions due by August 21.
• 100 Words – join the community and challenge yourself to write 100 words a day for a month.
• Great Hites weekly story contest – write a short story (100-3000 words) based on a prompt (this week it’s “Pick up your local paper, choose an interesting news item. Tell us about it and then write a story based on that news item”, closing date 25 August) or vote on your favourite entry from the previous week. Lost Book writer Norvaljoe‘s work can often be found here.
• JBWB’s list of UK writing competitions.
• Surface Tension often blogs about, and links to, short writing challenges – as well as posting the author’s own microfiction and self-challenges.
Added 26 August 2009:
• Scottish Book Trust – creative writing opportunities for teens and young people.
• Frying an egg – 100 word story prompts.
• Leaf Books’ 2009 microfiction competition – max. 300 words, closing date 30 September (small entry fee).
If you’ve got any other links you’d like to tell us and everyone else about, leave us a comment.
Microstory: the end Monday, 20 July 2009
Posted by Helen in Microstory competition.Tags: animation, characters, story, writing
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Congratulations Peanut for writing the final installment of Sally Challenger’s journal. Peanut’s 100 words brings the expedition to an end, leaving the journal itself in safe (if bemused) hands.
Well done and thank you to everyone who has helped to write Sally Challenger’s journal:
Jasper Fforde, Matthias, Bookaddictus, Norvaljoe, Rocketboy (twice!), Mary, QueenofSheeba, Bananagirl, pondweed, Professor Moriaty, IndiaJones (twice!), curlyshirley, ScoutingForBoys, Martha K., Caroline (twice!), LuLu, Andrew J. Wilson, Dinobot, Wearealldoomed, Gondolagirl and Peanut.
Thanks also to everyone who submitted a story that wasn’t chosen – the competition was as fierce as an Abelisaurus! And, special thanks to guest writers Jasper Fforde and Andrew J. Wilson.
This experiment in collaborative writing has been brilliant. The stories are exciting – it’s amazing how much can be done with 100 words. We’ve also enjoyed how the gradual unveiling of events has fed into the animated story of The Lost Book (Sally Challenger’s journal was the “lost book” – the book stolen in the animation).
When we started we had no idea what secrets the journal might hold! It’s been fun to find out, and reveal a motive for its theft. We’ve also enjoyed the way a character from the journal, Professor Remi, has crossed over into the animation.
Read the full journal to find out all about Sally Challenger’s expedition.
“The most interesting collaborative book-writing experiment of the decade” – Jasper Fforde
Microstory: announcement on Monday Saturday, 18 July 2009
Posted by The Lost Book in Microstory competition.Tags: writing
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Our pioneering attempt to write the stolen book collaboratively is now over – and has been a huge success!
We have all your submissions for the final entry in Sally Challenger’s journal. Thanks, everyone, for taking part. We’ll announce the winner on Monday (alongside the winner of the SCO’s soundtrack competition).
You’ll have to wait until then to learn Sally’s final fate…
Collaborative book-writing experiment Wednesday, 15 July 2009
Posted by The Lost Book in Microstory competition.Tags: books, writing
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Have you considered helping us write the stolen book, but haven’t got around to it yet? This week’s your last chance!
The “lost book” is the journal of Sally Challenger’s 2004 expedition to Southern Venezuela – Arthur Conan Doyle’s lost world. We’ve been asking you to write it, week by week.
The lovely Jasper Fforde created the characters and introduced the story through two fictional newspaper articles. Each week, entrants have contributed 100 words to tell the story of the expedition. Their microstories have given clues about why the book was stolen – and elements from the expedition (the rejuvenating water, the Ikhata and Professor Remi) have been introduced into the animation.
Read about the expedition team, a summary of their adventures, or the full journal.
Our contributors so far are: Matthias, Bookaddictus, Norvaljoe, Rocketboy (twice!), Mary, QueenofSheeba, Bananagirl, pondweed, Professor Moriaty, IndiaJones (twice!), curlyshirley, ScoutingForBoys, Martha K., Caroline (twice!), LuLu, Andrew J. Wilson, Dinobot, Wearealldoomed and Gondolagirl.
If you’d like to join the collaboration, you’ve got until Friday afternoon (17th July, 4pm GMT) to let us have your 100-word story for the final day of the expedition. What happens to Sally Challenger?
“The most interesting collaborative book-writing experiment of the decade” – Jasper Fforde
Microstory: First Aid Monday, 13 July 2009
Posted by Helen in Microstory competition.Tags: writing
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Well done Caroline for writing the latest entry in the Challenger journal – and thanks everyone else for your submissions. (This is Caroline’s second journal entry to be incorporated in The Lost Book – the earlier one told the story of the previous Sunday.)
Caroline’s microstory shows Sally Challenger stuck in the lost world, and facing a dilemma. Sal believes that rejuvenating water is too dangerous to be allowed to exist – she says “people will kill for youth”. She has a plan to remove the source… but her attempts at First Aid have woken up the monster.
What will happen to Sally? What will happen to the monster? Can either survive?! We need you to write the last journal entry of the expedition journal – you’ve got 100 words to tell us how the story ends!
Microstory: bad day Monday, 6 July 2009
Posted by Helen in Microstory competition.Tags: writing
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Congratulations to Gondolagirl – many thanks for writing the latest entry in the Challenger journal. Thanks also to all the other writers who submitted microstories – the judges’ job gets harder every week!
Professor Remi has been captured by Grazp, leaving Sally Challenger on her own. The Grazp expedition has taken as much water as they can carry and left the area. They’ve got the proof that rejuvenation works (Remi) the water that causes it; they think their mission is over. They don’t seem to know about the Ikhata…
What will happen to Sally? Can she survive without food or companions? How will her journal get back to the UK? There are only two more journal entries to go: how does the expedition end? If you can tell us what happens next in exactly 100 words then please help us to write the stolen book.
Microstory: a monstrous creature Monday, 29 June 2009
Posted by Helen in Microstory competition.Tags: writing
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Well done and thank you IndiaJones for submitting the latest entry in the Challenger journal (and thanks everyone else who wrote a microstory – the competition this week was particularly intense!).
It’s the second time IndiaJones has contributed an entry to Sally Challenger’s expedition journal (last time was the cave paintings). This week’s story tells what happens when Sally uses the Ikhata to unlock the temple. She discovers the fate of two of her companions – maybe – and finds out what’s being added to the water. When she returns to the camp Professor Remi has disappeared. What happens next?
Has Remi been captured? Will Sally evade Grazp? Will she survive?! There are only three more journal entries before the end of the expedition, so if you can make your 100 words count then please help us to write the stolen book.
Microstory: shades of green Monday, 22 June 2009
Posted by Helen in Microstory competition.Tags: writing
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Well done and thank you Wearealldoomed for writing the latest entry in the Challenger journal. Thanks also to everyone else who submitted a 100-word microstory this week.
Wearealldoomed tells the story of Professor Remi and Sally Challenger’s first attemt to enter the temple – it ends in confusion after Remi falls “into a kind of haze”. What happens next?
It’s up to you to tell us – and we need you to bring things to a conclusion quickly! There will only be four more journal entries before the expedition is over. Most urgently, we need to know where the Ikhata is now! Do Grazp have it? Is it hidden? Is it lost?
If you think you can tell the story of the Ikhata in 100 words, then why not help us to write the stolen book?
Microstory: a map Monday, 15 June 2009
Posted by Helen in Microstory competition.Tags: writing
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Congratulations and thank you Dinobot for providing the latest entry in the Challenger journal (and thanks everyone else who submitted a story).
Dinobot writes as Sally Challenger, at the ruined temple. Sally and Professor Catherine Remi have been back to visit the cave paintings found earlier in the expedition – and it seems that they’re a map to the world beyond the temple.
So, they have a map, they have a key (the mysterious Ikhata); tomorrow they go through to the other world…
What happens next?
Help us to write the stolen book by giving us the next 100 words. Now that Prof. Remi is a part of the animated story we really need to find out what happened on the expedition. Can you tell us?
Write us a microstory Thursday, 11 June 2009
Posted by The Lost Book in Microstory competition.Tags: writing
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We need you to help us to write the stolen book!
We’re really close to uncovering the secret that made the book worth stealing. We know that a mysterious artefect called the Ikhata unlocks the rejuventation properties of the water – and perhaps unlocks something else as well. But, we don’t know what has happened to the Ikhata. Where is it? Has Grazp Pharmaceuticals got hold of it? Or, did Professor Remi manage to keep it out of their hands?
Read the journal so far and then give us the next 100 words by Friday afternoon.
Ikhata tracked down Monday, 8 June 2009
Posted by Watson in Microstory competition.Tags: arthur conan doyle, characters, dinosaur, writing
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Watson here! Finally, a trail to follow for the Ikhata. The latest instalment of Sally Challenger’s journal (unencrypted by me, with a little help from Andrew J. Wilson) says Professor Challenger donated the Ikhata to the Société Belge, which is where Professor Remi came across it.
I’ve checked the facts, and Challenger was a “Foreign Member” of the Société Belge (among many other organisations – “about two inches of small type”, as old McArdle put it).
So, I did a bit of sniffing around… and uncovered the Société Belge’s catalogue. Item# 2666 can only be the Ikhata – part of the Challenger bequest, found in 1897 in the Gran Sabana, currently in the possession of Professor Remi. There’s even a photo!
Take a look at the full catalogue entry:
(Click on the pics for bigger versions.)
Isn’t Aileen going to be pleased with me when she escapes? I definitely deserve doggy choc-drops, don’t you think? And tummy-tickles.
Microstory: something awful Friday, 5 June 2009
Posted by Helen in Microstory competition.Tags: writing
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This week’s entry in Sally Challenger’s expedition journal comes from our special guest writer Andrew J. Wilson. Many thanks, Andrew!
Here’s the journal entry, written by respected scientist Professor Catherine Remi:
Tuesday, 18 May 2004
Our companions vanished last night, but they left something awful behind them: they’d shed their skins like snakes. We anxiously followed two slithering trails into the forest.
The tracks have led us to what can only be the temple where Sally’s great-great grandfather found the Ikhata, which he donated to the Société Belge. The ruins are the source of the metamorphic otherworldly waters. This is where the meteorite must have landed in 1892.
Sally says she hears something. Is it Ramón? We have to enter the temple.
I’ve just realised — the Ikhata isn’t an effigy, it’s a key…
Catherine
What happens next? It’s entirely up to you! Help us to write the stolen book by giving us the next 100 words. Now that Prof. Remi is a part of the animated story it’s really important that we find out what happened on the expedition. Can you tell us?
Oh, and Watson the dog is on the trail now that he has a few more clues about the Ikhata. He’ll blog if he manages to track down any extra information…
Microstory guest writer – Andrew J. Wilson Wednesday, 3 June 2009
Posted by Helen in Microstory competition.Tags: arthur conan doyle, books, writing
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This week we have a special guest writer to contribute the next 100 words in Sally Challenger’s expedition journal. He is an Edinburgh man who has written a Professor Challenger story – but no, Kiwi, we haven’t resurrected Arthur Conan Doyle. Instead, we’re lucky enough to have persuaded Andrew J. Wilson to write for us.
Andrew J. Wilson is a writer and editor who lives in Edinburgh. His short stories have appeared all over the world, sometimes in the most unlikely places. He has also written poetry and plays. With Neil Williamson, he co-edited Nova Scotia: New Scottish Speculative Fiction.
Andrew performed “Out of the Depths” – a “new” Professor Challenger story – at the Writers’ Bloc spoken-word event during The Lost World Read 2009. You can read the first four chapters of the story online. He also took part in the Scotsman Book Club that discussed Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World.
Much as I love “Out of the Depths”, my favourite piece of Andrew’s writing is one of his shortest-ever stories. This won the Scotland on Sunday six-word story competition:
.enihcam emit eht esrever reveN !GNINRAW
Andrew’s microstory will be posted this Friday, 5th June, and then it’ll be back to you to continue the story of the Challenger expedition.
Microstory: communications breakdown Friday, 29 May 2009
Posted by Helen in Microstory competition.Tags: writing
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Well done Lulu for submitting the latest entry in the Challenger journal – and thanks to the other microstory writers, who make our judges’ task difficult every week.
Lulu continues Sally’s story after her narrow escape from Ramón. She’s back with the rest of the team and concerned about them. Ottero and Monroe seem to have been poisoned (by the water?) and Sally’s desperate to get medical attention for them. But, the radio isn’t working. If she can’t work out how to communicate with the outside world she’s planning to ask Grazp for help(!!).
What happens next? Well, for the first time ever, we’re not asking you to tell us. Next week we have a special guest writer. More info later, but I can tell you that he’s an Edinburgh-based writer who has previously written about Sally’s great great grandfather Professor Challenger’s adventures…
The guest microstory will be posted this time next week (5th June) and then it’ll be back to you!
Microstory: Sally’s escaped! Monday, 25 May 2009
Posted by Helen in Microstory competition.Tags: writing
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Many congrats Caroline for writing the latest entry in the Challenger journal (and thanks, everyone else, for your entries – it was another week where the judges had a hard time deciding on a winner).
Caroline catches us up with Sally – last heard of scouting the Grazp Pharmaceuticals camp, where her presence was betrayed to Grazp by the traitor Monroe. But, Sally’s too good to be caught!
We still don’t know what an Ikhata is, but Sally has managed to get it back from Ramón – and, whatever it is, it’s possible to attack someone using it…
What happens next? We need you to tell us. Help us to write the stolen book by giving us the next 100 words. It’s really important at the moment – if we can find out what happened, then we know what information a member of the expedition team could give Aileen at Grazp Pharmaceuticals.
Microstory: another traitor? Sunday, 17 May 2009
Posted by Helen in Microstory competition.Tags: writing
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Well done Martha K. for writing the latest entry in the Challenger journal (against very stiff competition – thanks everyone who let us have a diary entry this week).
Martha K. writes as eminent scientist Professor Catherine Remi. Remi is still feeling rejuvenated, but something (the water?) has made her colleagues Howard F Monroe and Dr Marisa Ottero ill. Major Ramón Pedilla has stolen off in the night, taking the mysterious artefact known only as the “Ikhata” and heading for the other camp. Remi hasn’t heard from Sally Challenger, who was scouting the other camp – possibly because Monroe betrayed her the previous day. Tensions are rising…
(Oh, and there’s a great postscript!)
What happens next? We need you to tell us. Help us to write the stolen book by giving us the next 100 words. It’s really important at the moment – we need to find out what’s in the book so that we know why Grazp are so keen to keep it secret
The Lost Book – the Challenger journal Friday, 15 May 2009
Posted by The Lost Book in Microstory competition.Tags: writing
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What is the book that’s been stolen? It’s a fictional expedition journal that we’re writing week by week in 100-word installments. Our special guest writer Jasper Fforde created the characters and the setting, but it’s up to you to carry on the story. As you’ve seen in episode 4, Aileen needs to know what the journal contained to help her solve the crime.
If you’d like to join in and write a section of the journal, go to our “Help!” pages and read a summary of the journal so far (or the full thing, if you like!) and then tell us what happens next in exactly 100 words.
Microstory: a traitor Saturday, 9 May 2009
Posted by Helen in Microstory competition.Tags: writing
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Congratulations ScoutingForBoys for writing the latest entry in Sally Challenger’s journal, and thanks everyone else who put forward diary entries this week.
ScoutingForBoys takes on the unpleasant persona of financier Howard F. Monroe. He’s betrayed Sally to the rival expedition, organised by none other than Grazp Pharmaceuticals (and channelled his inner boy scout by sending messages in Morse code). But, he’s not feeling entirely healthy…
What happens next? We need your ideas. Help us to write the stolen book by giving us the next 100 words. It’s more important than ever at the moment – there are all sorts of clues in the book which we can use in the animated story to solve the crime of its theft.
Storytelling – the Challenger Journal Thursday, 7 May 2009
Posted by Helen in Microstory competition, Story teamwork.Tags: Poll, story, writing
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We have a new slogan for the evil Grazp Pharmaceuticals Inc: “Grazp a younger you!”. Nice one, ResQgeek! Thanks for the great suggestions and thanks, everyone, for voting.
The poll to choose a cab company in Christchurch is still open – vote now to select your favourite.
That’s pretty much all the details for episode 4 finalised. I know what I’m going to be doing for the next week: we’ll be in production and will blog about making 3D models, animating, recording the music, and putting it all together.
What are you, our storywriting team, going to be doing?
Well, you could go straight onto working out the story for episode 5 but, particularly for newcomers, it’d be easier to wait until episode 4 is finished (it’ll be easier for me too!). But, there’s something you can help us with right now… if you can tell an exciting story in 100 words.
As you know, Watson’s been trying to unencrypt the stolen book – Sally Challenger’s expedition journal. He’s found out something about the water and rejuvenation, but hasn’t got many details yet. As Aileen tries to solve the crime and uncover Grazp Pharmaceuticals’ motivation it is really important that we find out what happened on the expedition. So, can you help us?
We need you to continue the journal by writing a diary entry that is exactly 100 words long, and send it to us using the comment form on the microstory pages.
To help you get started quickly, we’ve:
• Summarised the journal so far (or you can read the full journal).
• Summarised Jasper Fforde’s newspaper articles about the expedition.
• Listed the expedition characters.
Good luck!
Microstory: dinosaurs! Friday, 1 May 2009
Posted by Helen in Microstory competition.Tags: writing
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Congratulations Rocketboy for writing the latest entry in Sally Challenger’s journal. Well done for getting a second entry into the journal, and thanks to everyone else who put forward diary entries this week.
Rocketboy, writing as archaeologist Dr Marisa Ottero, thinks that Carstairs was killed by an Abelisaurus, and is convinced the large birds they’ve sighted are Archaeopteryx. Dr Ottero wants to tell Sally, who is currently on her own, investigating another camp in the area.
What happens next? We need your ideas. Help us to write the stolen book by giving us the next 100 words. It’s more important than ever at the moment – there are all sorts of clues in the book which we can use in the animated story to solve the crime of its theft.
The Lost Book is an animated web series where you wrote the plot.
