Let's write together!
A paragraph-at-a-time story
Hi Everyone!
I want to try an experiment. Can we write stories together in an asynchronous collaborative format?
Anyone familiar with improvisation will recognize this as an evolution of the “Word-at-a-time” story game where a we go around a circle and each say a single word to advance a narrative. In this case, we’ll do a paragraph at a time, keeping each contribution to just a few sentences (or only one if it’s long). I’ll get us started with a opening, and then you jump into the comments to keep it going!
I think it’d be fun if this becomes a regular thing, so let’s say whatever story starts today, we’ll try to keep it going until around Thursday, January 15th, at which point we’ll wrap it up. After that, if people enjoy it, I’ll start another one!
The rules are as follows:
Feel free to contribute more than once, but don’t go twice directly in a row.
It may prove helpful to keep a tracking number in front of your contribution (I’ll put a (1), the next person puts (2), etc) just in case things get confusing in the formatting.
No overwriting (or “blocking”) people’s offers. Roll with wherever the story’s going!
At any time, someone can hop in with “TITLE: […]” and give us the title of the story.
No genre constraints! Let’s see what happens.
Let’s not do anything explicit, either sexually or in language.
Nothing derogatory or real-world cruel. Let’s keep this fun and welcoming for everybody.
Alright, ready?
Let’s go…
(1) Jamiah ducked behind the trellis and under the protective covering of the gazebo. Straightening her back, she tossed off the hood of her raincoat and let the water drip onto the floor. Sighing, she looked up at the web-like framing of the roof and froze, seeing something in the rafters…
(2) Could it be, thought Jamiah? Is this really the creature her father told her about when she was a small child? Could it be real, and living in her gazebo?
(3) Her father had told her about the three-eyed puff-ball of blue fur every night as a bedtime story until she was nine. Finally, she had told him she wanted to hear about big-girl things, like unicorns and space-ships, so he'd let the topic drop. But now here the creature was...clear as fuzzy crystal.