Mmmm. I'm thinking about a chain story. We tried it once in the Tranny Fiction thread but it eventually fizzled out. A painful death.
My view on why that happened is simply because it was just too wide open. Random people wrote ever more random things. Of course, that can be part of the fun but it can also lead to a hasty demise through a lack of interest from those trying to make sense of it.
So I'm thinking of asking for volunteers willing to commit a small amount of time to this project. You could register your interest here and, say, come the New Year, if we have half a dozen commited people [or more] we can give it a go.
The thread would be titled as [Chain Story - Title - By Rae Kelcou / Fred Bloggs / Jane Doe / Etc]. The names would be added by random selection and we write in strict rotation. Anybody else trying to add to the thread later will have their posts deleted. That way we get some sort of integrity to the story whilst still allowing it to be swayed by the people contributing.
Does that make sense?
Do you fancy it?
If so post here and let me know...

Hi Rae,

You can count me in (I suspect you knew that already...)

Best,
Melody

Thanks Melody. And yes, if I were a betting sort of girl...

Rachel, ha! Your description was excellent and spot on. Welcome aboard.

Penny, yay! With absolutely no offence to others posting here, if you've never really tried cobbling words together then you are exactly who I'd love to see here. Writing should be fun. We shouldn't be wary of it and, heaven forbid, we shouldn't take it so seriously we risk getting firmly stuck up our own derrieres. C'mon in and grab yourself a handfull of paragraphs...

Rae

Not forgotten this idea, just amazed at how quickly time is flying by! I'll put a note in the General Forum for any last minute volunteers with a cut-off date within the next fortnight.
During that time, perhaps we can think about some very simple and basic guidelines. Nothing heavy, I don't want to curtail anyones artistic and literary freedom. Just little things about procedure and stuff...

My initial thoughts:

At the end of the volunteer deadline, I'll PM each of you to confirm you're on the list of authors. Any post in the story thread not from one of the authors will be deleted irrespective of content.
Any author can drop out at any time - obviously - just let me know.
I suggest that we write in rotation. I'll put the names in a hat - literally! - and draw out at random. Each author then has - for example, let me know your thoughts - a week to post. The post can be any length. I'm mindfull that when it's your 'turn' it might just be in a week where you're incredibly busy. In that case just post a couple of lines.
Bear in mind that the longer we can keep this going - the harder it will be to maintain consistency!
There are no rules regarding style, genre or where the story goes. Only that we try to keep some overall feel of a coherent tale. Rambling, perhaps, but a story that makes sense. No matter how bizarre that may be...
Content. Children can read this thread. Nuff said.

Should be good fun and I'm looking forward to the start!

Rae x

Hi Rae,

It all sounds fine to me. Hope we can get a few more to participate, I think 6-8 is ideal for this sort of thing, at least in my experience.

Best,
Melody

ps, Had to look up "fortnight" - knew it was a measure of time but it's not used often in the USA.

Melody, how curious. I have no experience with this but was thinking 6-8 would be nice...
I've posted in the general forum so please stand well back from the door...
Janis, welcome! The level of skill, expertise, whatever, is no never mind here!
Rae x

'ps, Had to look up "fortnight" - knew it was a measure of time but it's not used often in the USA. '

Really? Thankyou for that Melody! I find the differences between our versions of English of great interest. My 'adoptive' sister is American and sometimes we end up talking at complete cross purposes because of the way I use English without any appreciation her interpretation may be different. And vice versa of course. The most obvious one that springs to mind is 'purse'. In America this seems to be what we in the UK describe as a handbag. To us a purse is a small item for carrying money. On more than one occasion she's been searching for her 'purse' whilst I've been nonchalently sat next to her 'handbag' denying all knowledge of where the item is...
She is a fantastic person. Brought up in the trans community of Atlanta, she is my number one support. You can see her at www.myspace.com/mebabubble. Just for the heck of it...

Rae x

Hi Rae,

I once came across (where, I don't remember) the sentence, "I fancy the bird sitting on the bonnet of my drophead." My Brit friend Alfred clued me in that it meant, "I'm attracted to the girl sitting on the hood of my convertible."

Best,
Melody

I understand what you're saying entirely, Lynn. I'm hopefull this can be circumvented a little by limiting the number of participants. At the moment I believe we have five interested and I would cap it at no more than eight. You could argue that it may not be a chain story in the true sense but, tbh, my emphasis is on 'story' more than 'chain'. Whatever happens, no matter how it shapes up, I think all involved will have some fun...
Rae x

Hi Emily and welcome
It's never too late to be creative!

Ok, those foolish enough to volunteer, I'll PM you now and confirm your participation, and we might as well do something...

Much love to you all.
Rae xx

Oh piffley pooh!
My cunning plan was to PM people to confirm you all. I notice my 'sent' count is not increasing. So I guess I've just been PMing the ether again!
OK, the list I have is:
Melody
Rachel
Penny
Janis
Emily
and me too!
If anyone has changed their mind please let me know. If not - my second cunning plan - is to mix up the names and make a random list...

Rae xx