I’m afraid I’m going to be a little late with this month’s challenge, people. Sorry! What with one thing and another, I just haven’t got it done. I’m not even sure I have a story, yet!

Must try harder!

Here’s a challenge that I’ve heard about.  I was going to try it out on my own, but I haven’t had a chance to experiment with it yet.  

Write a short scene (about 100 to 300 words) without using any adjectives.  

This is the mother of all constraints, I think.  It will be interesting to see what approaches we will use in place of traditional modes of description.  My only advice is to be open and take many risks.

I do have one question for the group – are we sticking to an October 1st deadline for this challenge?

Well, it appears Kallioppe has dropped off the radar. I’m sure we all wish her well if she’s sick or whatever, but she’s not updated her blog in a while, and I don’t think anyone’s seen her around.

Anyway, that leaves us with a problem of sorts. She was due to be our suggester for the October challenge, and her absence leaves us wanting. In short, we are a dead parrot on that front.

My suggestion is to let Gessy have a turn at it. Yay or nay?

I also see the D.F. Rucci has deleted his blog! I had no idea until now, because I used to just check him through the WordPress thingy that show newest posts. Yoink.

And does anyone have the email for Brett at the 59 Second Minute? Will put him forward for inclusion last month, you may recall, and of course, none of us has done a damned thing about it…

Mike

Hey everyone!

Just a reminder that our next challenge is due in a week. If you’ve not already written it, get cracking, you lazy dogs! Ahem. Sorry. Pirate moment over.

Mike

http://leapsecond.wordpress.com/2008/08/17/apathy/

Good read methinks!

Just wanted to remind everyone to add Gessy Experiment to your Idiosyncratica blogrolls. Be sure and check out Gessy’s drabble too!

Welcome Gessy!

I have posted a couple of drabbles on my blog today. How is everyone else going?

Since I have been volunteered for the task of setting an August Challenge, I was tempted to combine photography and writing and have you post a picture (not necessarily original) and then supply the bthousand words it is supposed to be worth. But that is complicate sooooo- – - -

The August Challenge is, in this month of the heavily censored Olympics, an approximately 500 word tale of the joys of losing.

Please welcome Gessy.

I invited her to join earlier in the week, and following our more-or-less agreed-upon procedure, please register your approval or disdain Assuming we all like her, she’s onboard for the drabble.

Duh-duh-duh duh, deedoodoo, deedoodoo, deedoodoo doodoo…

Ahem. Sorry about that one.

OK, this month’s topic comes to you from me. I think we all had a nice and easy warm up in June with our opening topic; we all got to see how the other Idiosyncraticans write and why, and what appeals to us in what we read.

I think it’s time for some slightly heavier weight to be piled on, if I can continue abusing the exercise metaphor for a moment. In light of that, I have cunning plan. We will have two topics this month, one based around reading and the other around writing. You can chose to do either or both if you want to. The choice is entirely yours.

The reading one is pretty straightforward, but I think quite interesting: what books do you wish had been written? Anything goes with this one – prequels that never were, alternate sequels and histories of character and so on. Take Wide Sargasso Sea or The Penelopiad as examples. Books which tell the untold sides of familiar stories are always good, but just let your mind run riot on this one. No limits!

The writing exercise needs a little explanation and some background noise before I specify what it is.

Short fiction comes in various categories, ranging from the novella, which usually runs to the tens of thousands of words, to the plain story, normally between 2000 – 10,000 words to microfiction, which often has fewer than fifty.

An interesting aspect of a lot of short fiction is the exacting nature of it: it often runs to very specific numbers. Nanofiction, for example, is a story specifically in 55 words. Who decided this? Not too sure, to be honest.

Microfiction is often classified as six words, the most famous being Hemingway’s

For sale: baby shoes, never worn.

which is just masterful and fills me with awe whenever I see it.

The most interesting variety for me is the drabble, which is a short story in exactly 100 words, not usually including the title (although Neil Gaiman cheated with Nicholas Was…). I like the format. I’m not entirely sure why, exactly; probably because it allows a certain development of character and story but within a very restricted field. It strips the story down to its bare elements. If you want to tell it, you have to be brief.

In that spirit, your writing challenge for July, to be posted on the 1st August, is to write a drabble. It can be on any subject and in any style or genre. It must tell an actual story and have at least one actual character – not be a vignette, in other words. Beyond that, you’re free to do what you want, any old time… *hums Rolling Stones*

Good luck!

While I think of it, are there any changes to this blog that anyone would like to see? Extra pages, different look etc?