Add a Sentence Story II

Paco Dennis said:
When you play "stream of consciousness" stories sometimes the most interesting insights and alternative ways to view our world are revealed, rather than the way we are used to or want the story to go. Take a chance...the water is fine. :)
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@Paco Dennis - A stream of consciousness is one thing. It doesn't have to go the way I want it to go. However, it's insightful and interesting how alternative it becomes by morphing to the point that there's no real "story" because it doesn't make sense. It's just a game, and I have no objection to how people choose to play it. I just find I lose interest when it doesn't make sense. Evidently, others have no trouble with that and just like to play. It's all good. Have fun. :)
 
I think if you set some rules to the story, like connecting somehow the beginning of the story to what we write. If we jump all over the place, as some people have noted, it gets disjointed. It also makes us work harder to try and pull this together into one story, because the ultimate goal is to have a story, not little skits here and there of disjointed thoughts. It's interesting at first, but it takes up a lot of energy to try and connect everything into one story.

I don't want to give a lesson here (I write stories a lot) but if someone changes the direction of the story, which is ok, have they read what happened before so it ties in to the story? Also, if we say this is a mystery, or a thriller, or a love story, or a historical story, whatever, it might help with the theme so we stay within some kind of boundaries. Does that make sense?

I wanted to mention plot because that is the backbone - let's say you want to start a story, and at the beginning you tell everyone at SF that the plot of the story is that someone wants to achieve something (whether it's to steal, to marry, to get a job, to get healthy, to have a family, etc) and by the end of the story, they hopefully will have achieved that goal. Otherwise, we risk randomly following different leads with no ending.

These are my two bits. :)
 

I once studied " Ulysses" by James Joyce. Acclaimed to be one of the greatest books written. I finally had to get some help with reading it because Joyce used stream of consciousness to infer meanings that were not self-evident. One has to use a very wide filter to find meaning when it is obscure. The connections that all things have can be understood by the distant connections we can make between disparate ideas. I like this form of writing and contemplating. It might be the frustrated musician in me searching for an original muse to create from...who knows. But to all...to each their own. :)
 
Tish said:
I was enjoying it.

@Beezer just a quick reminder that none of us are mind readers and had no idea about where you wanted it to go!
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No Tish. This was just an afterthought on my part. I was going with the flow. I didn't make up the elderly widow character. We can dissect this to death, but let's be honest...the story was humming along pretty good.

Lawrence didn't ruin the story...he just wrecked it a lot. lol!
 
I meant by 'I didn't make up the elderly widow character'...that I only thought about a magical storm reversing their ages when she entered the story.

Anyhoo, someone else can take a stab at it...maybe with some tighter rules so the story doesn't get too far out of whack. :)

Besides, I enjoy songwriting. This writing a whole story business was all new to me. But it was fun while it lasted. I can see why those trashy novels make millions. You can get invested in a decent story line pretty fast.
 
Lavinia said:
Should we start again?
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I think so, one thing that would help me is if as each person adds a line they copied the previous lines so it could be read as a whole. Hard to keep going up and back. Something like this:

Old Mr. Stetson closed the drapes and checked the upstairs cupboard for candles...as the storm was about to hit.

Sadly Old Mr. Stetson suddenly realized that he had nothing to light the candles with since he had quit smoking three months earlier.

Where there is a will there is a way, he went out turned on the gas barbecue grill, dipped a stick into the flames, let there be light.

The old man gingerly cupped his hand around the flame and headed for the patio entrance door as the winds began to howl.

As the wind howled, the old man noticed his widowed neighbor Mrs. Gordon out on the street shaking in fear.

The old man called out to Mrs. Gordon to come over. She quickly ran across the street and followed him inside.

With a crack of lightning, the whole house went dark leaving the old man and Mrs. Gordon face to face shimmering in the light of the candle between them.

He was concerned about her returning to a dark home, gathered candles, made sure she had matches at home, walked her home and made sure she was safe for the night.

As he turned to leave, he noticed a shadow out by the shed.

As he turned to go back home the lightening hit very close to him, and the hair on the back of his neck stood up.

It had been a long time since Liz had embraced the company of another man, and from her doorstep she instinctively shouted out..."Wait! Please don't leave!"...as large raindrops began to fall."

Gently on her face as if to hide a single tear.

As the rain grew harder with each step Lizzy took

They heard the sound of horse hooves running then his daughter Penny riding on her horse called Fury showed up.

And my suggestion for a final line:

Then @Beezer awoke from the dream just to discover it wasn't true. Not to be discouraged @Beezer and/or @Lavinia started the thread anew, taking some of the suggestions to heart.
 
Lavinia said:
Yes, it's frustrating when people don't follow on from the previous input. This happened on another site when a story was developing nicely, then someone jumped in and went off at a tangent.
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IMHO this is all about the imagination of the members in SF, and if it takes a different turn so be it. For me, this is not so much about creating a story as it is a psychological exercise to see where everyone's head is. But that is just me because I like to know what makes people "tick".
 
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Beezer said:
No Tish. This was just an afterthought on my part. I was going with the flow. I didn't make up the elderly widow character. We can dissect this to death, but let's be honest...the story was humming along pretty good.

Lawrence didn't ruin the story...he just wrecked it a lot. lol!
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Got it. :D
 
Beezer said:
(I know we aren't exactly penning Shakespeare here folks, but I imagine some of us were getting invested in the story. It was creative and fun...all of the different input. But I figure I'm done with the Add a Sentence Story threads. Oh well, I tried.)
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As the story goes
 
Beezer said:
No Tish. This was just an afterthought on my part. I was going with the flow. I didn't make up the elderly widow character. We can dissect this to death, but let's be honest...the story was humming along pretty good.

Lawrence didn't ruin the story...he just wrecked it a lot. lol!
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I get it Beezer I am not adding to your stories anymore. I was having fun and not trying to be disrespectful.
 
@Beezer I’ve enjoyed your storylines and the additions made by other members and its easy to see in the posts that people really are creative and enjoy crafting stories so…

Would anyone be interested in following story prompts provided by me to write a short story or scene based on the prompt? It can be just a paragraph or two, or longer if you wish. I've done this before and it was both interesting and fun, with participants and readers 'voting' for the best submission each week/month...Just an idea and won't be offended if no response. If people are interested, I’ll start a new thread with the first prompt in the Hobbies & Crafts section.
 
@Lawrence if tall tales are what you wish to write, press on, good man (y)
@Tish thanks for responding :giggle:
Not sure if it will take off or not but I shall go open a thread in Hobbies & Crafts and post the guidelines along with the first prompt. Perhaps as others drop in to read stories posted there, one or two or more will share their creativity...
 

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