Hey ya'll, --- PLEASE VIEW IN BLOG FORMAT ---

Okay, so here's my newest idea. I want to try an exercise I've done before elsewhere, and I'm hoping a few of you will want to play along.

It's a round robin writing game. I'll start off as moderator, and set up the story and lay down the rules. Theoretically, we need at least 3 players, but usually I like to keep it to under 10 people at a time. We'll see what happens. If you would like to play, PLEASE say so in the comment section at the bottom of this blog entry, so we can see who's in and who's out.

Firstly, in my next post, I will begin a story "THE POWERS", in which each character will have at least one superpower. When it is your turn, you will:

- continue the story by introducing yourself to the story. You may choose to go under a SuperHero name or pseudonym, however your real world identity is in fact, you.
- you may reveal your power right away or you may choose to keep it secret until a later point. If one of the OTHER WRITERS claims your power before you reveal it, however, you may still have said power, but you must also reveal a DIFFERENT ability as your primary. In other words, if you want to be able to fly and someone else already flies, you may also fly but your main power could be telepathy.
- you may choose to be a hero or a villain.
- you may also introduce any FICTIONAL character you wish, however real folks and especially OTHER WRITERS may not be pulled in before they are ready.
- if any OTHER WRITER character is already in play, you may and should develop and use the character, but only within the presets of the originator. Meaning, if Bob's character is staunchly opposed to killing someone, he should not be slaying people mercilessly in your scene, unless you can show due cause.
- you MAY NOT kill off any OTHER WRITER character. The choice of dying off is held exclusively by the OTHER WRITER.- you also MAY NOT end the story. End game is the responsibility of the moderator, that is, me.

Passing of turn:

Here's how you know who goes next. Let's say that Bob, Sandra, and I are playing the game. Once I finish my section and post it, I decide who gets next crack at it, say Bob. At the bottom of my section, I will write "Continued by Bob..." Bob now has a week to add his segment to the story, post it in the comments box below the entry. Then Bob selects who goes next, namely Sandra, and writes "Continued by Sandra..." And so on. Once in a while, I will take their comments and add the text to the body of the blog, in their corresponding color and under their byline, to keep the flow of the piece. This is called the LOCK-IN. Play continues giving everyone a fair shot at adding their own style and twists to the story. If it is not currently your turn, and you have an idea about what should be next up, take note of the current writer and e-mail a request directly to him or her.

So there it is. I hope this idea interests some of you, as I think it make us better writers in that the story will be consistantly changing and adapting, and hopefully we'll all become better friends as well.

If you are interested, please let me know at the bottom here, and think up what your superpower will be. Meanwhile, I'll get to work on the first part of "THE POWERS".

Cheers,
~The Doc~