I am finally starting my experimental play-along story this coming Friday, February twelfth. The notion I currently have (subject to change due to lack of interest, me writing myself into a corner, or general confusion) is to write an opening paragraph and then leave instructions for those willing to comment on how to guide my next installment. I’m thinking along the lines of (this is just a potential example):

For the next installment, I will need a location (landmark, city, or other nonspecific place), two nouns and two verbs. Please leave your comment with all six requested items. Commenters one and four will determine the nouns, commenter two the landmark…

Or something like that. Depending on how crazy you all get, I might have to be more specific, like:

Give me an animal, a piece of furniture…

As you can tell, I haven’t yet ironed out all the kinks. I think it will be much more fun to figure it out as we go. Or, it could be disastrous, which would still be fun for you; nothing increases the merriment factor better than watching a writer crash and burn. As I am in the fantasy genre, I will be starting the story with a fantasy plot in mind, but since you all will be in the driver’s seat, we’ll just see how that works out.

My overall hope is that this experiment will be an exercise in creativity and flexibility on my part. As a reward for your participation, you get to torture the hell out of me.

Don’t say I never did anything for you.

So, barring any blackouts from Snowpocalypse II, I’ll be seeing you all on Friday.