Wednesday 6 April 2011

A-Z blogging challenge "E" - Experiment (Chrysalis)



For the letter E I'm going to talk about the little experiment my critiquing buddies and I have taken on this year. I guess this can double as that Chrysalis shout-out I was planning on doing at some point on this blog! The Chrysalis Experiment is a year-long foray into the art (and science, and other things too) of short-story writing. This is how it all began:

In 2011, I'm going to attempt to write 25-50 short stories (that's one story a week or one story every other week). Not to sell. Not to publish. Not to torment other people with. Simply for the purpose of trying to grow as a writer. And I was wondering if anyone else would like to play too. - Jenn

And Winter summed up our feelings on the matter when she said:

Heck. Yes. I'm so in.

So we started plotting and planning, and I added the Experiment to my Goals 2011 page. We opted for Blogger as our platform. Then we devised our blog design. Hard on the eyes but oh so pretty, our blog looked like THIS except with an entirely black text background. Eventually we changed it slightly so it was a little easier to read. We came up with a crazy schedule (you should see the tables we refer to each week to remind ourselves who's doing what!), and put out the call for participants.

The Chrysalis Experiment kicked off in late 2010 with our "preparatory" post. The first prompt went up on January 3. At that time, we had about seven participants (5 of these original 7 have written stories so far, that we know of). But now we're on prompt 14, and we have fifteen participants, who I affectionately refer to as the test rats (hey, I'm a test rat too!). We also have some visits from non-participants which we welcome as well.

Since the beginning of this Experiment, I've read about angels and demon mermaids, totally creepy hampers, magic spells that turn grown women into babies, zombie penguins, forced smiles, mourning fathers, jaded cyborgs, confrontations with the Devil, and some very tough love...to name just a few. I've written about murderous paintings, the consequences of bullying (basically, you die by poisoning), bad relationships, post-apocalyptic worlds and what happens when you're a tiny person stuck in a bottle on a beach. For a start.

What I love about the experiment is that I never know what I'm going to get next - either from the other participants or from myself.

We've just completed March's stories:


And for those who have written at least a story, there's a shiny up for grabs too!



In closing, here is a shoutout to my fellow Experimenters!

20 comments:

  1. Wow! That sounds wonderful. What a great way to improve your writing. It also helps to keep you on task. Something I am in dire need of. Great incentive.

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  2. What an awesome way to keep those creative juices flowing...and transform!

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  3. Anne and Samantha, it's been great so far! I must admit sometimes it gets a bit much to keep up with the reading and the writing, especially on top of everything else I have to do :) But it's definitely keeping me inspired and invigorated!

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  4. What a cool idea and a fun way to connect with other writers!

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  5. Thanks for the shout-out, Trisha! As a "test rat", I encourage everyone to sign up for The Chrysalis Experiment! It's such a fantastic resource and a really supportive wee community :)

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  6. Oh, this is a great experiment! I can't write a short story to save my life, though occasionally I DO--I look at them as growth exercises, too. (and the exercises are great bonding tools)

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  7. Fun idea I may try it too sometime :O)

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  8. What a neat idea~ good for all of you! Sounds like you got quite the variety in story plots (I'd like to read the zombie penguin one) :)

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  9. Congratulations to all of you. Keep up the good stories.

    MaryV

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  10. What an inspiration you are!!! Congratulations to all that completed this. How neat. I make personal goals for myself and celebrate when I meet them. The only one I've done with a bunch of people is Nano and that was definitely an amazing experience.

    I'm one of the co-hosts of the A to Z blogging challenge and I wanted to stop in and welcome you!!! If you have questions just ask! I do hope you'll stop by my neck of the woods to say hello! We're also having fun on twitter (I'm @jenunedited and we're at #atozchallenge)!

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  11. As a fellow test rat, I agree; the unpredictability is what makes it wonderful. :P At the end, we should have an uber-story that incorporates them all. Like maybe the tiny bottle-person escapes, defeats Susan and Candy simultaneously by swatting them with a zombie penguin, and then lives happily ever after. :)
    -Michael

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  12. Michael, I love that idea :P I think we were planning on doing some kind of anthology anyway, like through CreateSpace or something, and having participants submit 'queries' for whatever story(ies) they want to have featured :D But that's for the future! :)

    Jess, Michael's the zombie penguin author :D

    Hi everyone else who stopped by! I haven't had a good chance to get around to people's blogs the last couple of days, but I am going to catch up today!! Yay! :)

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  13. What a great idea. It sounds like so much fun! I'm stopping by from the "A to Z" challenge and I look forward to reading more from you. I'm off to check out your experiment page.

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  14. Hi Sylvia, nice to see you! About to go visit your blog :D

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  15. This is an awesome idea! Good luck with it!

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  16. Thanks Lisa :P It's awesome but also challenging at times. hehe

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  17. Hey, this sounds like such a great idea! And I love the pretty badges too ;-)

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  18. All the best for your 20-25 posts!! Hope you become successful in it!!



    with warm regards
    http://becomingprince.blogspot.com

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  19. Hey Trisha ~~ thanks for the shout-out ! As one of the "organ donors" , I'm really enjoying the experiment ! :)

    ~MICHELLE~
    http://writer-in-transit.co.za/category/other/rambles-rants-and-raves/

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  20. No worries Michelle :D

    Thanks Rachel & Prince :D

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Thanks for your words, me hearties! and don't forget to leave a link to your blog somewhere I can find it!