The Word Cloud

EVOLUTION
A chance for writers to evolve together. This starts NOW, but won’t take up much of your time until April – or whenever those of us going to the York festival get over our hangovers.
Inspired by the success of Alan’s INTER CITY CHALLENGE, and beginning in parallel with Blue’s THE TOPAZ EGG. I have planned out a longer challenge that evolves, and should lead to some related short stories that have no need to be judged against each other.

The process is this:

FIRST TASK: by 20th March
Each member of the group produces a brief PROPOSAL for a piece of short fiction between 200 and 250 words long. This might include setting, genre (any), briefest of plot summaries, tiny character sketches, etc. They are all posted in one single thread, whenever they are ready. If your over-active imagination produces more than one proposal that you don’t want to keep for your Booker prize winner, feel free to post more.
For example:
'Boy plays in a wood with cuddly toys. Nothing much happens, but they all have endearing characters, suitable for illustration by E H Shepherd. Contains moderate violence to a donkey’s tail and one natural disaster.'
NOTE:THIS IS NOT GREAT LITERATURE, JUST A PROPOSAL FOR SOMEONE TO FOLLOW. YOU MAY WRITE IT ON A BEER MAT OR A WALL, BUT PLEASE TRANSCRIBE INTO THE PROPOSAL THREAD.

SECOND TASK: by 17th April
Each member chooses a proposal which must not be their own. We have widened the gene pool.
Do not, at this stage, say which you have chosen, simply write the piece of short fiction.
Don’t worry about a final polish. Write it quickly and use your creativity. What we want here is an attractive story with a strong plot and believable characters. This story is a stage along the way.
Some proposals may attract multiple stories, some may attract none. Natural selection has begun.
These stories are posted in one single thread, with a note of the proposal used, in case it isn’t obvious.

EXTINCTION EVENT
Only one story will survive to the final task. They are judged by fellow group members. Judge only as you would judge a first draft. How much does the story attract you?
IMPORTANT: don’t judge on technical skill or grammar.
When all are posted, send a private message to me with your top three in order. In the event of a tie, I will call in the brutal reality of a reading public by asking a random reader to judge a winner. We do not write for writers, but for readers! The reader will be one who enjoys the genres represented.

THE FINAL TASK AND ETERNAL GLORY: by Midsummer’s Day
The winning story is now the basis for a full short story. Your story may relate to it in any way you wish. You may change the genre, change the setting, in fact you may change anything, as long as you can show a clear relationship between the winning story and your much longer story.
Word limit is 2500 words.
These should be fully refined stories, using every skill you possess, and the time allowed is consequently longer. Posting of excerpts for problem-solving along the way WILL be allowed.
The aim is to arrive at a theme and variations, or a set of stories that are cousins to each other.
They will NOT be judged in order of preference: they have evolved and produced their own solution to existence, and should stand together. Constructive criticism will be invited, of course.

As in ICC, each finished story will be posted in its own thread after the date given. Writers will be encouraged to explain a little about the evolution of their own story.

Are you ready to evolve?