July 2011 Blog Chain

orion_mk3

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Starting Date: Monday July 11, 2011
Open to all forum members, even after it starts!

This month's prompt: the Mini Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest

The Mini Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest means trying to write the worst possible first line of a book or story in the spirit of Edward "It was a dark and stormy night..." Bulwer-Lytton. "Worst" in this case is subjective, but florid and ridiculous purple prose is probably closest to the spirit of the thing. Here is a page of examples if you need 'em.

Simply post in this thread to join. Each post must consist of a single sentence; sentences may be of any length but less than 50-60 words is highly recommended for reasons of general sanity. Read and comment on other participants' posts if you possibly can--they'll be doing the same for you!

I'll let you know in this thread when it's your turn. Once your turn comes up, you have two days to complete your post. When you are finished, please post a link to your post on the thread so I can let the next person in line know that their turn is up. If you signed up but find yourself unable to participate or need to be moved around in the schedule, please PM me or post in the thread. If you fail to post on your blog and on the thread within two days, I'll bump you down to the end of the line on the third day; you'll get a second chance at the end of the month.

Please include a list of all participants' blogs in your blog post, and keep in mind we're not starting until the second Monday of the month to give people time to sign up.

The participants so far:

orion_mk3 - http://nonexistentbooks.wordpress.com (link to this month's post)
AuburnAssassin - http://clairegillian.com (link to this month's post)
dolores haze - http://dianedooley.wordpress.com/ (link to this month's post)
Horseflye - http://thecozylittleplot.blogspot.com/ (link to this month's post)
Proach - http://www.deannaproach.com/ (link to this month's post)
BigWords - http://bigwords88.wordpress.com/ (link to this month's post)
jkellerford - http://jennykellerford.wordpress.com/ (link to this month's post)
xcomplex - http://arielemerald.blogspot.com/ (link to this month's post)
Ralph Pines - http://ralfast.wordpress.com/ (link to this month's post)
Diana Rajchel - http://blog.dianarajchel.com/ (link to this month's post)
pezie - http://www.erinbrambilla.wordpress.com/ (link to this month's post)
Guardian - http://daewrites.blogspot.com/ (link to this month's post)
egoodlett - http://wordlarceny.blogspot.com/ (link to this month's post)
Euclid - http://euclid-thoughts.blogspot.com/ (link to this month's post)
Alpha Echo - http://writersramblings81.blogspot.com/ (link to this month's post)

Archive of Past Blog Chains
 
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orion_mk3

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So it seems the forum outage cost us a week of posts. Never fear, I will summarize!

AuburnAssassin and dolores haze have already gone. Since the forum was down the next participant, xcomplex, gets three days to post instead of two.

I also proposed a (completely optional) game to tag posts with noble names of Bulwer-Lytton pomp and hilarity:
-Start with either Lord or Lady
-Your first name comes from one of your grandparents.
-Your surname is the name of your first pet double-barreled with the street you grew up on (or, if you prefer, the name of the street you grew up on double-barreled with the name of your first pet).
 

Guardian

just the worst honestly
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Yay you saved the list.
Let me state again, for the record:

Oooh, sign me up! I'm SURE I can do bad writing!
 

Alpha Echo

I should be writing.
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Oooh, fun! I'm in! Can I be at the end, though? I'm on vacation next week and unsure how active I'll be online.

writersramblings81.blogspot.com
 

BigWords

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The effect of The Big Oops has resulted in a few days worth of posts disappearing, so everyone repost their linkies if they have disappeared. Things should get back to something approaching normal soon enough. :)
 

orion_mk3

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Luckily I had all the links saved, but everyone who was subscribed will have to do so again. I think I'll sent out PM reminders too just to make sure everything works out.

And compared to what happened at another forum I'm active in that uses the same software--total loss of all data for 6 years' worth of posts--a few days ain't so bad.
 

Horseflye

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My entry is up and brimming with adverbs! Nice work so far everyone!
 

Alpha Echo

I should be writing.
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Hey Orion - could you add http:// to the beginning of mine so people can link up from here? Sorry...my fault. :(
 

orion_mk3

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My entry is up and brimming with adverbs! Nice work so far everyone!
Wow, let me just advance you to the top of the list then. I like your enthusiasm for taking your turn when the muse said so and not the queue!

Hey Orion - could you add http:// to the beginning of mine so people can link up from here? Sorry...my fault. :(
Sorry, I should have done that from the start. Luckily I think people around here are web-savvy enough that they were able to find you in the meantime regardless.
 

Alpha Echo

I should be writing.
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Sorry, I should have done that from the start. Luckily I think people around here are web-savvy enough that they were able to find you in the meantime regardless.

Yeah, but they may be lazy and not do it. :) I know I can be that lazy. :tongue
 

Horseflye

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Gah! Sorry, everyone! I guess I didn't quite digest the fine print.
 

BigWords

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Aside from my pathetic attempt, it's whoever has posted in this thread I guess... When I have time later, I'll start adding linkies to the individual posts.
 

AuburnAssassin

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I always go by the/Orion's initial post, except we hadn't heard from Xcomplex and it's been over 3 days since her original predecessor posted. Proach went ahead and took her turn since she knew she'd be away from the forum for a while. BigWords has also now posted his direct link. The master list hasn't been updated yet for these most recent developments, though I'm sure Orion will be make that edit soon.

I'm assuming Xcomplex is now at the bottom of the list. JKellerford should be warming up on the deck having been given the green light to start her 2 day window.

That's my interpretation, at least.
 

orion_mk3

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Yes, it looks like xcomplex has run out of time and a few others have jumped the gun. The list is now updated to reflect that. If you have already posted and the list doesn't reflect that, let me know and I'll fix it.

jkellerford is in the dugout, as AA suggested.
 

Alpha Echo

I should be writing.
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Horseflye, for some reason, I can't leave a comment on yours, but....very creative! I love it! And I appreciate the use of passive voice. I'll have to remember that when it's my turn.