Day 14 brought to you by Marianne
Shared Stories By and About the Freewrite Community
One day, @Omra-Sky decided to create a house in his freewrite and all the characters in the house were fellow freewriters!!
We laughed, we cried because we laughed so much and we loved it!!!
The next day, boom!!! Here was another story continuing the tale. And that was the beginning of a movement!! So many different freewriters jumped on and wrote story after story.
Omra-sky wrote a post recounting the history of this particular ongoing story which really was the beginning of the idea of this Freewrite House. Read the story here.
Here is @brisby's account of that part of our history.
First, we called it the Old Steemians Home - only to find out that the username was taken. Omra-sky came up with a few more names which all got snatched up.
Finally, Omra opened the @steemkeepers account to keep track of many of the awesome freewriters.
And by now you know what is happening at the Freewrite House.
Ongoing Stories from the Freewrite Prompts
You say, what???
Isn't it hard enough to come up with something to write every day on any of those prompts? And now, you want us to write an ongoing story?
Well, to tell you the truth, we didn't ask, you guys just did it!!
First, there was @deaconlee who wrote a spy story which spanned over a couple of weeks.
Then @fireawaymarmot upped the ante by not only writing an ongoing story - but illustrating each freewrite with an original drawing.
Enter the king of the ongoing story @svashta who is writing for what must be 80 days - a Western of all things!! He bravely has fitted every prompt without ever complaining!!!
More have taken on the Ongoing Stories: @freedomtowrite, @felt.buzz, @pixiehunter, @wandrnrose7, @mr-neil, @bennettitalia, @storytllng.rocks and probably more I am forgetting right now and am very sorry if I have. Please add others to the comments.
The Freewrite House and Ongoing Stories
What we like to do here at the Freewrite House is to showcase you and your Ongoing Stories. It could take many forms and you can help us to formulate how we can do that to give you the best exposure.
We already talked about some ideas - for example a podcast, but we are sure you have more and better ideas. Many minds together are always better!!
So, today, please tell us your ideas about Ongoing Stories and this page or simply about an ongoing story you like or you are writing.
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I get a kick out of reading the stories that continue one day to the next. I still think having them on podcast would be awesome. At first I wasn't sure if I should continue with mine about the Strange Family or Chozzy. Sometimes I felt maybe they were a bit weird and no one would like them. Next thing I know I managed to merge the two into one continuing story. I love the comments I am getting and they are encouraging me to keep going to the end. Even I am looking forward to seeing what happens..So, off to do today's and yesterday's prompts. Then I need to catch up on my western. I love westerns. :-)
8 pixiehunter
You are in!! I also think that the podcast would be a great way to give the stories a long life. and they still could be published in other forms. i.e. ebooks or even printed books.... so much we can do... And we have allies in the Isle of Write who can help us a lot if we want to take the stories to the next step.
I have actually been thinking about that for this story. I am enjoying writing it. I eventually have some patching up to do for the first novel I attempted. I may even try to sketch a monkey. :-)
Really, I couldn't think of a better way to show my appreciation for the people who support me than by putting them in a story.
Thank you to the Freewrite House for the mention. I did indeed write a 13 episode story which put the freewrite community in danger. If I may, I will put a link to the first omnibus edition.
https://steemit.com/freewrite/@mr-neil/it-is-time-for-the-freewrite-to-end-omnibus-parts-1-7
Only the first 2 stories were written using the prompt. However, I decided to move away from it so that this story can have more freedom. I was also missing the daily stories.
The story was such fun, and as always, I owe my gratitude to people who commented on the story. It is what keeps the story going because I know there is an audience.
The story involved major roles by Miss Rose and Miss Simgirl. They helped to save everyone and defeat the bad guys.
I kept it as a caper (if that's the right word). The baddies were just baddies. There was no moral nor good guy gone bad. I just wanted to to be fun.
It is very tough to write a series. I'm don't think I'll use the prompts for it again. It is hard, so my hats off to those that are doing it.
I may write another series, but it will be outside the prompt. Also, not something that will go on forever. I like stories to have an end.
What I really love doing more than anything is writing a fresh story each day. Especially the crazy ones.
6 mr-neil
You are in the drawing. It seems by trying the ongoing story, you have found what you like more. All of that is good. To explore, feel free to say no to something and yes to something else. All is good!! (mw)
Congrats on the @steemkeeper's account. I consider it a great initiative which will really help to celebrate the awesome works of writers - as they should be; I see there are so many good writers on the platform. I'm a follower now. All of these brilliant things contribute in no small measure to making steemit so much fun and the freewrite community the place to be!
10 boladayl
You are in the drawing. Yes, @omra-sky is doing a great job supporting and highlighting the efforts of so many writers. We are glad that you are following the account and will be supporting his work. (mw)
Don't know why I haven't joined this house yet but I will. Beautiful things going on I can see :)
yes!! It will be lots of fun!! Already is, really. but to be entered into the drawing, we need a comment of at least 50 words...
I went back and forth with this.... nerve-wrecking and yet oh so deliciously exciting . To be committed day in day out, by hook or crook, to have a schedule that you stick to so you do not disappoint the reader who is waiting for the answer to that burning question.... can it be done? As @svashta has so eloquently put it, even through days you don’t feel like it .....I will come clean I have written a reply to this a couple of times already only to not post because I had to think it through.... and my answer is YES!! And I too prefer to take things in bites as opposed to a super long post in order to manage time. So game on!! 😊
11 kaerpediem
You are in the drawing. Yes, ongoing stories are quite the beast. But the beauty of the freewrite community is that we are all there to experiment. Nobody expects perfection and we applaud effort of trying things which are new to us!! This is a safe space to experiment and be free! (mw)
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Very true what the friend mentioned, @svashta, for me, to write freely is to release the creativity that is stored. That's why I'm going to take this space seriously, since April 1 I'll have that little place to write with a lot of adrenaline, for the 5 minutes of writing. The mind will flow in creativity. Maybe I will make a story that I will develop every day or I will go back to the story of "Chelita", a girl with an alert mind, who asks many questions. The idea is to write daily. Thank you once again to @marianne for this wonderful initiative and all the great support behind the proposal. a hug.
13 lunasilver
You are in the drawing!! We are looking forward to reading your stories - or whatever you will come up with in the 5 minutes. Welcome to the new regulars :)
On going stories, yes! People love a series. At this time I've got three entries about making an audiobook Red Roses. This Sunday I'm introducing the narrator in a special post. She's been a secret until now. Stay tuned.
After that I'll promote my first audiobook Lost Angel with a poetry series. The poems were never recorded. After years of trying to work with The Doors this new version includes an Introduction with Ray Manzarek.
However, to participate in Steemit Free Write proper, might have to go back to The Lords of Hemp. A story I've been playing around with for a decade yet never seems to develop. Writing it here might give it purpose. Thanks!
9 cyemela
You are in the drawing. We can't wait to see what is going to happen with The Lords of Hemp. We will be looking for your posts :) And are you recording the audio book yourself? (mw)
No. Got an outstanding narrator through ACX.com. You might want to check them out in the future. Will announce her on Sunday. The other book got recorded long ago. All my books can be found on the link on my blog page. Thanks for the encouragement. Hoping the writing prompts can help!
Thank you for the mention! The Steemkeepers house full of nuts is just too much fun to play with! Continuing stories are great because we get to know more of the characters we've created. One of my favorite things about our freewrite group is how people can feel free to jump in and add to a story if they want. I don't see a lot of that elsewhere on Steemit.
Agreed!!! That is one thing which makes the freewriter community so special!!!
Thank you so much for mentioning me! As you might have seen the last two, three days (and I knew that before to be fair) I can't always make time for writing every day, or rather: my mind can be occupied by the day job things I have going on and I can't really create anything.
If I'm working on an ongoing story, I need to settle in its mood, connect to the characters and the situation again, and I guess I'm not the only one who writes that way. I've written a few freewrites and immediately thought "This might be a 'bigger' story", and in one case I started an ongoing story with the daily prompts - which I haven't forgotten about, it will be continued ;-)
As others have already said here, I feel both the "limitations" that might come with a prompt that you "have" to put into your story and the opportunity, because some prompts have taken me / the story in directions I probably hadn't thought of without the prompt.
So I can only speak for myself: I also love ongoing stories, and I find it quite attractive for me as a reader to have rather short stories or "snippets" of a story - for me as a writer, I would probably try to work on ongoing stories not really every day but once or twice a week (maybe several ongoing stories at the same time though) - but that's because I'm a patchwork writer, I like to jump into a scene of a comedy and then maybe the next days rather into drama / thriller / crime things (NOT talking about Pinches, lol!).
Maybe it would be worth a try to do ongoing stories every other day instead of every day or so - but it's really just my very personal view.
In any case, the house might be exploding of energy (and only of energy)! :)
12 storytllng.rocks
You are in the drawing. All good points!! And the beauty of the freewrite is that you are free to do what you want. Only one says that they are writing an ongoing story doesn't mean that we have to write that story every single day...... Freedom rules around here and we have many different rooms to hang out in 🛋 (mw)
This has inspired me to think about an ongoing freewrite and the first idea that leapt into my sleep-deprived mind was of a narrator/character trapped inside a perpetual trail of freewrite prompts. The action of each swinging wildly from conflicting genres, like scifi to period drama, or serious literary fiction to irreverent comedy. At the beginning of each freewrite a small recap of the last one and a finishing sentence/twist from the preceding setting followed by a moment of massive existential crisis as our narrator wrestles with the change of setting. Ha ha, ok I have convinced myself, I will try this out for a week and see how it goes. Thanks for the inspiration @freewritehouse, I have been wallowing in watering hole of none-inspiration for the last 3 days :-( Maybe the drought is over :-)
2 raj808
You are in! So happy that we inspired you to do something new and hope it will be giving you the inspiration you are looking for. (mw)
I do so want to read this!! Brilliant idea!
Thanks for the encouragement @storytllng.rocks. I don't usually link drop like this but as you said you wanted to check it out here is the first installment of my serialized freewrites:
https://steemit.com/fiction/@raj808/incarnation-day-160-5-minute-freewrite-prompt-tiger
Thank you!
I've read a few of the ongoing stories and they were such a fun read. I'm not sure if my style of story telling would work well with an ongoing story. I'm just going to have to broaden my writing skills and include "Fiction", it seems to work better with these ongoing writings. The @freewritehouse is going to be popping with activity in the near future. 😀
I never really thought of myself as a fiction writer either. It does help to create a universe to work with. By the way, I plan on using you in one of my future #steemkeepers stories. It'll be an ensemble role. 😉
It would be an honor to be in one of your stories. I'll keep an eye out for it.
3 wonderwop
You are in!! You have dabbled in fiction for a little bit. So, that could be your next challenge. Or, we just have a glimpse into the life of Bruni on a daily basis 😄 (mw)
One of the first things I realized in grad school was that I should make every written assignment do double duty and find a way to relate it to my thesis topic. I had to get creative, at times, to make certain assignments applicable. I wasn’t always successful (some really obscure theory just didn’t fit no matter how hard I tried), but I was way ahead of the game when it came time to write my thesis. I am impressed with the efforts here by some of the freewriters in their ability to carry a plot thread weaving in the #freewrite prompts. I look forward to seeing the progression of these stories, and may take up the challenge as well.
4 ghostsinahatbox
You are in!! And repurposing everything you do as much as possible is the way to go in school - and, on a much smaller, here on this platform. (mw)
In some ways writing an on going story is easier than starting from scratch every day. You already have at least character and a situation they are in. The prompts can sometimes appear difficult to make work, but then you realise that in a story anything is possible. You are a magician you can make anything happen in the world you have created. This is really freeing (and can help in your writing in a general way).
On the other hand you can feel trapped. Sometimes you ache NOT to write about the same characters. So this teaches you to persevere. But it can be difficult to 'arrange' an ending.
Speaking as someone who wrote a forty part freewrite saga (and is currently in number 4 of 6 of a new one) I do think it is cheating a little. It isn't true freewriting (but I never really did that anyway, because I always wanted to write fiction not 'whatever comes into your head'). But who cares about purity: the true purpose of freewriting is to get you to write SOMETHING!
I recommend everyone try it once (if you are into writing fiction).
As to how we promote it? Not sure. It is difficult to keep up with all the freewrites as it is, so to encourage people to read a series is hard. Perhaps, when a series has finished (and time has allowed to pass) if the writer wants to edit it and put it out as one (or several) larger part posts, it could get a mention?
Not sure.
Anyway, those are my thoughts for what they are worth.
5 felt.buzz
You are in!! It makes sense that the ongoing story could in some ways be easier than to come up with something new - and challenging at the same time to fit the prompt in.
Agreed about the purpose here - write something. We do believe in total freedom - but are keeping the 5 minutes in the title - because 5 minutes are doable... Low entry? If we tell people to spend an hour a day, it is not going to happen.
With time, we will figure out how to best get more eyes on all the great work.....
Yeah, I love the 5 minute part. No excuses. We can all find the time.
Your ongoing pieces are rich with character and conflict. I admire everything I have read thus far from your profile! It would be a truly devastating thing if I couldn't find something from @felt-buzz now!
Oh, bless! There are so many fantastic writers doing the freewrites now. It's wondered :)
For me, an ongoing story based on freewrite prompts is quite similar to a weekend freewrite with a bit less difficulty. Weekend freewrite second and third sentences may be very challenging if you're trying to keep the story on the rails and give an overall coherence. Subsequent daily prompts, that are usually single words, are easier to put in an episode of an ongoing story.
My only experience so far is a Freewrite House (I keep preferring to call it Old Steemians Home) story in 4 parts, called "The Spirit Dust Bowl", that was incredibly funny and satisfying to write.
I wrote a freewrite that is a sequel of another I had written way before, and I think this kind of occasional recurrence of characters, situations or elements fits my style better now than another long episode story.
Thank you, Marco. Your story was a lot of fun...
What if there was an ongoing stories train? The first person in the train would write on a prompt of their choosing or one that was provided for them then they would select or nominate the next person to write. That individual would then do the same to the next writer and it would go on in this manner and could even loop back to people that had already written. It would be a fun way for people to get challenged to be creative even when creativity is not fully present. Seems like a fun time but that's my outlook on it. Tell me what you think :) Cheers!
7 maslowmission
You are in the drawing. What you are suggesting is that we call We All Write and we will do that for sure!!! Here is our post about that 😄 https://steemit.com/contest/@freewritehouse/everyone-writes-we-all-write-we-all-win
Wow, thank you for the wonderful mention for ongoing stories! I've read these stories from other freewriters with interest, never imagining that I would dip my toes in the water. I have received a great deal of positive reinforcement with my little short pieces. Others have said, what happens next?
Finally, last week I caved and did a continuation which is now on part five. I'm not sure how much farther I can or will write, but the experience has been a wonderful one and has encouraged me to keep trying.
I'm a poet... or at least I had resigned myself to that title many years ago after failed attempts at fiction, or what I felt was failed attempts. Readers liked my poetry and in spite of never intending to write poetry except as an emotional escape, I see how my writing is slowly progressing on Steemit since my very first fumbling freewrite. My love for fiction has been rekindled by the amazing writers of the group. The encouragement of all of you at @freewritehouse is amazing!
I have been following the others with great admiration and one day, I plunged! Thank you all for your feedback!
The contest is now closed. The last entry accepted was # 13 lunasilver