Six words each day.

Just wanted to let everyone know that a prequel of my story is at http://sixwordserial.wordpress.com/ I only write six words a day. You should try it!

What does it all mean?

I found this neat little site that allows me to blah, blah, blah my blog.

Apparently some blog readers are just way too busy to read blogs, so now bloggers can provide an alternative to reading.

Listening!

Huh, who would’a thought?

Think of what this means for the future of blogging …

In the future, will we be listening instead of reading?

I imagine then, we will also be talking instead of writing!

Perhaps when traveling we will be floating instead of walking!

If our brains turn to mush, what will we need a healthy and sound body for?

Most blogs today have no thoughtful or insightful content. Very little time and attention is given to posting quality information.

Most blogs are already brain mush anyway.

Take my blog for example.

So now, for your intellectual and listening pleasure I present…

wh[o][y][at][ere][en]&how In all its podcasting glory!

more fun than a barrel of 'em

I have been trying for awhile now to get pe0ple to link together through story collaboration.  Well my error was in inspiring people, when all along I should have joined the monkeys.

BlogFiction, I can’t thank you enough for your terrific tweet! I can’t wait to read your blog post about all this “monkey” business!

If you want to check out my snippets click [here]. Please feel free to “leaf” a story on my “twig” or branch off of any of the other wonderful stories in the “story grove”.

Just in case you care to read it without navigating elsewhere, see below:

The promised one

Long before the question was asked, the answer was given.

Darius was a sharer unlike any other. He had a knack for making things that could never happen, happen. Was he the promised one? Not even the great Formidus could foresee the answer. One thing was for certain, when Darius walked into the room, time stopped.

Like mannequins Val, Ann and Jaz froze in their tracks. The words leaving their mouths, their thoughts formulating in their minds, everything that made them alive, stopped. Sand recognized this manifestation from long ago.

“You are in violation!” he pealed.

“Violate this!” boomed Darius. 

He felt the impact before the blow was given, staggering backwards.

Pushed against the large windows overlooking the tarmac, Sand struggled to breathe.

“You.. you will.. comply …with … with the counsel’s mandate”, he  stammered, breaking Darius’ grip.

Conjugating all he could deliver, Sand stepped forward, while sending a two handed power push to Dari’s midsection.

“Who do you think you are?” rebuffed Darius. “You’re no match for…”

“Who do you think you are?” echoed a voice in the distance.

The light slowly traced his face as he stepped from the darkened terminal corridor into the gate’s waiting area.

“Hello East”

“Hello Darius”; “Sand”. “So what are you fellas up to?”

If Darius could walk into a room and time stop, East was the man to get things going again. His presence alone demanded attention.  He stood at least a foot taller than both Dari and Sand and his girth was wider than the both of them put together.

“Uh, I was just encouraging Sand here..” “to, uh… follow through with his assignment.”

“Very well then, cancel the time constraints”

Val, Ann and Jaz resumed their lives, completed their thoughts, uttered their words and began again as if nothing happened.

“I’m not even going to try to rate this thing. It’s not really a story, from the parts I’ve seen—more a long, (seemingly intentionally) confused, rambling monologue, full of existential angst. If you like that kind of thing, give it a go.” - Chris Poirier @ Web Fiction Guide

Let’s review the review, shall we?

Is it a story?

You Storied!

story (n): a piece of fiction that narrates a chain of related events.

Are there related events?

related (adj): being connected either logically or causally or by shared characteristics.

event (n): a phenomenon located at a single point in space-time; the fundamental observational entity in relativity theory.

Rambling monologue?

rambling (adj): tending to depart from the main point or cover a wide range of subjects.

Yes I admit it, I ramble! Don’t we all? Wouldn’t you agree a “wide range of subjects” is much more interesting than “the main point”?

It’s not so much a monologue as it is a soliloquy.

monologue (n): speech you make to yourself.

soliloquy (n): a (usually long) dramatic speech intended to give the illusion of unspoken reflections.

Existential angst?

existential (adj): relating to or dealing with existence (especially with human existence).

angst (n): an acute but unspecific feeling of anxiety; usually reserved for philosophical anxiety about the world or about personal freedom.

Yes I admit it, I have existential angst! Don’t we all? How does he know me so well?

I don’t know about you but this sounds more like a compliment than it does a complaint.

Thank you Chris!

the king of blog surfing!

Over the past few months I have been sharing my thoughts with the good people over at Condorn.us. I would like to say they really have got their act together. There is another site, the first (alpha) to invent blog surfing I suppose, nevertheless Ryan over at Condron.us wins the style factor, hands down.

I have never talked (typed) directly to Ryan; I suppose he is like the infamous Jacob on ABC’s LOST. I have communicated with Dee the marvelous moderating mediator, apparently the Richard Alpert of the Condron.us Island. Let me say she really knows her stuff!

So other than one discussion thread there and the fact that putting Condron.us in my blog post here gives me more credence on their blog search surfing thingy, I don’t have a whole lot to contribute there. But this doesn’t mean you won’t.

Please visit the nice folks at the Condron.us. You never know, you may even get “lost” while surfing their very stylish website.

Should I pick a wartime romance?

“The answer was either guns or sex.”

Thanks vulgarieloquentia

Should I pick an unusual production?

“…life was no longer business as usual.”

Thanks Dorla Moorehouse

Should I let the story go the way of the great dog detctive?

“… only the dog had truly seen this coming.”

Thanks nathantyree

Should I pass the story on to the zombies and vampires of the world?

“And we were all dead.”

Thanks Michael Martin

After long countless hours of deliberation, the story in my humble opinion should read as follows:

The detectives wouldn’t believe he drank the entire bottle of Worcestershire sauce willingly no matter what we said.

We told them he was preparing for the end of the world, we told them it would be coming tomorrow.

The detectives told us to ‘go home and prepare for Armageddon then…assholes’, and proceeded to muscle us off the property.

It seemed to be a big joke to them jeering and cursing us, but come tomorrow we’ll see who’s laughing and who’s dead.

The next morning, it appeared we had been proved wrong. But only we could see that life was no longer business as usual.

Ok, I admit it! I’m a sucker for the unusual.

Dorla Moorehouse, you’ve got the hint!

Thanks to everyone else who submitted; all were equally as good, even the “dog detective” one.

Wouldn’t you agree, though, that Dorla’s continuation allows for more prevalent and pervasive interpretation?

If you haven’t gotten the hint yet, please follow it to Dorla’s blog [here] and try again.

You’ll be supporting her and the Hint Revolution at the same time!

Hinting is alive and well!

For more information about "the hint", see [this post]

Mr. Robert Swartwood is making hint history. [Click Here]

Mr. Ben Brooks pretended to be at least partly interested in hint fiction. [Click Here]

and

Mr. xTx was kind enough to crawl out of the “hole” just long enough to contribute to the hint revolution. [Click Here]

Seriously now,

With my full appreciation, Mr. xTx, I thank you for saving our hint serial from any impending defecations, and choosing me to continue the story.

So without further ado (or should I say, doo doo) I present “Lea & Perrins”, the hint fiction serial that you can help to write!

The detectives wouldn’t believe he drank the entire bottle of Worcestershire sauce willingly no matter what we said.

We told them he was preparing for the end of the world, we told them it would be coming tomorrow.

The detectives told us to ‘go home and prepare for Armageddon then…assholes’, and proceeded to muscle us off the property.

It seemed to be a big joke to them jeering and cursing us, but come tomorrow we’ll see who’s laughing and who’s dead.

What’s next?

Who’s next?

Leave me a comment with your continuation and you may be the next to get the hint!

whoyatereen&how now updates on Tuesdays and Fridays just in case you’re wondering.

As you may have noticed, or perhaps not, whoyatereen&how has gone through some changes.

I have had many readers (ok just a couple) tell me that what I wrote was hard to read.  I thought they were talking about the ideas being difficult to comprehend. I believed I was wowing them with my deep complex and cunning considerations.  I was masterfully mistaken when I was dumbfounded to discover that they were referring to the actual text, the size of the font and spacing of the sentences.

A story that is horribly hard to see let alone read, doesn’t pain the brain from comprehension, but hurts the head from focal fatigue. So change was in order and I initiated the change.  Now when you visit the blog of the lost time traveler and read his story, I hope you lose your place in time and space and not lose your place in the paragraph.

Some other interesting changes or should I say additions have been made.  The Who, Why, What, Where, When, &, How, and ? pages are all different. 

• The “Who” page is a character page, or more like the travelers contacts page.
• The “Why” page asks all the questions he’s ever asked. 
• The “What” page has a list of items or websites or research that the traveler has or has discovered.
• The “Where” page lists the places he’s been and soon (when I get time to update it) the links will be grouped appropriately.
• The “When” page will be his best guess as to when what he thought happened, happened. (This too needs updating.)
• The “&” page has the quote that will never be ancient history, the quote my namesake spoke. A passage so true it will withstand the tests of time and surpass the advances of science. (Ok, maybe not that good, but I still like it!)
• The “How” page is now the sole keeper of how “I am”.  Just in case you’re ever wondering, you can click on that page and see how I am doing.
• And last but certainly not least there is the “?” page.  Someone once said, “Life is not about the answers, but about the questions”. (Ok, not sure who if anybody said that, but if not, could someone quote me as saying it? That would be really cool.)

One more thing, I would like to remind all (2) of my readers that my blog is a blog fiction blog which means a fictional character is writing it.  It would be really neat if when you comment you could address the traveler, call him I, I don’t care but lately I have had trouble writing replies or even posting comments because they addressed me the author, the storyteller, the writer, the whatever you mockingly call me.

Please see this post [click here] from the blog fiction blogger I admire most.

FAQ

What is the Hint?

The “Hint” is a writing revolution.  Willing writers can write an improvisational continuation of a “Hint” fiction serial.  Writers can also start NEW “Hint” fiction serials, and the “Hint” will spring up everywhere!  The writing of “Hint” fiction serials will continue until every writer everywhere is given the opportunity to “Get The Hint”!

What is Hint fiction?

Hint fiction is the literary term coined by Robert Swartwood on his Flash Fiction Chronicles post [here].

Basically it is a very, very, very, VERY short story (25 words or less).  

Why is the very, very, very, VERY short story called a hint?

To quote the hint’s minter:

“Because that’s all the reader is ever given.  Just a hint.  Not a scene, or a setting, or even a character sketch.  They are given a hint, nothing more, and are asked — nay, forced — to fill in the blanks.  And believe me, there are a lot of blanks.”

So “fill in the blanks” we will!

Each of our small “Hints” will be part of a larger more complex story; a story unlike any the world has ever seen!

How do I get started Hinting?

It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3!  

1. Click any link under the “Get The Hint” blogroll to the right, –> this is a list of the latest  ”Hints”.
2. Visit each “Hinted” blog in that serial until you find the last hint given. Then write a continuation to that story. (25 words or less).
3. Leave your continuation as a comment for the author of that hint, and hope for the best. (This is called dropping a hint.)

Then what happens?

That depends.

• If the author of the last “Hint” likes your continuation, he will reply accordingly to your comment. 
• You will now be the author of the last “Hint”.
• Create a post on your blog with your “Hint” and link back to the previous “Hint” (This is called taking a hint.)

What if I didn’t “Get The Hint”?

It may be that you dropped your “Hint” a little too late or your “Hint” wasn’t chosen.

• Drop another “Hint” to the NEW author of the last “Hint”.
• You may have to change your “Hint” a little, but change is worth it, if you “Get The Hint”!

Now that I have the last “Hint” what do I do?

• Sit back and wait for the “Hints” to come!
• Enjoy the “Hint” traffic!

I was dropped a hint that I like, what now?

• Give a “Hint”!
• Create a hyper-link to the NEW last “Hint”!
• Enjoy the continuing “Hint” traffic as readers and writers continue to visit your blog!

I still have the “Hint” bug. Can I “Hint” again?

• Absolutely!
• Write another “Hint” chapter of the same serial OR start a new “Hint” fiction serial!
• Send the link of your new “Hint” serial to whoyatereenhow@gmail.com , and I will list it on my ”Get The Hint” blogroll. –>
• The “Hint” revolution cannot be stopped or contained. New hint serials will pop up everywhere! It could get crazy keeping up with all the hinting.  So I will only list new “Hint” fiction serials if the author was given the “Hint” previously. (Meaning you would already have to be in the “Hint” of a previous serial.) So send me the link to that post as well.

How can I help the “Hint” revolution?

• Post the “Got The Hint?” banner on your blog.
• Feel free to use any of the banners for your “Hint” linkage!

Happy Hinting!

 

Cut and paste this code in your blog:

<a href="http://moreabsurdthandifficult.wordpress.com/2009/04/28/get-the-hint/" target="_blank"><img title="got-the-hint" src="http://moreabsurdthandifficult.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/got-the-hint.gif" alt="got-the-hint" width="119" height="18"></a>

 

Feel free to use these banners also:

(You will need to edit the html to link appropriately)

<a href="http://ENTER YOUR LINK HERE/" target="_blank"><img title="give-a-hint" src="http://moreabsurdthandifficult.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/give-a-hint.gif" alt="give-a-hint" width="119" height="18"></a>

 

<a href="http://ENTER YOUR LINK HERE/" target="_blank"><img title="drop-a-hint" src="http://moreabsurdthandifficult.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/drop-a-hint.gif" alt="drop-a-hint" width="119" height="18"></a>

<a href="http://ENTER YOUR LINK HERE/" target="_blank"><img title="take-a-hint" src="http://moreabsurdthandifficult.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/take-a-hint.gif" alt="take-a-hint" width="119" height="18"></a>

<a href="http://ENTER YOUR LINK HERE/" target="_blank"><img title="next-hint" src="http://moreabsurdthandifficult.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/next-hint.gif" alt="next-hint" width="119" height="18"></a>

<a href="http://ENTER YOUR LINK HERE/" target="_blank"><img title="previous-hint" src="http://moreabsurdthandifficult.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/previous-hint.gif" alt="previous-hint" width="119" height="18"></a>

Congratulations on the success of the contest and the resulting traffic to your site.

I enjoyed your post on the Flash fiction Chronicles and I agree with you about…

“…just giving enough detail that the reader’s imagination is then able to fill in the rest.”  

I fabricate my writing around that very concept.

Can we take it a step further?

What if we let our readers fill in the details, only for them to find out later, that what they thought the details were, were in fact something else? 

For instance, while Hemingway’s: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn” leaves much to be considered, he could have continued in a later installment saying: “Baby lies; shoes have been worn”.  This no doubt, would have added a new twist to his story.

Is the baby asleep, dead or just a liar? 

How did the shoes get worn?

Were they worn by the baby or were they just worn out? 

Now that Hemingway had his readers totally confused, he could have hit them with this:

“Never mind, baby will keep them.”

As of this date: I propose a challenge of miniscule proportions…

I, Isaac Newton, challenge all willing writers to: “write hint fiction serial blog posts“.

It would only be proper if the creator of the “hint” also host a hinter’s blogroll. So, Mr. Swartwood, are you up for the challenge?  Will you help us helpless hinters out; will you give us a home?

Hinters everywhere are awaiting your 25 word reply.

Thanks,

Isaac