"'Tis The Season To Be Murdered, Tra la la la la la la la la!"

[wulfboy.livejournal.com]

Word up peeps. I have an idea, and hope I'm not speaking out of turn but . . . let's do a Christmas special! Starting December 1st, why don't we all make an effort to write something Christmassey, preferably one or two pieces with "Christmas" (or Hannuka or whatever) as the theme?

Specifically, why not do some serialization - this is the Season of Dickens in my head, after all. I'm thinking of doing an Advent Calendar, but it's just a few lines and words on paper at the moment; a list of things you find behind the little doors on advent calendars. There've been a few people wondering about themed pieces, so I say "let's do it" (pumps fist towards sky and assaults walls of Minas Tirith before recovering ).I've no idea how to do it, but I sort of fancy the idea of a few hundred (or even a hundred) word piece every day from Dec 1 to Dec 24. How it'd be organised is anyone's guess, but if they're short pieces there's no reason for not writing them as and when people feel like it. Stimulate some mental processes and all. It's a theme, and it's three weeks to get something down in.

We're many of us British, so I expect to see at least one or two nice ghost stories.

Comments

[jfs.livejournal.com]

I'm up for it.

[pax-draconis.livejournal.com]

I'm in.

[delvy.livejournal.com]

I'll give it a go.

[wulfboy.livejournal.com]

What we need is either mutual agreement on what each day's "image" will be, or someone neutral to set them, or else take it in turns. For example, behind door one is "a drum" (cue drum bit), then next day the allocated image is "a choirboy" or "a cracker" or "a christmas pudding" or whatever. Or else we each just tell our own Christma-Story-in-24-parts, whether they're prose or poetry or a combination of the two. Something like that.

[jfs.livejournal.com]

I'd rather do an image every day than try and write a story in 24 parts - for one thing, I'm not sure I can commit to writing each day at this time of year.

How about using a site like http://www.harpold.com/advent/ ?

They've got something different to spark the imagination each day.

[winterdrake.livejournal.com]

I'm in.

As to determining the subject, how about everyone buys an advent calendar, and uses the image that they find behind their door for the day?

[wulfboy.livejournal.com]

Okay then, rather than commit to a piece each day, the guideline is that the themes is "Christmas" and each short piece needs to be a bit like a picture in an advent calender - either a single solid image, or an image-inspired piece. Anyone who wants to be ambitious can try for a linked story in however many parts they feel comfortable with, keeping the idea of solid Christmas iconography.

Do we want to set a word limit, or are people happier working without boundaries?

Any other "rules" (and I hate to use that word) or we happy with "christmasy" and "Adventy"?

[winterdrake.livejournal.com]

Sounds good to me. I'd say no word limits - opens it up for more variety in approach that way. And, since we get occasional poets on here, no bar on form either...

[nyarbaggytep.livejournal.com]

Am going to try to do 100 words every day. May not stick to the limit, may not post every day. Will see what happens.