Discovered in the Style of...

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Inspired by something murphybabe said over at ci5hq (gosh what a lot of links), I thought it was about time we had a new discoveredinalj challenge for January...

...which means it's all about you! Writers in particular, but there's no reason why artists and vidders can't join in. Have you ever thought about writing/drawing/vidding in a completely different style to the one you usually use? Maybe your stories are mostly dialogue-based, or you've never tried comedy, or you'd like to capture the gorgeous melancholia that Helen Raven or Sebastian touch in their stories. Perhaps you've longed to write like Ann McCaffrey, Daphne Du Maurier, Agatha Christie or Bridget Jones Helen Fielding? This is your challenge... *g*

Either choose a structural or authorial style in which to write yourself, and give it a go - applying it to our lads, of course *g* - or else ask for a prompt below, specifying whether you'd prefer (what I'm calling) a structural challenge (such as stream of consciousness, adventure, comedy, romantic romp) or an authorial one (such as Emily Bronte, Georgette Heyer - even Tim Winton... *g*). I'll assign you a prompt - or if you fancy assigning a prompt to someone, simply watch out for who's requesting one, cos why shouldn't we all play? *g*

Another place you might like to try for prompts is I Write Like - you paste in a piece of text and it tells you who you allegedy "write like". Goodness knows what it bases its decisions on, and it gives some interesting results - I wouldn't have said that my Christmas Story was in a style similar to Arthur C. Clarke's writing, but it might be fun to re-read one of his books and see how I could consciously apply it to a story about our lads... *g* (Who Caught and Sang the Sun is apparently more James Joyce...! Hmmn!)

Of course if you're an artist you might be challenged to create in the style of an Impressionist, or of Tamara de Lempicka or... Kirsten Sheridan... *g*

Then go away and write, create, experiment, despair and cry out in ecstasy... you know, write your story (create your work, vid your vid). Feel free to post here to discoveredinalj at any time in January or February - and if you're very quick, come back for another prompt!

As usual, don't forget to include a trailer at the end of your work, under the cut so that those who don't want to be aren't spoiled, but it can be easily found by those who do want information first - and most importantly, found by our hard-working ProsLib archivist!

The final deadline will be midnight in your time zone on the 29th February (happy Leap Year!) - or if you're not quite there, then midnight on the 29th in Pago Pago time... *g* And mostly? Enjoy yourself, and do come back and share with us! Oh - and even if you don't need a prompt, but think you'll play, it'd be nice to hear from you below, so that we know what we might have to look forward to... *g*

Comments

[murphybabe]

Erm... fabdoozy, but... this seems all rather more difficult than what I had in mind! Oh, well, I do see what you mean. All I can think of now is those wonderful bits in The History Boys where they act out something and the others have to guess what it was.

However, I like the structure you've put round it, and I will go away and think about it once this wretched meeting is over. Honest.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Gosh, really? I don't think it has to be hard though - trying to write something more descriptively, if you usually write dialogue, or vice-versa. Or trying to write something funny, or historical if you never have before?

And there I hoped it might be fun to think in terms of writing sci-fi AU like Robert Heinlein, or adding the lads to dragons like Anne McCaffrey...

It doesn't have to be hard, I promise!

PS - although I have it on my laptop, I still haven't watched The History Boys. I must, mustn't I...

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

Just - yes!!!

[franciskerst.livejournal.com]

Wah! That's really ambitious!

I always thought M. Fae Glasgow was writing a little like a perverted Jane Austen. I like her style in spite (because?) of its deliberate quaintness and intricateness. I wonder who could imitate her among our current authors.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

D'you really think so? I mean - it could be, though I didn't really expect anyone to try and write in the style of a particular author unless it was someone really obvious, for fun... But I thought it might be fun to try and write something we don't usually write - comedy if we usually write serious stories perhaps, or dialogue if we usually write description...

Lol that M.Fae Glasgow's like Jane Austen - I'm clearly not familiar enough with Austen to be able to make that comparison! I wasn't really expecting someone to write like Jane Austen though - more in the style of somehow - like foxcat74's fun stories, for instance. Though it could be fun trying, if you were of that turn of mind!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Well, we've had a couple of votes for too hard already - eep! I really didn't think it should be, and I don't think it has to be... We're not really expecting anyone to write like Ernest Hemingway - they'd be well away if they could! But I'd better put my money where my mouth is, or my keyboard beside the foot in my mouth, or something like that.

Will someone please prompt me with a style to try and write to? I don't mind if it's one that I don't usually do, or if it's in the style of an author - though if I don't know them I'll have to run away and read before I can write, so... *g*

[hutchynstarsk.livejournal.com]

You've mentioned dragons and the lads twice now. :D I seriously want to read that!!! :D :D

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Lol - that's a plot, not a style! *g* But... is it a prompt then, to write in the style of Anne McCaffrey? I could try to do dragons as well if you like - they must have been in my head as I was writing the challenge, for some reason!

[hutchynstarsk.livejournal.com]

Hm, I guess I can't in good conscience ask you to do Anne McCaffrey, since she's one of the authors who has asked not to have fanfic written for her things.

I suppose I just want dragons now that you've mentioned them! *g

So consider my comment fangirl squee. :) Perhaps someone else will give you a good style prompt... :D

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'd forgotten that about her. I'm don't know/remember how she specifically worded the fanfic thing, but I'm not sure the reason would count now if it was because she was still world-building. That said, I would have had to re-read the books anyway...

*sits waiting patiently for a prompt from someone*

[hutchynstarsk.livejournal.com]

I don't suppose you'd like to....
write in the style of P. G. Wodehouse? :D
Mwahahaha....
Okay, you can wait for a better style prompt! I don't mind. :)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Lol - talk about raising the bar for the challenge! *g* Well, I shall go away and immerse myself in Wodehouse, see what happens!

Thank you - I think... *g*

[hutchynstarsk.livejournal.com]

*g Well, you can always decide to do a different style if it doesn't prove fun.

Maybe you'll be able to think of what you'd like to do after bit, or someone else will suggest something. :D

Best of luck!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know what I want to do already, it's just the doing of it that's challenging. Which is, after all, the whole point... *g*

[hutchynstarsk.livejournal.com]

I shall await with interest. :D

[eawen-penallion.livejournal.com]

Please - go ahead and write the dragons!

Sadly, Annie passed away in November here in Ireland (my wife and I knew her, and went to her funeral) but I know that Todd (her son) was happy to know that people still value his mom's work - he said that within a couple of days after Anne's death there were at least 2 million google hits for his mother's name. As you probably know, Todd took over his mother's mantle and has written further in the Dragon universe.

Oh and don't forget - in 'Moreta - Dragonlady of Pern' there was a same-sex couple (two of the blue riders) so it's not as if Anne didn't embrace the gay community in her writings :-)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

You know I haven't read any of Todd McCaffrey's dragon books, I shall have to have a look. Although I do want to go back and read the originals again first... *g*

The impression I have is that Anne banned fanfic stories of Pern from being posted on slash sites (and in fact cross-over fic?), even after she loosened her rules on fanfic in general? I've not got time right now to search for an up-dated "list of rules" (presumably from Todd?) - do you know if that explicitly changed, by any chance?

[hambelandjemima.livejournal.com]

Heh, I did mention my lack of style, yeah? *g*

How about... unreliable narrator? That's a style, right?

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

That's definitely a style! And an interesting one that I've never tried before, so... I'll see if I can come up with something! Thank you!

[hutchynstarsk.livejournal.com]

I adore Ramond Chandler, would love to write in his style, but that may be too much to try for... or too American. I know I need practice on writing description so maybe this would be a good time for that. Also, now I really want to do an Impressionist manip! :D

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Interesting... I've always thought of his style as very American I must say, so I'm not sure I can imagine it translating to Pros, though with alot of thought I bet it could...

I shall go and look at your (already posted!) Impressionist pics now... *g* That was quick! (And look forward to something more descriptive, then? *g*)

[hutchynstarsk.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure how it would translate either. Unless one of them is a private eye. :D I do love first person POV, but, well, perhaps I shall resist for now! *g

If you have any other prompts for me to go with descriptive I'll be glad to take them, since I don't have a plot yet. (I guess I'm not exactly sure how this works!!) :)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I think you're confusing style with plot again! Writing one of the lads as a private detective would be about plot, because that's about what happens to them, it's the story itself. But you could write that private-detective-story in lots of different styles - you could write it in first-person, or omniscient narrator, or stream-of-consciousness, or the way Ray Chandler writes (which is specifically his style - you could pick up a book with no title and author on it, and when you read it you'd recognise that he'd probably written it). Some authors have very distinctive styles, others are a bit more generic, and some styles are really a part of the age the author was writing - Jane Austen wrote in the style of her time, for instance.

But I can give you a plot-prompt too, if you like? So you're doing to write descriptively (style), and I'd like your story to be about... one of the lads writing something down (plot). *g* How's that? *g*

[hutchynstarsk.livejournal.com]

Okay, so my PLOT is one of the lads writing something, and my STYLE is descriptive! :D I think I've got that. I think. ;)

Thankee!

[liriel1810.livejournal.com]

Well I like to challenge myself every now and then to try writing outside my usual, so this sounds like it could be good fun. I like prompts too so if you (or anyone else) want to give me a prompt and tell me what sort of structural style to write it in, I'll have a bash.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Excellent! Hmmn - I've been looking for your fic to get a better idea of the style you usually use, and I can't find it all in one place. Do you have stories archived in one place, or a list with links, or...? (I know there are some here on Dialj, so I can go through our tags, but...?)

Hmmn - how about trying something in the first person, writing as one of the characters yourself? I don't think I've seen you write like that very often..?

[liriel1810.livejournal.com]

I send all my stuff for archiving on Proslib, but other than that it's not really all in one place, other than my own LJ which is flocked, but I'd friend anyone in the Pros fandom who wanted to be friended. I have a Bodie/Doyle fic list linked in my sidebar on my journal and that provides links to all the stuff I've written.

I don't think I've ever written a story in first person... well, I wrote one, but it was original characters. That'll be a real challenge for me! Challenge accepted. :D

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh okay - cheers. I read through some of your Dialj fics again, so... *g*

Have fun!

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

Actually feeling inspired but thank goodness we have till the end of February!!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Yeay for being inspired! *g*

[robeau.livejournal.com]

While I am no doubt about to bite off far more than I can probably chew, I love the idea! So count me in. I've become more than a tad fascinated with BBC's Sherlock so (and this is where we get to the biting and chewing) I'll see if I can write something in the style of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I have a huge and heavy book with all his stories by my bed and this will force me to read at least some of it...as to whether or not I can pull it off, only time will tell!

[hutchynstarsk.livejournal.com]

Oo! That's a challenge indeed! :) Best of luck!! :)

Those books are just too *heavy* to read, I think! The allure of having the entire canon bedside is outstripped (for me anyway) by the lack of muscle to actually manhandle and read the thing. The Kindle has lots of ACD available for it, so I'm downloading there instead now. :D

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Lol - it makes total sense that someone should try that now! (The second series is good, hope you've had a chance to see it by now.) And have fun writing... *g*

[hutchynstarsk.livejournal.com]

p.s. I love the banner! :D So very mysterious and writer-ish and inspiring! :D

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Ah, thank you - I really don't think I'm very good at them, and they take me far too long, although sometimes I quite enjoy doing them, in a kind of peverse way... *g*

[hutchynstarsk.livejournal.com]

Well, I think it's gorgeous! :D

[hambelandjemima.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what my style is (yeah, that's been said a few times about me *g*), but I do find it difficult to write action/adventure scenes. I'll have a go at this unless you think of something more exciting for me :)

I just wanna write. It's been too long!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Heeee - you should try the I-Write-Like link I added above, just for fun... *g*

And yeay - an action and adventure style sounds good to me!

Actually, you were around very recently - if you get this, would you care to suggest a style for me to try? I'm after a prompt, but no one seems to want to give me one! (I don't mind whether it's "structural" or authorial...*g*)

[moonlightmead.livejournal.com]

I love this idea, I really do. Some ideas for anyone:

Dan Brown: reads like it was designed to be filmed (bonus points for wildly inaccurate background research)
Ed McBain's 87 precinct stuff: I think the 'style' there is the combination of dialogue and mistyped forms with xxxxxs where they got it wrong on the typewriter.
Chaucer: the Policeman's Tale.
Spike Milligan: I was thinking of the autobiographical stuff, but silly poetry allowed.
British tabloid-speak.
Official enquiry-speak.
The Archers: educational on matters agricultural, and no more than five minutes on any one scene (suggestion from the peanut gallery: 'nothing exciting allowed to happen except on bank holidays and Christmas')
voiceovers: Radio 4 cricket commentary as something untoward happens on the crease. "and the cake from... oh, I say, that fielder is moving out of position to silly mid--is that a *gun*?" "I don't think we've seen anything like that in first class cricket since 1967, what do you think, Dan?" "I don't think so, no, although of course there was the county match at Warmington.."

A genre I love (so please write more!) - multiple viewpoints on the same events. Either successive interpretations of the same events (a la Instance of the Fingerpost, Iain Pears, where there's no answering back, simply four successive interpretations of the same events), or something like the Moonstone (lots of plot advancing through snippets, circling through the same people repeatedly).

And back to style - I am seriously wondering about Beowulf. Please, someone, do it before I ruin it. Cowley in his mead hall, and the young hero(es)...

[hutchynstarsk.livejournal.com]

What wonderful ideas! :D I hope you or someone writes them all. :)

[maddalia.livejournal.com]

These are all great, but I have to say the cricket one is my favourite. That would be hilarious! :D

[maddalia.livejournal.com]

This does sound like it might be hard, but I am up for a challenge - I love playing with style & genre. I'll say a tentative yes now, if anyone would like to give me a prompt? I think a structural challenge would be fun as well as a useful exercise. Although if anyone suddenly thinks 'wow, I'd really like to see Maddalia write like *insert author here*,' try me with an author prompt. If I know the author, I might give it a go. I do need to think about my style, and the development thereof.

On that subject -- slantedlight, thanks for the link to "I Write Like". It is fun and rather addictive! I did it with four of my latest fics and consistently got Stephen King. Interesting! I've never read much Stephen King so I wouldn't say he's influenced me or anything. And apparently "All From The Rain," what I consider the best of my Pros poems, is like H.P. Lovecraft! Not sure how to react to that *g*

But when I put "The Schoolmaster" into it, rarely did the same author come up 2 chapters in a row! I got Stephen King again once, but also James Fenimore Cooper, James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, Jane Austen, Douglas Adams, H.P. Lovecraft, Anne Rice, and Oscar Wilde. And those are just the ones I remember! I was very pleased to get Austen for the epilogue, though, because that's exactly what I was going for. *dances*

So, dear people, please give this very inconsistent writer the chance to become more consistent - prompt me! *g*

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Sorry - I was half-thinking that someone would pop in and prompt you, and then my hectic day got in the way, but... hello. *g*

Okay - a structural style... completely different to what I remember you writing... what about present tense stream of consciousness? *g* I'm seeing an awful lot of this-is-what-had-happened in your Moors and Mirrors fic, so what about the exact opposite? *g*

And hee for Stephen King! I think it's something to do with "..."s and dialogue use when you get him - I scored him the first time I tried one of those tests (different site though, he must actually have a distinctive enough style to be somehow well-defined...)

[maddalia.livejournal.com]

Hello!

Ah, thanks for the prompt! I'm excited now because I got an idea straightaway. Honestly, the further I get from past perfect expositional narrative, the happier I shall be. *g*

[hutchynstarsk.livejournal.com]

Erm, if I have the time I have another idea I'd like to try. It's a prompt I read on the Big Bang prompt site actually but I'm sure I couldn't get nearly so many words out of it. ^^

My style this time would be an attempt at episode-like. :) If I have the time try to do it...

*edit* Er, as long as that's all right, that is.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

You don't ever need to ask permission to write for a challenge here - go for it!

Though, I do have to ask - isn't episode-like what we're going for when we write usually...? Which I guess feeds into the characterisation discussion the other week...

[hutchynstarsk.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I just wanted to make sure it was OK to completely pick my own challenges for this. :)

Epiode like... well I think making the characters like they are in canon always applies... barring differences in how people view them and sometimes changes made for author preference (like I am uncomfortable with the way they talk about 'birds' sometimes in the show and tend to minimise that), but what I meant was writing less character study and more fast paced... like a case story or episoe. :D Which I think can be quite hard at times, making it a challenge for me. :)