Chain Gang

The Chain Gang stories turned out quite well -- from glorifiedl escargot to a battle of walruses to a Russian creeper who gets what's coming to him, and everything in between, it was all very interesting. For future reference, in case you want to play this writing game at home with friends or family, here's what we did for our Chain Gang stories (you can always adjust the time periods and number of writers involved):

Writer #1 (5 minutes): Exposition -- establish protagonist(s), setting, and opening situation
Writer #2 (6 minutes): Introduce a conflict
Writer #3 (7 minutes): Develop the conflict in one or two incidents
Writer #4: (8 minutes): Climax -- incident that serves as a turning point
Writer #5: (9 minutes): Falling Action to Resolution

Writer #1 re-writes the whole story for clarity and consistency and gives it a title.

If you'd like to see another version of a Chain Gang in action, BBC Radio 7 recently finished a 13-part Chain Gang radio play, but I like the one they produced in 2007. It's called "Picture This" -- and here's the opening situation from episode one:

"It's a digital camera," Gary said helpfully, as Deena stared down at her birthday present.

"So I see." Deena pointed out, rather gently she thought, that she'd been angling for a holiday in Paris, something romantic. She'd rather hoped she'd be unwrapping a Eurostar ticket, quite frankly.

Gary shrugged. You had to take photos in Paris, hadn't you? But after buying the camera he couldn't afford the holiday as well. "Look, it's got telescopic zoom!"

That evening, she gave in and installed it on her computer. "Welcome, Deena!" flashed the screen in colourful writing, and in spite of herself, she was impressed. "Click here for your photos!"

Of course she knew the gallery would be empty, but she clicked anyway. And blinked. There it was, a picture of herself and Gary, smiling and waving. Over her shoulder she could see the Eiffel Tower.

Dazedly she scrolled through the album. Notre Dame. Montmartre. Gary joking around with a baguette. Happy pictures. Impossible pictures, of a holiday they hadn't taken.

And then Deena froze. Gary filled the screen again, but no longer clowning; instead, blood trickling from his mouth, eyes staring out at her vacantly. It was a picture of his death.

Go to episode 2...