Tag: story time

Crashland – Chapter 6, now appearing at Story Time!

Okay, we’re definitely getting good turnover here! Much like with the last chapter, the votes for Chapter 5 of Crashland were pretty quick and decisive. Audiences got to me right away and let me know with a fair degree of certainty what they wanted to see happen. Naturally, I was obligated to honor these requests and fashion the following chapter accordingly, and I am happy to announce its now done!

Having found his way to what appeared like safety, William Holden woke up to find himself in an abandoned subway tube, his wounds patched up, and facing a group of men who wanted to know who he was. Also, these men let him know, somewhat indirectly, that based on the quality of his answers, they just might let him live. Basically, they wanted to know if he would be of any use to them, or just a waist of resources.

I asked audiences what Holden was to do. Was he to pretend he was just a simple victim of street violence, a thug himself who had been injured in street fight, or the billionaire mogul that he truly is? And the audience replied, he was to lie and pretend to be a simple businessman who got jumped. Come on over to Story Time to see what came of that and what’s going to happen next!

Cover Art for Worlds Undone… done!

Big news from Grim5next, the writer’s group that I joined a few months back. After months of discussions, suggestions, and back and forth from all members concerned, we’ve come up with a title for our first anthology. And after much collaboration with artists and design platforms, I’ve finally finished work on our covers! Here’s what our first anthology, a collection of dystopian literature and art, will look like:

Here is what the paperback cover will look like, with artwork provided by Ashley Evans. Check out her artwork on deviantArt: cazzyae at deviantart

And here’s what the ebook cover will look like. Like all ebook icon, it’s been scaled down to a single page format. Less bells and whistles, but it gets the job done!

Stay tuned for the release of the book, which should be in a few months time. We need time to gather all the talent and condense all of it into the proper, singular format. And, case your interested, some material will be provided by yours truly, a short story titled “Hunluan”. Incidentally, it is related to “Crashlands”, the serial novel taking shape over at Story Time.

Oh, incidentally, this is my 200th post on this site. Another milestone! Weeeeeee!

Crashland – Chapter 2, now appearing at Story Time!

A few days ago, I went looking for pictures which I felt perfectly encapsulated the story I was going for. I wanted something that spoke of desperation, of shock, awe and terror, yet also captured the drive and determination of people who had to continue no matter what. This print is what I found…

Beautiful isn’t it? Not to mention inspiring. It is for this reason that I chose to post it as the chapter header for Crashland – chapter 2, which is appearing now at Story Time.me. For those who don’t know, this is serial website where audiences get to vote on how they want the story to unfold. The first chapter is a set-up for the rest of the story which develops through audience participation.

In the case of Crashlands, the audience was given an apocalyptic scenario where the world of the near future was brought to its knees through infopocalypse. In the opening chapter, the story’s main character, William Holden, found himself along in the streets of the darkened city hoping to find help. It ended with him being confronted by a series of dark shadows, men he suspected meant to do him harm. Audiences were asked what Holden should try to do… Run away, attack the men, or try to reason with them.

After days of letting the votes come in, it seems the audience has spoken. Option C is how things will unfold! Come on by and check out Chapter 2 and see what comes of Holden’s attempts to talk his way out of this mess!

Crashland – Chapter 2

Time’s running out to get your votes in. Crashland, my cyberpunk contribution to the serial novel site of Story Time.com has been up for a week and the votes have been trickling in. In Chapter 1, the great crash occured, and the story’s protagonist found himself wandering in the dark towards the only lights still on in the city. It ended with him being confronted by a group of men in the street, and they seemed intent on stopping him…

From that chapter, I asked voters what they wanted to see next. Would Holden try to reason with them, would he attack them, or would he run away? All of this is pursuant to his making his way to the middle of the town where there appears to be some kind of rescue effort in effect. What he does here could either end his chances of reuniting with his family or simply be a diversion along a long and difficult path.

Out of ten votes so far, seven said they wanted to see Holden try to reason with the men. One said to attack, two said to run away. But there’s still time to determine his fate. You have the power readers, after all, this is a serial novel. What you say, goes!

Crashland-chapter 1

Now Appearing at Story Time

“An author should always seek to engage their audience making them care about the characters and invest in the worlds those characters inhabit, be they current or future versions of our world or other worlds entirely. A good story relies on forming a connection with the reader that will make the conflicts expressed in the narrative mean something.

Story Time will try to take that engagement further, where readers decide how the story will unfold.”

That is how Story Time’s founder, Goran Zidar, describes this new serial novel site. Here, audiences are encouraged to read the opening chapter of a story, then become active participants in how it will unfold. Simply go to the site, select a story, then choose from a list of options. The votes are then tabulated, and the next chapter is created released!

This site, I should note, began as part of Writer’s Worth/Grim5next. Those who are participating are member, and as one such person, I myself decided to join. This I did partly for fun, but mainly so I could head up its Cyberpunk division 😉 The first installment in that division, and the third story to open on the site, is titled “Crashland”. This is a future-tale I just started, set in an apocalyptic near-future where a killer virus has struck and is crippling the world’s information networks, bringing civilization as we know it to an end.

I invite all people to come on by and be part of the creative process! I’m excited myself since this is the first time I’ve ever taken part in a serial novel. Follow the link below to find the story in progress!:

http://story-time.me/2012/04/19/crashland-chapter-1/