The warm smell of coffee brewing illuminated the cheery kitchen and the constant muttering of the little machine was as good as any radio for Steve. He sat; his broad shoulders slouched at an angle that matched the hands of the clock behind him. They indicated that it was five after seven. Steve took the business of eating his breakfast cereal leisurely, chewing and swallowing each bite with diligence. This diligence, while comical at mealtimes, was very useful for a historian. Across the table from him an almost empty chair was accompanied by the daily newspaper.

The coffee percolator fell silent and Steve rose to pour a mug. He set it down beside the newspaper and returned to his breakfast.

“Honey?” said a voice from the mostly empty chair.

“Huh?” he looked up, pausing his spoon. “Oh, right.” He reached across the table and turned the page of the newspaper. He then returned to eating.

“Electronic Store Reported Mysterious Increase in Stock,” read the disembodied voice, a spark of curiosity brightening the soft feminine tones. “The local Electronics for Everyone store on 21st Street reported to the police this past Friday that DVD players, Ipods, and other electronics which the store did not order, have appeared on their shelves over the last few weeks. Some of the merchandise has already been sold.” The woman’s voice stopped reading aloud so that she could digest the information more quickly.

Steve scooted his cereal across the table and came to stand beside the mostly empty chair, from where he too could read the paper.

“We really don’t have time to take on another case right now,” said the woman. Steve nodded absentmindedly, digesting the last few sentences rather than his cereal or his wife’s words.

When he was done he went back to his seat, saying, “Someone must be stealing them from somewhere first. Clever way to dispose of the merchandise. Except that, unless the deviant owns the store, or maybe works there, they won’t be making any profits.

“Steve, you just nodded in agreement when I said that we can’t take on any more cases.”

“Yes, but—”

“Did we decide what we are going to do with that body?” she asked, changing the subject.

“No,” said Steve, opening his mouth again to return to the topic of the new paper article.

“Could you turn the page again, please,” she asked before he could speak.

Grudgingly he reached across the table again and did as she asked. “I suppose we should just rebury it.”

“That’s what I’ve been thinking. Tonight, maybe? You may not smell it because you’re never home, and I can’t smell it because I can’t smell, but the neighbors will notice it if we don’t get it out of the shed soon.”

“You’re probably right. You know how much I hate—”

“…dealing with the bodies. Yes I know. I wish I could be of more help.”

“Not your fault, honey.” Steve rose and kissed the air somewhere above the table. He then rinsed his bowl off in the sink. He let the last few drops of orange juice in his glass trickle onto his tongue and added the glass to the sink.

A few minutes later he called from their bedroom, “Monica? Where did I leave my scarlet tie?”

“The laundry room,” came his wife’s reply, still from the mostly empty chair in the kitchen.

“Oh yeah.” A moment later; “Crums! It’s still wet.”

“That’s what you get for not paying attention to what you put in the washer. It’s probably shrunk, too,” Monica called from the other room.

“Oh, probably.” Steve went to find another tie. As he adjusted the knot in the mirror his said to himself, “good morning, Mr. Douglas.”

“Talking to yourself again?” said Monica, her voice floating in the doorway, along with a very faintly visible outline of her body. “You do that more… ever since I died.”

“Maybe.”

A few minutes later Steve sped into his favorite parking space and tramped across the grass to his classroom portable, preparing himself to be ‘Mr. Douglas’ to three classes of unruly teenagers.

The coffee in the mug he had left on table slowly grew cold.

RATE THIS CHAPTER!

Author guidance for This exercise

***NOTE: this game is on hold until further notice, because I'm going to be gone-gone for a month***


Alright, it’s time for an intense game of protagonize ping pong! If you want to pick up the ball (write the next chapter), or even if you are just commenting or rating, please read this guidance first.

Since Nick suggested protagonize tennis, but didn’t tell us what it would look like, I’m going to take the liberty of inventing the rules for this particular game. (And I like ping pong better, which is why this isn't called tennis.)

Goals of game:
To create an awesome, fast paced, highly collaborative story, and to stretch our writing abilities to the limit.


The 6 Golden Rules of play:
1. You must further the plot in your post.
2. You must do some character development.
3. There must be at least one cool/creative description.
4. You must introduce at least one new ‘thread’ or ‘hint’.*
5. There must not be any discrepancies between your chapter and anything that comes before.
6. Your post must be between 600 and 700 words long.

*This is some development or suggestion of a development that someone in a future chapter can pick up and build on. This may be harder to spot in your chapter, but should be present.

Rating and Commenting:
The story is ratable and you are strongly encouraged to read each post critically and seriously rate them for how well they follow all of the above rules. Then, if you can, leave a comment letting them know how they did, making any suggestions you want.

If the author of a part of the story has ‘dropped the ball’ or failed to follow one or more of the rules, please call them on it. The game will be paused until their chapter has been edited satisfactorily.

Duration of the game:
This ping pong game is under an imposed time limit. The story MUST be brought to a conclusion before 11:00pm Eastern Central Time on Sunday, May 9, 2010. That means that the game is 3 weeks long.

Writing:
You may not include mature content.

Do your best to make your chapter fit in smoothly with the rest as far as voice and content. Also, please keep it within the perceived genera. But be creative, of course.
You must be available to edit your post sometime within 24 hours of posting it. This is to prevent the game from going into pause for very long in case you have dropped the ball.

The story will be always editable, but after the next chapter has been posted you are only permitted to edit minor things that will not affect the plot/characterization, etc. If people give you spelling/grammar/typo suggestions, you are obligated to do your best to correct the mistakes before the 3 weeks is up.

Do not be afraid to enter, as this is a writing exercise aimed at improving all of our writing and having fun. No critiques or ratings are a personal attack.

You may pick up the ball as many times as you like during the game.

Because each chapter must follow all the rules and the game may be paused if a chapter has not done this, be sure to read the comments on the most recent chapter before writing the next chapter, in case the game is currently paused. Posting when the game is paused is a no-no.

Be sure to finish the last sentence of your story. None of this: “The cloud machine was about to slurp her up when…”

‘Passing’ to someone:
You may, and are encouraged, to call another writer to pick up the ball after you. You can do this by leaving a comment on their profile. However, be aware that this is an informal invitation and the ball goes to whoever grabs it first. You should probably let the person you would like to pass to know how this works. This is not a ‘tag’ game.

Holding the ball:
You can hold the ball for up to 6 hours. This is to give you time to write/edit a chapter without fear of someone posting before you. To hold the ball, comment on the most recent chapter saying that you are holding the ball and setting the time limit, or how many hours you need to write your post. If you do not post within your stated holding time, the story is no longer paused and anyone can write the next chapter.

Well, that’s it! I can’t wait to see you join in!

Ask any questions, or discuss the story here: http://www.protagonize.com/group/collaborative-corner/topic/1357/1#comment161984

FogCat

updated Apr 28 '10 by FogCat