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Summary

A group of authors collaboratively wrote a unique humor-horror adventure story on Medium, composed entirely of 100-word chapters.

Abstract

The article discusses a unique collaborative writing project on Medium titled "UNTIL LUCK RUNS OUT," where a group of authors came together to create a humor-horror adventure story. Each chapter of the story is exactly 100 words long, presenting a challenge in storytelling that the authors embraced. The idea originated from the authors' enjoyment of drabbles (100-word stories) and Dungeons & Dragons, leading to a story that combines elements of fantasy, humor, and horror. The narrative involves the protagonist facing multiple life-or-death games of chance after challenging Death, with the story branching out into various scenarios and endings. The collaborative nature of the project allows for a diverse range of ideas and writing styles, with each author contributing chapters that explore different aspects of the story's world. The project is hosted on the "Choose Your Own Adventure — Collaboration" publication on Medium, and readers are invited to participate by writing their own chapters.

Opinions

  • The author expresses that Medium has a thriving fiction community, contrary to the belief that it's not the place for fiction.
  • The author admits to being obsessed with 'Choose your own/Pick your path' stories, indicating a personal passion for interactive storytelling.
  • The collaborative story "UNTIL LUCK RUNS OUT" is described as fun and challenging, particularly in integrating writing prompts and maintaining a coherent narrative within the 100-word limit.
  • The author credits Bradan Writes Stories for initiating the story with a compelling first chapter and acknowledges the contributions of other authors like Sieran Lane, John Fanidis, and Jann Christoph von der Pütten.
  • The article suggests that the story's sources of ideas are rooted in the concept of Death presenting traps and tricks, as well as writing challenges from other Medium authors.
  • The author finds it difficult yet rewarding to incorporate all elements of writing challenges into the 100-word chapters.
  • The author emphasizes the unique nature of the story on Medium due to its length and the fact that it's written entirely in drabbles.
  • The author is working on tying up loose ends and ensuring the story's many branches connect without loops, aiming for a satisfying conclusion amidst the various 'You are dead' endings.
  • The author encourages readers to check out the hosted publication and consider contributing their own chapters to the collaborative story.

Author Skills | Writing Prompts

A Unique Collaborative Writing Experience on Medium

How a group of authors came together to create a unique humor-horror adventure story, all written in 100-word chapters

Photo by Ekaterina Kuznetsova on Unsplash

It’s often said that Medium is not really the place for fiction. However, there is a thriving fiction community here, if you know where to look!

Consider publications like The Kraken Lore, The Mayhem, The Dystopian Project, Imaginative Fiction Out There, Fiction Friends, and many more… there are good options out there, and good stories! And check out Web Novel Reviews, if you want a taste of the ongoing serialised novels published here.

A lot of my own fiction is published on Choose Your Own Adventure — Collaboration. I admit, I’m pretty obsessed with ‘Choose your own/Pick your path’ stories, as I said here:

What has been really fun, though, is writing some of these stories together. Today, I want to tell you about one such collaborative story, titled:

“UNTIL LUCK RUNS OUT”

The idea

The idea came about because a few of us had been writing drabbles (stories of exactly 100 words), and also chatting on Discord about how we enjoyed Dungeons & Dragons.

The conversation turned to writing a fantasy story in drabble-length chapters, and of making it almost like a minefield in terms of getting through all the obstacles (i.e. ‘The End’ chapters) to find an ending in which the main character prevails.

I have to credit Bradan Writes Stories for getting the ball rolling with his brilliant first chapter. In it, we (as the main character) meet Death, and challenge him to a game of chance:

“Despite your recent death, you are the luckiest person on Earth. Somehow fate has always smiled upon you whether it be an ace up your sleeve or a lightning-quick wit.

Regardless, you’ve always come out on top, but now Death has an offer for you…”

From that point, the character faces multiple life-or-death games of chance. We have at this point seen them compete with Death in cards, Monopoly, Twister, a musical duel, a coin toss, and others!

However, it didn’t stop there. Far from it!

In one branch, the character enters a spooky mansion, and the story moves between humor and horror as they encounter zombies, sinister demons, and more. Consider this chapter, for example, written by Sieran Lane:

In another branch of the storyline, the character finds their friend’s home ransacked, and ends up trying to follow a set of clues. This one is by John Fanidis:

The chapters have often dotted between reality and the surreal. One route out of the house mentioned above sees the character enter a market, only to face a criminal trial run by fairies, in these chapters by myself and P. L. Goaway:

One later branch of the storyline sees the character encounter a mysterious portal, which leads them to a mountainside where fantasy peoples are warring:

This in turn connects to an intricate and very funny set of chapters by Jann Christoph von der Pütten, where the character either befriends or tries to fight off a series of assassins:

Sources of ideas

One of the main sources behind the storylines so far is the basic idea that Death is always trying to trick or trap you.

Again and again, we see a dark cloaked figure appear, or a scythe slashing through the air.

One other source of ideas, though, is the series of writing prompts set by the likes of Bradan Writes Stories, Jonathon Sawyer and Sweet Chaos, such as this one:

I personally find it very difficult indeed to include all of the elements from such writing challenges in just 100 words… but I do my best! You will notice some of the ideas from these challenges not only appearing in individual chapters of the collaborative story, but also hanging around and becoming major themes!

(And on a side note, do consider trying out the hodgepodge challenge or the Kraken Lore’s ‘Monday Mashup’ challenge!).

What next?

At the time of writing, I have been hard at work trying to tie up some loose ends in the story.

One issue with ‘choose your own’ stories is that each chapter tends to lead to a further two or three options. They can and do grow fast!

I’ve tried to ensure that the main storylines link together, that there are no loops, and that while we do have quite a few ‘You are dead’ endings — which tend to loop the character back to the start!! — there are also fun ways to progress, too.

The ending isn’t written yet, though. I have been chatting with Jann Christoph von der Pütten, and we have an idea we will be working on for one ending. Though it won’t be the only ending!

In the meantime, we do have this amusing interview with the protagonist — the only connected story that is not exactly 100 words long, again written by Jann:

I hope you like the sound of the collaborative story, “UNTIL LUCK RUNS OUT”.

It’s been a blast to work together with the other talented writers who have contributed, and I think the story is probably unique on Medium in terms of its length and in being written entirely in drabbles.

Why not check out and follow the publication where it is hosted? You are very welcome to get involved, and perhaps write a few ‘choose your own’ chapters yourself!

Psst… before you go, you can find my articles about blogging here, as well as guidance on creative writing right here. Avoid missing a thing by getting all my posts direct to your inbox! 🧠 And if you are yet to join Medium, considering supporting my work by signing up with my referral link, right here. Thank you so much! 🌟

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