Weekly Prompt: Follow The Leader

Summary

The website outlines a creative writing challenge for the week, inviting participants to reinterpret and condense their favorite story from the previous week into a more concise narrative, with the best or first submission setting the theme for subsequent stories.

Abstract

The third weekly challenge for June on the website is themed "Unoriginal," encouraging participants to embrace the concept of copying and transforming existing content into something new. This challenge is part of a monthly theme that aims to help writers overcome the fear of unoriginality by intentionally "stealing" and personalizing their plunder. Participants are tasked with retelling a story from the previous week in half the space, focusing on its core essence. The first story chosen by the editors, based on promptness or quality, will lead the subsequent narrative chain. Writers must then contribute their own stories that build upon the leader's tale, creating a collective adventure. The website emphasizes the importance of quick action, as the leader story will only be available for a day before the next one is released if it doesn't inspire a follow-up. All stories, regardless of whether they lead or not, will eventually be shared as part of the "Follow The Leader" challenge collection.

Opinions

The challenge is designed to confront and alleviate writers' fears of unoriginality by making the act of copying an explicit part of the creative process.
The editors value both speed and quality in selecting the leader story, suggesting a dynamic balance between being first and being best.
The process of creating a narrative chain from a single starting point is likened to a game of "telephone," where each contribution adds a new layer to the evolving story.
The website compares the accumulation of stories to a hoard of treasures, implying that each contribution, whether it leads or not, is valuable and will be shared with the community.
The challenge draws inspiration from the past, referencing old techniques like manual image manipulation before the advent of digital tools like Photoshop, suggesting a nostalgic appreciation for traditional methods of creation.

The first one out chooses the path

Welcome to the third weekly challenge for June, where the theme is Unoriginal.

As we said in the Monthly Theme announcement, the goal is to get us to overcome our fears of being unoriginal, of accidentally borrowing, by downright stealing and making our plunder our own.

Now is where it really gets challenging and we learn the magic of a copy of a copy of a copy.

Something I remember my brother doing for an art class in the 90s. Between photocopying our butts on a corporate copier at my dad’s office, he mashed together images by cutting them together and copying out something new.

It was Photoshop the hard way.

Now it’s your turn to start and ours to follow.

Take your favourite story from last week and retell it in half the space. Crush it down to its essence and retell it in your own economical words. But be quick about it.

The Editors will let out the first story or the best should entries be neck and neck.

That story becomes the leader. Every writer must now add their own follow-on, chaining together a new adventure that is out of the hands of everyone as soon as they let go of that tiger’s tale.

We’ll then give The Leader a day to get a Follower. If there are no nibbles, we’ll let out the next one. And so on. Until one story sparks a worthy chain.

Don’t worry if your story gets pipped to the post, we’ll release those tales over time as part of the Follow The Leader challenge collection because like the dragon Smaug we hoard our treasures for foolish adventurers looking for a challenge.