A great idea: WIF (no, not PIF)

I've just learned what PIF's are. That gave me an idea: Write It Forward.
The idea is to make a sort of Letter-chain.

First we need a list of 20 people. (to begin with)
One starts with writing a letter.
This one get send to the next one.
That person rights another letter and send that one AND the other to the next one.
And so on an on until the last person has written his letter and sends everything back to the first person.
All Letters are scanned and put up online (In pdf I guess).

These are just a bit basic. More "rules" will be set up in the actual post

What do you guys think. Something we should do?
Let me know and I will set it up.



Dries

You're thinking ... I like that.

Here's a thought: a WIF (hopefully the "I" doesn't look too much like a "T" on a small screen) short story. Same idea, but ... instead of letters, each guy writes a page to the story. Each guy knows what "number" he is on the list of 20, so he knows how close he is to having the climax and resolution of the story.

I'd be in for either. Great ideas.

Sounds good to me, we could do ot in a journal book and pass that puppy around like nobodies business.... till it gets lost somewhere, then we can start again lol. I dont wanna be first this time though

I like the idea. It's kind of like having a pen pal, but a roided up version.

syngent said:

Sounds good to me, we could do ot in a journal book and pass that puppy around like nobodies business.... till it gets lost somewhere, then we can start again lol. I dont wanna be first this time though

Click to expand...

I had thought of a journal too, but that can be pricey to mail, especially internationally, compared to a few pages of paper.

Maybe a solution to the "lost" problem is to have someone act as a "collection point" and older pages get mailed to him instead of to the new guy on the chain.

Works like this:
A writes a page and sends it to B
B writes a page and sends both pages to C
C writes a page and sends all three to D
D writes a page, sends A's page to Z and B, C and D pages to E
E writes a page, sends B's page to Z, and C, D and E pages to F
... and so on.

Z posts each page as he receives it, so guys here can follow along.

Doc4 said:

I had thought of a journal too, but that can be pricey to mail, especially internationally, compared to a few pages of paper.

Maybe a solution to the "lost" problem is to have someone act as a "collection point" and older pages get mailed to him instead of to the new guy on the chain.

Works like this:
A writes a page and sends it to B
B writes a page and sends both pages to C
C writes a page and sends all three to D
D writes a page, sends A's page to Z and B, C and D pages to E
E writes a page, sends B's page to Z, and C, D and E pages to F
... and so on.

Z posts each page as he receives it, so guys here can follow along.

Click to expand...

That's a great idea. But to keep it simpler:
Why not start sending pages to Z with the first letter. Than everyone is personally responsible for sending their own letters.

EDIT: sorry i didn't get it completely. I see it now. need to think this out. But i'll get there

Dries

For me, I really like receiving letters in the mail. It really doesn't cost very much to send a stack of papers, does it?

Depends on the weight. But if it fits in an big envelope it'll be ok


Dries

Great idea, I like to join in on this.

I like the idea. The pages would probably work better than a journal. Although, with the scanned pages there is no reason why they couldn't be printed and bound. I do like the idea of sending the older pages to a "safe house".

Would there be a topic or free writing based on what was written before?

DevinLT1966 said:

Would there be a topic or free writing based on what was written before?

Click to expand...

I was thinking free topic. As long as it doesn't offend anyone directly.

Dries said:

I was thinking free topic. As long as it doesn't offend anyone directly.

Click to expand...

Hey, I'm in, as long as we'd keep the 'honor code' rules ahead of time that if it wouldn't pass muster through the B&B mods, it shouldn't be part of the letter chain. I easily see it skirting the B&B rules otherwise, and I would send it on to the next person untouched if that were the case.

Doc4 said:

I had thought of a journal too, but that can be pricey to mail, especially internationally, compared to a few pages of paper.

Maybe a solution to the "lost" problem is to have someone act as a "collection point" and older pages get mailed to him instead of to the new guy on the chain.

Works like this:
A writes a page and sends it to B
B writes a page and sends both pages to C
C writes a page and sends all three to D
D writes a page, sends A's page to Z and B, C and D pages to E
E writes a page, sends B's page to Z, and C, D and E pages to F
... and so on.

Z posts each page as he receives it, so guys here can follow along.

Click to expand...

Problem (or possible inadvertent hilarious advantage) if you doing a story after pages are sent to Zed the next guy wont know how the story started or what is completely going on,

Unless A sends to B, B keeps A rights a summer as well as his own stuff to C, C keeps B writes a summery sends to D Or possible do it your way, but make sure that ontop of each persons page a summery of what is sent away is added to that persons work. maybe we are over complicating it.

Only 9 votes.
Should we open this up for the other forum members? (those who don't hang around the nib)


What'ya think

Dries

Should figure out exactly how you want to run it out hereand probably get it started. People here would be more into it then the rest of the forum

The Amish have something very similar called a "circle letter". Here's a couple of links:

http://www.goodreads.com/series/100720-amish-circle-letters
http://amishfarmwife.blogspot.com/2010/02/circle-letter.html
http://sarahpriceauthor.com/2012/09/12/amish-circle-letters/

Here's a couple of additional links to descriptions of circle letters:

http://theletterwritingrevolution.blogspot.com/2011/06/circle-letter.html
http://www.amish-heartland.com/amish culture/2014/02/03/amish-circle-letters

The Amish have been writing such circle letters for decades, so I would think it a good idea to examine their practice. Their circle letters could be topic based, or free form, or (depending on the circle) family news. Here's what Henry David Thoreau says at the start of "Walden""

"... I, on my side, require of every writer, first or last, a simple and sincere account of his own life, and not merely what he has heard of other men's lives; some such account as he would send to his kindred from a distant land; . . ."

Lastly, I would urge that the initial foray into this field be kept small (maybe 6-10 people, certainly no more). If more people eventually show interest, then more circles could be opened up.

I Must thank everybody here for the information.
I will start setting this up and will hopefully start a new topic By Thursday. Their everything will be explained.

Dries