Exercise for Edition 9

Judges: Pankti Mehta, Seema Gopalan, Medha Kapoor

Plot by: Medha Kapoor

Exercise genre:Dialogue 

Exercise: A woman working in a multinational company seeks an opportunity to secure an executive position in a rival company by leaking sensitive information from her office. She is in the state of anxiousness and trepidation which seizes one about to undertake such a task. She is confronted by a guy who starts chatting with her, asking questions about what she is up to. It looks like an interrogation to her and she tries her best to keep her motives under cover. But, in reality, the guy is just hopelessly in love with her and looking for a chance to ask her out.

Rules:

1. Build the plot through dialogue only with minimum narration.
2. The lady has to be portrayed with the necessary deviousness. The guy is smart and charming, but totally smitten.
3.Secondary characters could be introduced to guide the plot.
4. The story should end with the guy finally asking her out and the woman succeeding in her task as well.
5. The lower word limit stands at 2000 and max of 2500.

General ground rules: 

1. The entry has to be sent by e-mail to the workshop e-mail id posted on FB along with Exercise declaration.
2. The entry should be in the body of the mail. Do not send as attachment.
3. The body of the mail should contain (in order): Title of story, Author Name, Author Intro, Story. If an entry is not complete in all respects it shall not be considered a valid entry.
4. The post shall be carried in this blog. You are required to post in your blog either a link to your post on this blog or your entire post with a link to your post on this blog and give accreditation to Medha Kapoor for the plot line. Once your entry is put up, the link to your entry shall be put up on the Indifiction group in FB – and within 48 hours of the link being put up on FB, you are requested to post in your blog and intimate the post link on FB. Otherwise, your entry shall be taken down from the blog.
5. The judges’ decision shall be final and the winners will be required to give the plot line, critique every entry as well as declare the winners of the next edition (Exercise 10). The judges of the previous edition – Leo, Jayashree, Rajrupa Gupta - shall not be declared as winners in this edition even if their entries happen to be the best. This is in order to ensure that the load of judging does not fall disproportionately on a few.
6. Though it is not obligatory, we do request everyone to take the time to read and give constructive criticism on as many posts as they can possibly manage.
7. Please note that there shall be no extensions of deadline. If we face a situation of insufficient entries, we shall still close the exercise and proceed with the next with volunteer judges.

Timelines for Exercise 9:

• Exercise 9 begins: Monday, 22nd July 2013
• Exercise 9 concludes: Sunday, 11th August 2013
• Exercise 9 results/judges’ comments: Sunday, 24th August 2013
• Exercise 10 begins: 27th Aug 2013

Exercise for Edition 8

Plot: Jayashree Srivatsan
Judges: Leo, Jayashree, Rajrupa Gupta


Exercise genre: HORROR

Exercise:

There is a dilapidated old fort in a forest bordering an Indian village. The villagers believe that inside the fort is a chamber, locked shut by an ancient King, and guarded by spirits invoked and trapped inside the chamber by that king.

Unknowing of the folklore, two thieves who have escaped from a nearby prison take shelter in the fort. Thinking that there might be treasure inside, they break open the door.

Narrate the events up to and after this point, in FIRST PERSON POV of the thieves. You can choose to do it from POV of one thief, or alternating between the POVs of both.

Rules:

1. This is a horror genre story, so the story must be spooky and scary!
2. The story must be written in first person POV of the thieves. You can choose to do it from POV of one thief, or alternating between the POVs of both.
3. The major characters must be the two thieves
4. There must be no loose threads when the story concludes.
5. Minimum 2525 words and Maximum 2828 words.

General ground rules:

1. The entry has to be sent by e-mail to the workshop e-mail id posted on FB along with Exercise declaration.
2. The entry should be in the body of the mail. Do not send as attachment.
3. The body of the mail should contain (in order): Title of story, Author Name, Author Intro, Story. If an entry is not complete in all respects it shall not be considered a valid entry.
4. The post shall be carried in this blog. You are required to post in your blog either a link to your post on this blog or your entire post with a link to your post on this blog and give accreditation to Jayashree Srivatsan for the plot line. Once your entry is put up, the link to your entry shall be put up on the Indifiction group in FB – and within 48 hours of the link being put up on FB, you are requested to post in your blog and intimate the post link on FB. Otherwise, your entry shall be taken down from the blog.
5. The judges’ decision shall be final and the winners will be required to give the plot line, critique every entry as well as declare the winners of the next edition (Exercise 9). The judges of the previous edition – Mixi, The Fool and Nabanita - shall not be declared as winners in this edition even if their entries happen to be the best. This is in order to ensure that the load of judging does not fall disproportionately on a few.
6. Though it is not obligatory, we do request everyone to take the time to read and give constructive criticism on as many posts as they can possibly manage.
7. Please note that there shall be no extensions of deadline. If we face a situation of insufficient entries, we shall still close the exercise and proceed with the next with volunteer judges.

Timelines for Exercise 8:

• Exercise 8 begins: Tuesday, 11th June 2013
• Exercise 8 concludes: Sunday, 30th June 2013
• Exercise 8 results/judges’ comments: Sunday, 7th July 2013
• Exercise 9 begins: Friday 12th July 2013

Exercise for Edition-7

PLOT : Jointly created by the judges,

JUDGES : The Fool, Naba and Mixi

EXERCISE:

Write the story of the Trojan War with a narrative that creates a comic mood. This was inspired from the movie 'Life is Beautiful' that tells a depressing story in a humorous way. To standardize the version of the story used, please use the plot of the movie 'Troy' You can find the plot here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_(film)

RULES FOR EXERCISE 7:

1. The plot should cover 80-90% of the events in the movie

2. No major new characters or events to be added.

3. Overall the story should have the reader chuckling away most of the time. The techniques you use to achieve this is up to you.

4.  You can use any 'Point of View' of your choice that best suits this exercise in your opinion. Even a minor character who is not critical to plot can be narrator or a neutral third party narrative is permissible

5. Not more than 3000 words.

General ground rules:

1. The entry has to be sent by e-mail to the workshop e-mail id posted on FB along with Exercise declaration.

2. The entry should be in the body of the mail. Do not send as attachment

3. The body of the mail should contain (in order): Title of story, Author Name, Author Intro, Story. If an entry is not complete in all respects it shall not be considered a valid entry.

4. The post shall be carried in this blog. You are required to post in your blog either a link to your post on this blog or your entire post with a link to your post on this blog . Once your entry is put up, the link to your entry shall be put up on the Indifiction group in FB – and within 48 hours of the link being put up on FB, you are requested to post in your blog and intimate the post link on FB. Otherwise, your entry shall be taken down from the blog.

5. The judges’ decision shall be final and the winners will be required to give the plot line, critique every entry as well as declare the winners of the next edition (Exercise 6). The judges of the previous edition – Janaki Nagaraj, Medha Kapoor and Prasanna Rao - shall not be declared as winners in this edition even if their entries happen to be the best. This is in order to ensure that the load of judging does not fall disproportionately on a few.

6. Though it is not obligatory, we do request everyone to take the time to read and give constructive criticism on as many posts as they can possibly manage.

7. Please note that there shall be no extensions of deadline. If we face a situation of insufficient entries, we shall still close the exercise and proceed with the next with volunteer judges.

Timelines for Exercise 7:

Exercise 7 begins: Sunday, 5th May 2013

Exercise 7 concludes: Saturday, 25th May 2013, 11:59PM

Exercise 7 results/judges comments: Sunday, 7th June 2013

Exercise 8 begins: Sunday 10th June 2013

Exercise for Edition-6

PLOT: Prasanna Rao.

JUDGES : Medha Kapoor, Prasanna Rao and Janaki Nagaraj.

EXERCISE:

Write a contemporary story based on the fairy tale -The Beauty and The Beast. The plot of the story can be found here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauty_and_the_Beast.

Please use the Conflict Resolution Style (Link here) where the story zig-zags from the past to the present with the story concluding with a resolution. 

RULES FOR EXERCISE 6:

1. The opening paragraph should be from the POV of The beast. And the consecutive paragraphs will alternate between the POV's of the beast and then the beauty.

2. No major characters other than the two main characters of The Beauty and The Beast. Minor characters can be added only for the sake of taking the story forward.

3. The story must end in conflict resolution...for more...read the article on IFW FB page. (Link here)

4. No more than 3000 words.

General ground rules:

1. The entry has to be sent by e-mail to the workshop e-mail id posted on FB along with Exercise declaration.

2. The entry should be in the body of the mail. Do not send as attachment

3. The body of the mail should contain (in order): Title of story, Author Name, Author Intro, Story. If an entry is not complete in all respects it shall not be considered a valid entry.

4. The post shall be carried in this blog. You are required to post in your blog either a link to your post on this blog or your entire post with a link to your post on this blog and give accreditation to Prasanna Rao for the plot line. Once your entry is put up, the link to your entry shall be put up on the Indifiction group in FB – and within 48 hours of the link being put up on FB, you are requested to post in your blog and intimate the post link on FB. Otherwise, your entry shall be taken down from the blog.

5. The judges’ decision shall be final and the winners will be required to give the plot line, critique every entry as well as declare the winners of the next edition (Exercise 6). The judges of the previous edition – Arvind Passey, Deepa Duraisamy and Jayasree Srivatsan - shall not be declared as winners in this edition even if their entries happen to be the best. This is in order to ensure that the load of judging does not fall disproportionately on a few.

6. Though it is not obligatory, we do request everyone to take the time to read and give constructive criticism on as many posts as they can possibly manage.

7. Please note that there shall be no extensions of deadline. If we face a situation of insufficient entries, we shall still close the exercise and proceed with the next with volunteer judges.

Timelines for Exercise 6:

Exercise 6 begins: Tuesday, 25th March 2013

Exercise 6 concludes: Sunday, 14th April 2013, 11:59PM

Exercise 6 results/judges comments: Sunday, 21st April 2013

Exercise 7 begins: Sunday 28th April 2013

Exercise for Edition - 5

Plot :    Arvind Passey

Judges: Deepa Duraisamy, Arvind Passey & Jayashree Srivatsan

Exercise:

Write a murder story which has an unexpected twist in the last paragraph, which is the first condition. The general tone of the story must evoke a good quality of humour... this is the second condition.

Now, in the above murder story, the characters included need to be one 50-something & two 20-somethings. Of the three characters, one need not be straight (a homosexual or a lesbian... choice is left to the writer). You have the freedom to choose all three males or even all three females. One must be tech-savvy and one needs to be impulsive.

The story must have an early morning walker discover the body of one of the three characters dangling from the mesh of cables and wires about above the ground in that narrow lane leading out from his block of flats to the main road.

No other conditions for the murder story.

It has to be a murder story that gives you the goosebumps and at the same time makes you laugh!

Rules for Exercise 5:

1. This exercise has no limits on POV characters but the narrative style has to be humorous.

2. No major characters other than the 50-year old and two 20-somethings. You can add minor characters as necessary including the early morning walker!

3. The story should not have any loose ends when it concludes and needs to end in a twist.

4. Word range:  Not less than 3000 words.

General ground rules:

1. The entry has to be sent by e-mail to the workshop e-mail id posted on FB along with Exercise declaration.

2. The entry should be in the body of the mail. Do not send as attachment

3. The body of the mail should contain (in order): Title of story, Author Name, Author Intro, Story. If an entry is not complete in all respects it shall not be considered a valid entry.

4. The post shall be carried in this blog. You are required to post in your blog either a link to your post on this blog or your entire post with a link to your post on this blog and give accreditation to Arvind Passey for the plot line. Once your entry is put up, the link to your entry shall be put up on the Indifiction group in FB – and within 48 hours of the link being put up on FB, you are requested to post in your blog and intimate the post link on FB. Otherwise, your entry shall be taken down from the blog.

5. The judges’ decision shall be final and the winners will be required to give the plot line, critique every entry as well as declare the winners of the next edition (Exercise 6). The judges of the previous edition – Nabanita, The Fool and Rajrupa - shall not be declared as winners in this edition even if their entries happen to be the best. This is in order to ensure that the load of judging does not fall disproportionately on a few.

6. Though it is not obligatory, we do request everyone to take the time to read and give constructive criticism on as many posts as they can possibly manage.

7. Please note that there shall be no extensions of deadline. If we face a situation of insufficient entries, we shall still close the exercise and proceed with the next with volunteer judges.

Timelines for Exercise 5:

Exercise 5 begins: Tuesday, 12th February 2013

Exercise 5 concludes: Sunday, 3rd March 2013, 11:59PM

Exercise 5 results/judges comments: Sunday, 10th March 2013

Exercise 6 begins: Sunday 17th March 2013

Exercise for Edition - 4

Plot : Rajrupa Gupta

Judges: Nabanita, The Fool & Rajrupa

Exercise:
A soldier returns home after five years during which his family (wife and son) had assumed him to be dead. Their joy initially knows no bound when they first re-unite after a long time. But soon it becomes evident that things are not longer what they were five years back and differences begin to surface

The soldier has his own issues – nightmares of life as a prisoner of war, difficulties in adjusting to the civilized life and his own family who now seems strangers to him . He loses his calm now and then. But his display of temper only worsens things. He feels so depressed that he wishes that he’d have died in the war.

The son is having teenage issues. He used to feel proud of his father. But the angry man full of self pity he sees in front of him at home now does not quite fit the image of a brave man fighting for his country. He resents his father's interference in his activities and has begun to consider his father an intruder in their lives.

The wife used to be a housewife highly dependent on her husband. But she is now a working woman who has learnt to find her own way in the world. She struggles hard to balance work, a teenager son and now a troubled husband. She is polite and tries her best to keep everyone happy. She feels lost in the midst of fights between the father and the son. But sometimes she tends to over-analyze situations.

The story can end in two ways. You can choose either of them.

1. The soldier may leave to fight another battle thus bringing settlement in the lives of all three of them.
2. They can finally see through each other’s issues and learn to accept each other

Rules for Exercise 3:

1. After two exercises with Point of View restrictions, this time we again give you the freedom to write any point of view and any narrative style
2. No major characters other than the soldier, his wife and his son. You however have the freedom to give them appropriate names
3. The story should not have any loose ends when it concludes
4. Word range: 2000 to 4000 words.

General ground rules:

1. The entry has to be sent by e-mail to the workshop e-mail id posted on FB along with Exercise declaration.

2. The entry should be in the body of the mail. Do not send as attachment

3. The body of the mail should contain (in order): Title of story, Author Name, Author Intro, Story. If an entry is not complete in all respects it shall not be considered a valid entry.

4. The post shall be carried in this blog. You are required to post in your blog either a link to your post on this blog or your entire post with a link to your post on this blog and give accreditation to Rajrupa for the plot line. Once your entry is put up, the link to your entry shall be put up on the Indifiction group in FB – and within 48 hours of the link being put up on FB, you are requested to post in your blog and intimate the post link on FB. Otherwise, your entry shall be taken down from the blog.

5. The judges’ decision shall be final and the winners will be required to give the plot line, critique every entry as well as declare the winners of the next edition (Exercise 5). The judges of the previous edition – Leo, Radha and Medha - shall not be declared as winners in this edition even if their entries happen to be the best. This is in order to ensure that the load of judging does not fall disproportionately on a few.

6. Though it is not obligatory, we do request everyone to take the time to read and give constructive criticism on as many posts as they can possibly manage.

Timelines for Exercise 4:

Exercise 4 begins: Monday, 1st January 2013

Exercise 4 concludes: Tuesday, 25th January 2013, 11:59PM

Exercise 4 results/judges comments: Thursday, 6th February 2013

Exercise 5 begins: Sunday 10th February 2013

Exercise for Edition-3

Plot :  Leo

Judges: Radha Sawana, Medha Kapoor & Leo

Exercise:

The story is about a married couple nearing their second anniversary, Deepak and Sandhya, who love each other a lot.

Deepak is a politician, who is tipped to be a minister once he wins the elections from his constituency. He is running a clean campaign, going to the localities in the constituency and asking for what they need, how they can be helped etc. and not just making blank promises. During one of the campaigns, he finds out that Sandhya was a patient at the mental home in the locality, which was hidden from him before the wedding.

Sandhya is the silent supportive wife, who is happy with the rich, luxurious life that she is having. One day, she finds a photograph of Deepak with another woman in a romantic pose. She is livid and her past anger and mental illness start to resurface, but being the loving wife, she is unsure what to do. What if the photograph was taken before her marriage or if someone is blackmailing him?

In alternating scenes, written in both Sandhya and Deepak's voice in first person, the challenge is to set the story, bring out their thoughts, their love for each other and dilemma in deciding what to do. 

Whatever way the story flows, it must end in a final scene written in third person, where Deepak and Sandhya are there together, and are talking.
 

Rules for Exercise 3:

1. Till the final scene, the point of view must alternate in scenes. i.e. if you are doing first person from Sandhya's POV in scene 1, it must be Deepak's POV in scene 2, Sandhya's POV in scene 3 etc. The final scene must be in a third person POV.

2. No major characters other than Sandhya and Deepak must be present in the storyline.

3. The story should not have any loose ends when it concludes

4. Word range: 2500 to 4000 words.

General ground rules:

1. The entry has to be sent by e-mail to the workshop e-mail id posted on FB along with Exercise declaration. 

2. The entry should be in the body of the mail. Do not send as attachment.

3. The body of the mail should contain (in order): Title of story, Author Name, Author Intro, Story. If an entry is not complete in all respects it shall not be considered a valid entry.

4. The post shall be carried in this blog. You are required to post in your blog either a link to your post on this blog or your entire post with a link to your post on this blog and give accreditation to Leo for the plot line. Once your entry is put up, the link to your entry shall be put up on the Indifiction group in FB – and within 48 hours of the link being put up on FB, you are requested to post in your blog and intimate the post link on FB. Otherwise, your entry shall be taken down from the blog.

5. The judges’ decision shall be final and the winners will be required to give the plot line, critique every entry as well as declare the winners of the next edition (Exercise 4). The judges of the previous edition – Sandeep, Deepa and Indolent - shall not be declared as winners in this edition even if their entries happen to be the best. This is in order to ensure that the load of judging does not fall disproportionately on a few.

6. Though it is not obligatory, we do request everyone to take the time to read and give constructive criticism on as many posts as they can possibly manage.

Timelines for Exercise 3:

Exercise 3 begins: Saturday, 17th November 2012

Exercise 3 concludes: Sunday, 16th December 2012, 11:59PM

Exercise 3 results/judges comments: Sunday, 23rd December 2012

Exercise 4 begins: Sunday 30th December 2012

Exercise for Edition-2

Plot Given by : Sandeep Nair

Judges : Sandeep Nair, Deepa Duraisamy, Indolent Insomniac

The Plot

The hero, Bruce Tracy, is a convict on death row in the Arlington State Penitentiary, a hell-hole of a prison. He is a former drug addict, and is afflicted by AIDS. 

Bruce is scheduled to be executed in 48 hours, wrongly convicted of the brutal murder of his hooker girlfriend, whom he loved deeply. Her violent death had him hungering for vengeance at first. However his wrongful conviction has made him a fatalistic man, convinced of his impotency in extracting revenge from those who have wronged him. 

Bruce learns of a secret tunnel that some other prisoners have dug in a plan to escape from the prison. The leader of this escape plot, Billy - The Brawler, is a man who had brutally raped Bruce in the prison showers in the past. Billy is a gay ex-boxer serving time for armed robbery.

48 hours away from being executed, an  AIDS infected Bruce can choose to either expose Billy and his plan, thus denying Billy his one shot at freedom, or convince Billy to allow him to join the group and escape from prison, or do nothing.

What will Bruce choose? Why?

The Rules

Your story should be written in the first person point of view. You may choose to narrate in either Bruce or Billy's POV.

Your story should stick to the incidents given in the plot. There shouldn't be any other major characters apart from Bruce and Billy. 

Your story should contain a description of daily life inside an American Penitentiary. 

Regardless of the POV, your story should have Bruce selecting one of the three options. It should also describe his emotions, thought processes and rationale behind choosing one of the three, and spell out what happens with/to Bruce thereafter.

The story should not have any loose ends when it concludes. 

The story will be NO LESS THAN 2000 words. It will be NO MORE THAN 4000 Words.

Other ground Rules

1. The entry had to be sent by e-mail to the workshop e-mail id shared with you. If you don't have it yet, contact TF or C.Suresh for the same. 
2. The entry should be in the body of the mail. Do not send as attachment.
3. Clearly specify title of your story
4. The post shall be carried in this blog. You are required to post in your blog either a link to this blog or your entire post with a link to this blog and give accreditation to Sandy for the plot line.
5. The judges’ decision shall be final and the winners will be required to give the plot line, critique every entry as well as declare the winners of the next edition. 
6. Though it is not obligatory, we do request everyone to take the time to read and give constructive criticism on as many posts as they can possibly manage.
7. Time Lines 
• Second edition opening date : 12:00 on 14 Oct 2012
• Last date for receiving entries : 23:59 on 3 Nov 2012
• Final results and overall feedback : 23:59 on 10 Nov 2012
• Third edition opens : 12:00 on 17 Nov 2012

Workshop Exercise-I - The Plot

We start the first edition of the fiction workshop with a plot by The Fool. The Fool (TF) hardly needs any introduction to people in blogosphere. His blog - LuciferHouse Inc – is one of the most popular blogs among personal blogs and his fiction is well-read and loved. He has, I think, for the first time curbed his zany inventiveness and given a down-to-earth plot for this attempt.

Since the idea is to work out on specific skills, kindly do not deviate from the plot line. The central storyline has to closely adhere to the outlined plot and the main characters need to act true to the characters outlined by TF. Without more ado, let us get to the plot.

Plot by TF

This story has 2 characters Meghana and Arup.

Meghana is in her early thirties and unmarried. She is a vice president at a company and reports directly to the CEO. She has done MBA from a top B-School. She is very career focused and aggressive. She prides herself on her strategic thinking and considers herself above most people she works with.

Arup is a also in his early thirties and is a senior IT technician at the same company. He had to discontinue his studies due to family pressures and take up the job as an office boy. After that he has managed to get a degree and IT qualifications through correspondence.  This has helped him get into the position of an IT technician. He is very sincere, dedicated and friendly person who has a solution for every problem.

Meghana often interacts with Arup for her IT issues. But does not give him much thought, considering him more a part of the office infrastructure. He is always friendly and helpful but stays focused on his task.

Meghana plays a MMORPG (Massive multi player online role playing game) in her free time. It is a  strategy based medieval war game and suits her aggressive nature. She is the leader of a faction that is part of a bigger clan. The clan is lead by one Strider. She is extremely impressed by Strider's leadership skills and the strategic thinking he applies in the game. Possibly she even harbors some hidden romantic feelings for him. She considers him to be the only one matching her in intelligence. She places him even above many of the corporate top honchos she has interacted with. She does not know his identity and thinks he should also be in a senior corporate position.

Then one day she discovers that strider is none other the office technician Arup. This makes her re-evaluate her views on office hierarchies and her assessment of people.

1. Everyone is requested to end the story at the point of her discovery that Arup is strider and her thoughts on the discovery. The story should not proceed beyond that point as part of this exercise.
2. The story should have a sense of completion in itself and should not be left hanging
3. Only Meghana and Arup should be main characters. 
4. Few minor characters can be introduced if required. 
5. There should not be any other strong plot element other than the one mentioned here.

After-word

You may have signaled your participation but, if you have not after the ground rules of this edition have been set in place, do so on the concerned thread by the 14 of Sept 2012, so that we know that you are in agreement. Network with me (C. Suresh) so that you can receive the email address to which you will mail your introduction and post. The post shall be carried in this blog. You are required to post in your blog either a link to this blog or your entire post with a link to this blog and give accreditation to TF for the plot line. The judges’ decision shall be final and the winners will be required to give the plot line, critique every entry as well as declare the winners of the next edition. Though it is not obligatory, we do request everyone to take the time to read and give constructive criticism on as many posts as they can possibly manage.

LET THE FUN BEGIN.