# Calling all authors.... the round robin thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 15, 2001, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-authors-the-round-robin-thread/93462 "2001-11-15T04:45:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Yondan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/278dde/32.png) [@Yondan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yondan)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-authors-the-round-robin-thread/93462/61 "2001-11-28T20:03:43Z")
::scurries back out of shadows, and raises hand:: **Saffostarr** , O mistress of stories and gatherer of writers, a question: What are the length limits? Not having been on boards very long, I am ignorant as to how much content may be safely posted at one time. If something is really long, should it be posted in multiple segments, or is it part of the game that each submission must be of a length that can only fit in one post? Ok, that’s several questions. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Yondan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/278dde/32.png) [@Yondan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yondan)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-authors-the-round-robin-thread/93462/62 "2001-11-28T20:57:14Z")
[sub]not that I’m _planning_ to make it brobdingnagian or anything.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![RaCha\_ar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@RaCha\_ar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaCha_ar)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2001, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-authors-the-round-robin-thread/93462/63 "2001-11-28T23:50:14Z")
The limit we stick to on AOL is 1-2 pages by a word processor’s count, in normal (i.e. 12-point) font with normal one-inch margins. The first post has an excuse to be pretty long so this limit can be ::cough:: overlooked. Posts really shouldn’t run that long, though. Here, you can have as an example the post that I wrote as the opening salvo in the round-robin I’m in currently: > [@](#): > > **My Summer Vacation - by Jamie Conover, age 24** > > ``` > In the beginning, there was the word. And the word was... > > "Crap." > > Not a very auspicious beginning, was it? Jamie Conover didn't think so, either. He was standing in a kitchen that hadn't been remodeled since the seventies. The refrigerator was the puke-olive colour of baby food, of whirled peas (he thought of a bumper sticker he'd seen once, Visualise Whirled Peas, and snickered to himself). The linoleum was checkered, black and used-to-be-white, and peeling at the corners. But most disgusting, in > > ``` > > Jamie’s humble opinion, were the walls. Stained from water, rust, tobacco, and god only knew what else, the walls… dripped… brown. Brown of every shade he’d ever stumbled across in a Crayola box or a dormitory bathroom. He stood in the middle of the kitchen and tried to come up with a name for every shade of brown that made almost geological striations along the walls – he was convinced he could determine the age of the room by counting the > rings of brown – chocolate, that was one shade. Yoohoo was another. The cream-and-coffee tone of Janet Jackson’s skin. Beige. The shimmering almost-bronze of the hair of Belinda Marcus, the girl he’d kissed, in a fumbling, ecstatic outburst of hormones and puppy love, when he was fifteen. Pale-brown M&M’s. Ecru. Khaki, even. And, of course, crap. Which was not what prompted Jamie’s outburst. > > ``` > What prompted Jamie's outburst was what greeted him when he opened the fridge. Bad enough that the guest house at his girlfriend's affluent parents' house turned out to be Martha Stewart's nightmare -- or her dream makeover house; Jamie wasn't sure which thought scared him more -- but, adding insult to injury, the fridge was empty! Empty, that is, but for a clump of mold that bore a strong resemblance to a startled hamster. Jamie found it when > > ``` > > he made the mistake of opening the crisper drawer. “Karen, what the hell did this used to be?” he hollered out to his girlfriend, his soon-to-be-fiancee, which thought made his stomach lurch like an excited Muppet. With one hand closing around the comforting circlet of ore and compressed carbon in his pocket, he idly poked the mold with the other. The mold, he reflected, rather felt like a hamster. Rather looked like one, too. Right down to the tiny > teeth that were currently sinking into his hand. > > ``` > He shrieked like a little girl, and that was the beginning of his summer vacation. > > ``` Incidentally, the three words I had to work with were **olive, affluent,** and **startled**. I like to think I used 'em pretty creatively. 😃 Most of the subsequent posts to this story were about half as long, but some of the other stories that were running simultaneously were much longer, so it’s really up to you. Just try not to get too long. **Yondan** , I don’t know about limits in post length – that might be better addressed to a moderator. **Ferrous** , don’t worry. I feel your pain, but believe me it’s just as hard to begin the story. Remember, you’ve got two posts to further the story along before you ever have to worry about an ending, so don’t sweat it. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ferrous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Ferrous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferrous)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-authors-the-round-robin-thread/93462/64 "2001-11-29T00:14:12Z")
S’okay, **Saffostar** , I wasn’t really worried. Just commiserating a bit. But that brings up a question—are we just supposed to write one entry each, or do we go around a few times? ---
**Author:** ![RaCha\_ar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@RaCha\_ar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaCha_ar)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-authors-the-round-robin-thread/93462/65 "2001-11-29T00:55:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ferrous \* > \*\*S’okay, **Saffostar** , I wasn’t really worried. Just commiserating a bit. > But that brings up a question—are we just supposed to write one entry each, or do we go around a few times? \*\* Oops, I thought I mentioned this already, but it bears repeating. Each person posts three times. Once everyone in the group goes, it cycles back to the first person in the group, then goes through everyone again. After the last person makes their second post, it bounces back to the first person for one last cycle. That clear that up? ---
**Author:** ![RaCha\_ar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@RaCha\_ar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaCha_ar)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2001, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-authors-the-round-robin-thread/93462/66 "2001-11-29T15:11:27Z")
One more addition to the rules, folks, then I promise I’ll pipe down and let you write. Those of you who are starting off, once you’ve posted your new thread with the first story post, could you post a link to the thread in here so we can find it by looking here if we can’t find it on the board? Thanks 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Oreo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c57346/32.png) [@Oreo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oreo)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-authors-the-round-robin-thread/93462/67 "2001-11-30T19:07:25Z")
Eek! I just posted for Group C. Please go easy on me! I’m still very much a newbie at writing, so I’m just trying to get all the practice I can. This is nerve-wracking. But fun! [Here’s](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=101814) the link. ---
**Author:** ![Ferrous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Ferrous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferrous)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-authors-the-round-robin-thread/93462/68 "2001-11-30T19:40:27Z")
Great start, **Oreo**! I can SO identify with that morning feeling. And forgetting you forgot to load the TP roll—been there. Excellent, evocative description all around, and a nice dramatic lead-in for the next poster. I also liked the fact that Claire didn’t put on any underwear! 😃 Did you post to **belladonna** ’s[sup]\*[/sup] “commando” thread yesterday? One _very minor_ criticism: > [@](#): > > _From the linked story_ > …crawl back into bed and stay there-it might be better to just nip this day in the bud. > [@](#): > > Breakfast quiet and alone-just the way she liked it. You might want to use more dashes here—like so. With just the one, it looks like single hyphenated words. [sub]\*Psst, hey, **belladonna** , you’re up for Group D. Hint, hint.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Oreo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c57346/32.png) [@Oreo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oreo)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-authors-the-round-robin-thread/93462/69 "2001-11-30T20:08:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ferrous \* > > You might want to use more dashes here—like so. With just the one, it looks like single hyphenated words. > > \*\* Oops…you know, I C&P’d this from Word. Something got lost in the translation I guess, and I didn’t catch that on preview. But normally--------I do the dashes correctly. 😉 Thanks for the kind review! ---
**Author:** ![Yondan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/278dde/32.png) [@Yondan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yondan)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-authors-the-round-robin-thread/93462/70 "2001-11-30T21:07:33Z")
[Here it is.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=101835) I hope it will serve. A Note: I felt that, with so many contributors, the main point of the story may be very different from any title I might create at this point. I was thinking that discussing possible titles for the finished story might be part of our conversations after we seen where it takes us. I’m really looking forward to seeing what we do with this! ---
**Author:** ![Oreo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c57346/32.png) [@Oreo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oreo)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-authors-the-round-robin-thread/93462/71 "2001-11-30T21:21:11Z")
**Yondan** – “Don’t blow a gasket!” = Brilliant! I had the hardest time coming up with a way to use that word. And I liked the butter on the kid’s face, too. And I agree about the title–I just made something up really quick. Group C members should in no way feel restricted by my lame title. ---
**Author:** ![Yondan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/278dde/32.png) [@Yondan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yondan)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2001, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-authors-the-round-robin-thread/93462/72 "2001-11-30T22:05:41Z")
Thenk yew, thenk yew, **Oreo**. I just hope it rings true. ---
**Author:** ![RaCha\_ar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@RaCha\_ar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaCha_ar)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2001, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-authors-the-round-robin-thread/93462/73 "2001-12-01T02:09:40Z")
::delighted squeals!:: Hooray to the first two posters! Lovely posts **Yondan** and **Oreo** , and excellent use of the words given. 😃 I knew “gasket” was going to be a problem word, and I very much like what you both did with them. **Oreo** , I second **Ferrous** ’s thought that you did a great job with the lead-in for the next poster. My favourite stories of this sort in the past have been the ones that end with a cliffhanger in every post. **Yondan** , your point about titles is well-taken. The next contributors for groups A and C have 3 days – until December 3rd – to make their posts. Groups B and D will have 3 days from when **Crunchy** and **belladonna** post (no pressure at all, you guys still have at least another day). I just wanted to reiterate the point. ::dances around in the throes of glee:: Glee! I’m plotting on awarding, um, awards for stories once they’re finished, to be voted on by the adoring reading public. The only categories I’ve thought of so far are: **Best Cliffhanger Most Random Plot Twist The 360 Degree Award**, to be given to the story which ends in the greatest distance from the OP **Best Use of The Three Words ™ in the OP** That’s all I’ve got for right now, but if you come up with another category you’d like included, by all means, post it here. Now I leave you with a most solemn and hearty w00t. w00t. ---
**Author:** ![RaCha\_ar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@RaCha\_ar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaCha_ar)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-authors-the-round-robin-thread/93462/74 "2001-12-03T17:02:18Z")
Does anyone know if **CrunchyFrog** and **belladonna** have been spotted anywhere around the boards lately, or if either of them posted to say they wouldn’t be around somewhere other than here? I would use the search function to check except that the entire site hangs every time I try using it, so I’m gonna have to ask everyone else to check for me. If they don’t start their groups’ threads by Wednesday I’m going to shift the groups down one and make them the last people in their group. If that happens, **bobkitty** and **HerMajestyLorna** ought to be ready to step in to write the first posts, so be prepared. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Yondan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/278dde/32.png) [@Yondan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yondan)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-authors-the-round-robin-thread/93462/75 "2001-12-03T17:27:51Z")
**Jane D’oh** , I enjoyed your contribution to the story. It flows smoothly from the first and builds on the impact of the public and the private with power and grace. I particularly liked the paragraph describing the impossibility of describing the hugeness of the emotions in a way suitable to the innocent and tiny capacity of an infant’s understanding. I really hope the other writers enjoy this storyline. There is so much terrible emotion in the air now, that I hope this is a good way to deal with some of it, in a small way. ---
**Author:** ![Jane\_D\_oh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/839c29/32.png) [@Jane\_D\_oh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jane_D_oh)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-authors-the-round-robin-thread/93462/76 "2001-12-03T18:11:19Z")
Awww, thanks **Yondan** ya made it easy for me. I’m kinda enjoying watching the view counts on the thread. I’m also preparing for our story to turn in a direction that I may not expect. It’s hard for me as a control freak not to plan for my next round…but it’s fun and interesting so far! ---
**Author:** ![Oreo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c57346/32.png) [@Oreo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oreo)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-authors-the-round-robin-thread/93462/77 "2001-12-03T18:20:29Z")
I know what you mean, **Jane** , by wanting to control the story. When I was reading **Zappo’s** continuation of my story, I was thinking, “No! No! That’s not what’s supposed to happen!” Then I realized that the new direction is probably going to be a whole lot better than what I had in mind. BTW, **Zappo** , great job! Vince is one of my favorite names for a guy. Can’t wait to see what comes next. This is fun! ---
**Author:** ![RaCha\_ar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@RaCha\_ar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaCha_ar)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-authors-the-round-robin-thread/93462/78 "2001-12-03T18:42:02Z")
Okay, help out a (relative) newbie: In which forum do “courtesy phone” threads belong? I’ll run off to MPSIMS or IMHO, whichever it’s supposed to be, and try to flag down **Crunchy** and **belladonna**. Chances are they haven’t checked the thread and don’t know we’re waiting on them. ---
**Author:** ![Ferrous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Ferrous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferrous)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-authors-the-round-robin-thread/93462/79 "2001-12-03T18:56:39Z")
**saffostar** , You can e-mail them directly. Just click on the “mail” icon below one of their posts. Otherwise, yes, MPSIMS would be the appropriate forum to “page” them. BTW, I checked her profile, and it seems **belladonna** hasn’t posted since mid-day on Friday. ---
**Author:** ![RaCha\_ar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@RaCha\_ar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaCha_ar)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2001, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-authors-the-round-robin-thread/93462/80 "2001-12-03T19:07:51Z")
Thanks, **Ferrous**. I’ve posted and hopefully I’ll catch their attention. Great job to those of you who’ve continued the stories, by the way – nicely done. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-authors-the-round-robin-thread/93462.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-all-authors-the-round-robin-thread/93462.md?page=5)