Preliminary Instructions:

Create a new outgoing message using your email program. Do not worry

about who you're sending it to yet. Into this outgoing email message,

copy the body of this letter. Close this incoming message and

continue with the "Writing Instructions" that are now in your

outgoing message.

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Writing Instructions:

At the end of this email you will find one of two things: either a

sentence beginning with "Write a story about..." or a story that is

in progress already.

Your assignment is to immediately spend five minutes writing a short

short story about the word or concept embodied in the sentence, or to

write a short short story about the story that is already in progress

(depending on what you find at the bottom of this page). You must

start writing immediately, the very first thing that pops into your

head. You are not allowed to mull it over; you are not allowed to

worry about character development, plot or grammar. Do not worry

about what other people will think. Simply plunge in and do it.

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Forwarding Instructions:

At the top of this message you'll see a list of four email addresses,

including your own. Place an "X" next to your email address.

If there are any email addresses without "X"s next to them, then copy

those email addresses into the "To:" line of this outgoing email and

send it off.

If every email address has an "X",then the story is done! Send it to

everyone listed at the top of the page so that they can see how it

turned out. Put the word "Finished" in the subject line.

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What We're Doing:

There are 24 possible permutations of 4 people writing four sections

of a story. This exercise creates those 24 permutations. From one

suggestion, four people will create four beginnings. These stories

will branch into 24 endings. Every writer will have written one part

of every story.

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Why We're Doing it:

The idea here is to help people get over their writing inhibitions.

These inhibitions take two forms: internal and external. Internally,

people tend to over-think their writing, thus throttling their

creativity. Externally, people worry "what will people think", which

also throttles creativity.

This project tackles both of these issues. By free writing for five

minutes, the writer is not allowed to plot and plan. Creativity is

given free reign. By immediately sending off the writing, the writer

learns to let go of a project without fear of rejection. No one is

going to be offering any criticism of these works. They're just

exercises.