So I had this idea for a story, a crime story, told Hilde it. Then suddenly she sent me an interesting link that the Norwegian publishing house Aschehaug were having a Crime writing competition. So I wrote it and entered!!!
Theres lots to do, but the idea is ok. Ill need a huge white board to map it all out, which will suit the Crime genre. Its “techno Crime” though, so…
https://aschehoug.no/litteratur/bokmagasin/romaner-og-noveller/aschehoug-krimkonkurranse
Ive been researching ChatGPT for a while now, using it to help me write various things Im working with, and brainstorm with myself. Ive found it fascinating and very fun, and Im not that worried about it taking over and killing us all just yet. But obviously there are alot of issues. Like ALOT. So Ive had quite a bit of fun testing it out. Getting it to talk about contentious issues, testing its factuality and if it makes mistakes. Ive also tried out a google product called notebookLM thats also a lot of fun, and can makes extremely cheesy AI podcasts, so Ive done a bit of that too.
Anyway Ive dumped them all on Substack now, so rather than go into detail here, just head over there and subscribe.
Point your phone camera here or click..
Not a word I´d heard before, but I admit I have always been interested in the “look of” calligraphic art, although not being very good at it.
I was fascinated by the Voynich manuscript and although unreleted in a way, Im almost always carrying a copy of A Humument, the manipulated book by Tom Phillips.
This was an interesting article by Abigail Leali on the Mutual Art website. (you might need to make in account)
https://www.mutualart.com/Article/On-Asemic-Writing–The-Art-of-Meaning-Be
Heres the start of a screenplay Im working on:
Let me know what you think?
By Mark Francombe
INT.DRAWING ROOM.NIGHT
In a “well to do” drawing room, 15 naked people eat jelly
BOB
…and I said to him, what a twat… and he punched me in the
gullet!
HENRY
I hope you killed him!
BOB
I didn’t have time, Mary chopped his head off with a spoon
HENRY
Silver?
BOB
No, stainless steel.
Both men laugh…
track to other end of table where two women are snogging passionately.
I have just discovered a new term that heavily relates to my work with “Fragment Storytelling” and indeed much storytelling in games.
An Epistolary Novel is a Story that using letters of documents to tell the story.
Maybe the most famous of the genre is Dracula but I am also a fan of 84 Charing Cross Road. I also have an amazing “Whodunnit” book, called Murder off Miami weirdly by Dennis Wheatley, where the letters and documents are fully reproduced on different papers and types. Including photographs from the Crime Scene and an envelope at the end that contains the solution. HE produces 5 of these and I must try to collect them all!
Murder off Miami
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0863501184/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0863501184&linkCode=as2&tag=wwwmarkfranco-20
In games letters or books are often used to tell the story. A good example being the Elder Scroll series, Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim being the most recent. Some young gamers probably dont bother with all this reading material, but I love it, and devour all!
In “Somewhere on the road to Hell” I will also be using this technique extensively, especially as I want to keep dialogue to a minimum (both for technical and atmosphere reasons). The game starts (usually) with a letter of introduction to the valley in Norway, from your employer. during the game there will be many subtle hints that can be read or discarded. INdeed, if there is a goal at all to the game, its to find out as much as you can. The actual game mechanics (which can´t really be revealed) will mean that it is in fact impossible to play the game once and learn everything, how ever much you try, and you will have to play again a number of times to kind of see the events from other angles… One play may even contradict another play, so coming out with a defining “this is what happened” will be impossible. More that “This is what happen this time”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistolary_novel
As I was transferring my old mac book pros hard-drive to my NEW mac book pros hard-drive, I discovered this. I remember writing it, but can’t remember what it was, is this a computer game concept, or a film, or a book? Or something else?
What do YOU think it is…? Maybe I will continue working with it?
In the front garden:
A Normal house, divided into flats, different people live here, very different.
The house:
Room One:
17 yer old Tom the Punk, lives here… spends most of his time listening to music. His girlfriend Trace, stays occasionally.. she doesnt speak (till the end of the story) and Tom likes it that way…
Room Two:
Della Android lives here. Second name is of course an adopted pseudonym. She is a cybernetics major, and all the other occupants worship her in some way. She wears sharp suits and has a Chanel bob haircut. She is incredibly intelligent, and plays in a synthesizer drone band called “Cold”. She has no feelings, and she knows it is her failing so she pretends to cry in her room at night in order to give the impression that she is interesting. She thinks she might love Jeremy Potter, if only she could be sure that it wasnt just a head cold… anyway he is far to shy.
