{"id":88,"date":"2011-05-05T09:12:32","date_gmt":"2011-05-05T14:12:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brianfarreybooks.com\/wordpress\/?p=88"},"modified":"2011-05-05T09:12:32","modified_gmt":"2011-05-05T14:12:32","slug":"the-bet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brianfarreybooks.com\/wordpress\/2011\/05\/the-bet\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bet"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a bit behind (in all things, really) so I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t had much of a chance to talk about the Bet that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m involved in. \u00c2\u00a0For a good account of how this went down, check out Catherine Ryan Hyde\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s post about it her<\/a>e.<\/a> The short version: \u00c2\u00a0three other writers (Catherine, Kimberly Pauley, and Andrew Smith) and I have a bet about the Kentucky Derby. \u00c2\u00a0 The losers must each write a short story based on a title of the winners\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 suggestion. (CRH explains it all very well.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

This came about because Stephen King had\u00c2\u00a0just\u00c2\u00a0published\u00c2\u00a0a short story in The Atlantic<\/em> and an accompanying interview revealed that he wrote the story because he lost a bet with his son (and his son provided the title: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Herman Wouk is Still Alive\u00e2\u20ac\u009d). \u00c2\u00a0I mused on Twitter how fun this might be and suddenly these three wonderfully nutty people took me up on creating such a bet.<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m the first to admit: short stories are not my milieu. \u00c2\u00a0I adore reading short stories. I even dabble in writing them from time to time. \u00c2\u00a0But I find them to be very difficult for how my brain works. \u00c2\u00a0And I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a bit out of practice. So I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just a tad nervous.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Image from harlanellison.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Harlan Ellison used to do something called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153stories under glass.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d set up his typewriter in a store window and, right there under the watchful eye of spectators, produce a new short story based on a premise supplied by someone else. \u00c2\u00a0Once I believe he got a suggestion from Robin Williams. \u00c2\u00a0The one I recall vividly is when X-Files<\/em> creator Chris Carter arrived with a sealed envelope. \u00c2\u00a0Inside was a card that read \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The 102-year-old pregnant
\ncorpse.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00c2\u00a0 What amazed me about Ellison was that he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even stop to think about it. \u00c2\u00a0He got the idea and immediately <\/em>started typing. \u00c2\u00a0And as he finished pages, they were taped up in the window for all to see.<\/p>\n

No editing. No changing. No nothing.<\/p>\n

For the record, *I*<\/strong> will not be doing that, should I end up writing a short story. *I*<\/strong> will think long and hard before I start writing. *I*<\/strong> will change and edit and, most likely, fret over the whole thing. \u00c2\u00a0But, I will also try to enjoy working outside my level of comfort.<\/p>\n

The horse I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve chosen to win is called Dialed In. \u00c2\u00a0Fingers crossed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a bit behind (in all things, really) so I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t had much of a chance to talk about the Bet that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m involved in. \u00c2\u00a0For a good account of how this went down, check out Catherine Ryan Hyde\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s post about it here. The short version: \u00c2\u00a0three other writers (Catherine, Kimberly Pauley, and Andrew Smith) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianfarreybooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianfarreybooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianfarreybooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianfarreybooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianfarreybooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brianfarreybooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brianfarreybooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianfarreybooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brianfarreybooks.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}