About "Write Like the Dickens"

This blog stemmed from a post I did on my primary blog, Day by Day, According to theMom.  I had expressed wonder at the popularity of Charles Dickens' serials, and the anticipation which accompanied the release of each installment.  I wondered to myself and my readers whether there was a forum for serial novels today.

As I was stirring during the following night, restless upon my bed, the idea came to me that I could start my own blog for such a purpose.  Will writers here ever become world famous?  Will we ever have fans waiting at the allegorical wharf for our next installment?  I cannot say.

But we will have fun.  I challenge writers and aspiring writers to write a chapter a week.  Don't worry about continuity; just have fun.  Work on your writing skills.  Challenge your imagination.  Increase your writing output.

While reading Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop, I wondered periodically where he was going with a certain chapter or character.  He may not have even known himself at the time.  But he kept on, and his books live on, in spite of what might at times seem to be disjointed story lines.

I welcome anyone to participate in my experiment.

I must however, demand a few guidelines.  These guidelines may seem stringent to you.   You may think they will stifle your creativity.  So be it.  Create your own blog.

I want only clean stories.  No blatant s*xuality.  Nothing of that sort described graphically.

No foul language.  No taking God's name in vain.  No profanities.  Feel free to use symbols such as @&#*! if you must.  Readers will get your point.  But I want to make an effort to promote literature that is tasteful.

You can always include those things on your personal copies, but not on my blog.

It truly takes much more ingenuity to create a stimulating story line that is clean and profanity free.  The author of clean stories must titillate the hearts and minds of readers without the use of sensuality or shock value.  Hmm.

So here is the deal.  I've never opened a blog to public authorship.  I'm going out on a limb.  If you want to write here, leave a comment with your e-mail address, but use the words "at" and "dot" instead of the symbols.   Tell me a little bit about yourself and what you'd like to write about if you know.  Unless I sense something amiss (like you might be some creeper or something), I'll add you.

If there is anything I deem a problem, I will simply kill the blog, so behave trust-worthily.

Oh, and one more thing, if you are a young person, please include that information in the comment when you introduce yourself.  I'll create a special label we can add to those stories done by youth.  I know it is a bit more difficult for young people to find a forum on which to write, and I hope to encourage your pursuits.

Write Away!
Mary, aka theMom