A momentary lapse of reason

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…

Before Experimental Heart was published, a discussion at the LabLit fora centered on whether it was possible to write an exciting story that remained true to real lab life. I maintained that it could, and in the best traditions of empiricism set out to prove it by experiment.

This led to a collaborative writing project: I set the scene, we gathered some characters and people to write them, laid some ground rules and the Experimental ‘Lab Lit’ Fiction Corner was born.

And for a while, the experiment was a success. Characters and plot developed, dark goings-on were revealed, mysteries deepened and pulses quickened. Unfortunately, time and trouble got in the way—I suffered from depression, people were busy, I moved back to the UK; the momentum was lost.

The story was never finished.

I’ve toyed with the idea of finishing the story myself—after all, I know the plot and how I want it to resolve—and producing it as a radio play, or something like that. But the other night, Jenny and I came up with a better idea: let’s finish the damn thing the way we started. But what we’ll do is apply a bit of pressure, and complete the experiment in full view of the internets.

Here’s the plan.

I’m going to edit what we’ve got already, and serialize it here at Confessions over the coming couple of months. That will give me impetus to get it into shape. I’m getting in contact with the other writers, and it will encourage them to produce something. I’ll give them more guidance as to where they should be taking it, which means they can concentrate on writing rather than plotting (or understanding just what the blazes is going on).

The story will develop over at the LabLit fora, and I’ll post edited versions here a few days after they appear there. And I encourage you to add comments in the forum thread created for the purpose. You can also read what we’ve got so far in that forum, but you might like to pace yourself and wait for the serialization here—it’s completely up to you.

Oh, and I’m trying to trace all the writers we had before. Some of them might not be able to commit, so if you want to volunteer to take over a character, please let me know!

Wish us luck.

(And we can still produce it for radio—or podcast, at least—at the end of it all.)