Thoughtcat (
www.thoughtcat.com) and the New Zealand Blogging Corporation (
www.nzbc.net.nz) bring you a unique creative challenge: write a short story in one sitting, while listening to
Kind of Blue by Miles Davis.
That gives you about three-quarters of an hour (or 55 minutes if you've got the extended version). Can it be done?
Well,
Chris Bell, author of the short story collection
The Bumper Book of Lies and the novel
Liquidambar, gave it a good go. "When Miles Davis went into the studio to record
Kind of Blue on 2 March 1959,"
writes Chris, "he didn’t have the parts scored and the charts all written out. He had only a theory from which the form of the five pieces developed. So why not approach a short story in a similar way, I wondered. It wouldn’t be easy; it wasn’t for Miles and he was a genius. So what did I have to lose? At most, some pride and yet more confidence in my ability.
"Instead of starting with a preordained plot and a line of action, I tried to get most of it down during one sitting, beginning with a sketch, and attempting to capture the spirit of discovery with no unnatural or interrupted strokes.
"In the end," Chris admits, "it took longer to write than it did to listen to or, for that matter, to record
Kind of Blue."
But the result is a delight - you can read it
here: a sizzling tale of seduction, a beautiful woman, a great album and a mushroom risotto.
Kind of Blue plays a central role in Chris's story, and his five sections reflect the album's original five tracks. But we've relaxed the rules just slightly: if you want to include an explicit
Kind of Blue theme in your own story, or divide it into "tracks" as Chris did, by all means go ahead, but it's not mandatory. Your story doesn't have to be "about"
Kind of Blue as such; neither the album nor the musicians need to make an appearance in the narrative. Simply relax and let your mind flow with the music.
There's also no upper word limit - if you can manage more than 800 or so in the time allowed, you've done very well (either that or you've had too many cups of coffee). Equally, barring plain silliness - no three-word submissions please! - there's no lower limit either. But remember - the
really short stories are the hardest ones to write.
The Kind of Blue Story Challenge also works if you're having problems writing. Blocked? The limits imposed by the Challenge could free your imagination. No time to write? You only need to find 45 minutes - it's not that long, as you'll soon find out...
And it doesn't matter if you don't like jazz. This isn't about jazz, it's about writing and creativity. It could be any record, really, but
Kind of Blue is a good one because it's laid back, abstract and entirely instrumental. One of both Thoughtcat's and NZBC's favourite writers, Russell Hoban,
always listens to music when he writes, but even he hardly ever listens to songs - it can be hard enough to concentrate on your own words, let alone someone else's at the same time.
All stories submitted will be posted on this website. Copyright remains with the authors. There is no deadline by which to submit your stories - the
Challenge is an ongoing project.
Finally, we should point out that this isn't a competition - there is no prize for the best story, just as there's no prize for the best solo of the night. The reward is in the taking part. Furthermore, this site has no affiliation with Miles Davis's record company.
The Great Kind of Blue Story Challenge hasn't been drummed up by a bunch of chinless wonders as some kind of album promotion. This is about great music, and great writing, pure and simple. Enjoy.
Please submit your story by pasting the text into the body of an email (no attachments please) and send this, along with your name (or pseudonym) and any other details you would like to include (such as an email address, website, age, location etc) to kobchallenge@googlemail.com
