Experiments in style extra

*** Prize competition*** + Background information on two recent popular versions

Greetings!

My project involving rewriting the same story in several different styles is going quite well I think. At least, I haven’t run out of ideas yet! At the last count, I’d written 85 versions¹.

Two recent versions were the Problem Page and the one Act play. In this article I’d just like to say a bit more about them. This is for paying subscribers only, because a bloke has to earn a crust. However, such is my generosity of spirit that you may be able to read this for free if you haven’t already used up the one free article thingy that Substack made possible. Or you can have a week’s free trial and read this and anything else I’ve written here during that time.

***OR***

You can enter this competition to win a one year paid subscription. You have to already be a subscriber to enter. If you already have a paid subscription, I’ll give you a complimentary subscription for a year, at the end of which you’ll carry on being billed unless you cancel it. If you already have a complimentary subscription, then I could give a year’s subscription to a friend of yours, assuming you have any friends.

If you haven’t fallen asleep yet, here’s the deal. I’ve rearranged one of the experiments in style in alphabetical order². Sad really, I know, but everyone needs a hobby. All you have to do is:

1. Figure out which version I’ve mangled.

2. Let me know via this form by Midnight GMT Sunday 8th December 2024.

Once I’ve identified the correct entries, I’ll select the winner by a random process³.

Here’s the mangled version:

&,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,-------------------..<>AAAAABBBBBCEHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMMNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSTWYaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbcccccccddddddddddddddddddddddddddeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeffffffffgggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiijkkkkklllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooppprrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssstttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwxyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Funnily enough, I think that makes more sense than the original version but that’s another matter.

By entering, you agree to let me mention the fact that you’re the winner in a future newsletter, assuming you are the winner of course.

But enough of this persiflage! Let’s dive into those two experiments I mentioned.