Hi Alphas,
I hope you’re enjoying a blissful break from the Alpha routine. Nothing lasts forever though, and perhaps you’re now beginning to long for the company of those who’ll remind you that what you really want to do is to write something brilliant.
The good news is (if that’s the case) that Alpha Season XI starts in exactly three weeks, i.e. the usual break between Alphadays and hence the ‘minus one’ tag.
So I’m taking this opportunity to alert you to the imminent approach of Season XI and to ask you to do a mental inventory of what you’ll contribute to make Season XI the best season ever. Alpha is, as always, as good as the sum of its members, and aren’t we lucky to have gathered together such a great bunch of outstanding individuals?
There’s another matter that I’d like to mention here: The book we intend to publish to celebrate the ten years of Alpha.
When I first suggested it, I didn’t have a clear-cut idea in my mind of the exact shape or form. Your helpful queries and suggestions gradually shaped it up for me. Nothing is set in concrete yet except that we’ll all contribute something. New and bright ideas are always welcome.
This is how I envisage our oeuvre:
1) An introduction outlining the nature of Alpha and the reason for the publication of the book.
2) Ten chapters, each related to an Alpha season. These will consist of the following elements:
- a) A paragraph outlining of the main events of the season. We’ll gear this towards a non-Alpha readership; in other words we’ll mention activities and achievements rather than enumerate members who came and went. Members who made a difference to the group’s history will of course be mentioned.
- b) The creative writing input, i.e. the main element of the book: A piece of writing by one of our members, illustrating one of that season’s challenges. Each member only contributes one story; you have one hundred challenge themes to choose from (see Chris’s list) and this gives you the opportunity to contribute in your favourite genre; prose or poetry, fiction or non-fiction. The word limit is loose; say, between 1,000 and 3,000 words; less for poetry. (Some seasons will have more than one piece of writing because we have more than ten contributors.)
- c) I would like these main pieces of writing to be preceded by one of the top entries for that particular challenge. This is purely for historical and illustrative reasons; showing a typical challenge entry. The longer piece is completely separate; a different take on the theme, detached from the strict constraints of the brief and showing your (our) creative writing at its best.
3) Credits. Contributors can give a brief bio and mention their other writings.
4) Epilogue.
Have you already given this some thought? If not, please do. Any suggestions for improving the plan shown above are welcome.
I’ll set the ball rolling by asking you to pick the season and the theme of your choice (second choice would be useful). With a bit of luck we’ll get an offer for each of the ten seasons without too much wrangling.
First come, first served! If somebody else has already picked a theme from the season you wanted, you’ll be asked to come up with something different! We need to cover every one of the ten seasons.
I’ve been swallowed up by ‘life generally’ over the last couple of months. Perhaps it’s about time I devoted some attention to ‘life personally’. Alpha will shove me along in the right direction, I think.
See you on Alphaday 1, Season XI, on the 11th of September 2014.
Christine