Blog - Call for expressions of interest

Flax Books, the publishing imprint of litfest, is looking to commission two writer/ bloggers to write a fictional blog for the Flax pages of the litfest website. One writer will be based in the UK and one African. The blog will be live from mid-October to mid-November 2008. Successful candidates will be paid £1000 for their work.

Our interests are:
the remote collaborative process of creation;
transcultural exchange;
the literary aspect of blogs;
bringing blogs to a non traditional blog readership;
connecting to the blogosphere to widen our readership.

Together the writers will be asked to create one character, whose identity is constructed from blog ‘personas’ the writers have found, read and enjoyed. This character will narrate the fictional blog.

From mid-October, each writer will alternately post two blogs a week of 300 words each, for four weeks; or one blog of 600 words each week. Word counts are approximate.

There are two basic premises of the fiction: 
1. the character is a perpetrator of identity theft or trolling; 
2. there is a clear plot-driven narrative through the blog entries, amounting to an approximate 5000 word story.

All the blogs used in the creation of the character will be referenced / linked to within the entries. Photos can also be used throughout the blog. In fact, the writers are encouraged to use the blog as they use their own blogs, have fun and engage with the wider blogosphere.

It is up to the writers how much they plot the narrative before they begin, or if they want to improvise as it unravels.  There will be no direct editorial input from Flax Books, but editor Sarah Hymas is available for discussion, or whatever, throughout the project.

The blog can be set up on whichever platform the writers agree and then streamed through to the flax pages on the litfest site. The design of the blog, will also form part of the characterisation. We would also encourage the writers to blog about the collaborative process.

Expressions of Interest
If writers are interested in being involved could they please email sarah.hymas@litfest.org and andy.darby@litfest.org with ‘Blog Project’ in the subject line by 8th August and a brief outline (100-200 words) of why you’d be interested and a link to your blog.

We will let you know whether or not you’ve been successful by mid-August.

Published: 23/07/2008

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