An innocent conversation on handwriting idiosyncrasies led to each of us writing an example of our own personal styles. HC brought up differences between her quick note-taking styles, and her slower, more formal styles. To show an example, she asked one of us to tell her story, which she would try quickly to write down. We soon discovered that in the unequal speeds of our verbal storytelling and our writing, if the storyteller refused to slow down or repeat, many details would get lost, rewritten, compressed, and obscured, creating an entirely new chance story from the materials. Below are the results from the first round we played, using spontaneous stories of our own creation.
hello dear friend
I hope this letter finds you well. Unfortunately the hippo got out of its enclosure again. A am writing this sentence about a hippo. Hippos will always rule neptune. I like hippos. I have a hippo friend named Bob, he came out of my head and said his name was Alfred. He’s hairy.
There is a very large bird small feet flies berry drops berry. He die. Set off after many berry. Weaker weaker east sun end of time wait—seed feed on.
There, caterpillar with shoes could walk. But ugly foot didn’t need, so he hid and fell in love. Could marry, so he killed out his own foot. So he got struck in ground as butterfly. Why, tooth, thou leave me? Don’t worry, well, but a butterfly jerk who did a tiny. Wait caterpillar wait am I Frank? Always a magnet. Have a nice day.
Back in my day I had a real personal issue with pies. Uncle uncle bob he was not a hippo. Did not see mother, was not her. Was dog? Goose?
There was an eloquent horticulturist filled garden in smell nothing but babies until he lost vision. Killed garden, with dirt?
There was a dragon with the sun in its paw. Transformed into sun and had sex with Neptune. They had babies who named Outkast, he transformed into circus flea hatched in my ear canal. Left a map and the map was shit and a map of all shit that ever was and he put on the roof of Mount Everest. Dragon hatched, and said “what a trip”.
Back in 1800s—shortage of short geishas like frank. Two centimeters confusing bob with special hand lions, but Swedish clan of two feeted flying. Many characters named blank just a blank space write down pigeon babies, no soul. And they lived except geisha, five hundred feet Kyoto, whatever, the end.
Pling blee fly parmo, she has kittens. Jelly fish girdle, looking around. Why why not. Worth the sun the moon the great motorcycle that spins around the earth…Elon Musk the ghirafpa the circus at the end of the world. Clog black holes pillars, woe woe. Who roam across the sky, and never wonder why.
The stinky chicken is a friend with the blind cat. Your soul is a stinky noodle that grows old, and tries to go bold. Rotation splattered old. Soul like a crab like a snow. Still cats, under the stairs. Doll eyes caught by cats on a Tuesday. Raccoon visits in the underworld. Called Sally, who doesn’t know, who speaks in rhyme. But raccoon is confused by the jelly hive. Wonderful pudding shove, in the land of great vibrations of flying fish of catatonia, a state in Florida. Be careful of the sun burn, because the black wing crows consume your toes. O woe all woe except for woe or tiny Tim of Pluto with many men to rule. Don’t ream, have them, because we are not innocent. But if you see a little bee on tiny Tim’s tiny toe fish in clouds O me O my I don’t know how to die. Feet intense. Camping boy scouts trapped in cookies girl tigers. Best film; bruce lee—could be. Unintentional rhyme…
An appendix broke broken. To a person write in a long book only 5 pages too long. Read 8 words per page. A penance appendix because the hippos also was me. O me O my. Many magic too big. Too big to say, and a partridge in a drum boy’s skull. Drumsticks, Frank on focus. Happened to have paraplegic lepers, both amputated rotted off. Tiny tim oh god dear liver cannibal by god there are leper faun statistics 4 feet away! Actually, Big Bob ate own feet. Bob bob bob bob who inevitably falls in love with eiffel tower, who falls eats entirely of eiffel tower. 1836—a year that happened? A shame unborn into radiation of oops.
We decided to take the experiment in a new direction. We pulled a few Charles Dickens novels off the shelf, picked random pages, and began again.
Hush John Tackle! I am afraid. Hush Carrier. The stars were shining in the counting house. There were lamps. A wont of tackletons, dangerous. A step stuck shadow hearth—perfidious hair white and desolate..but the waste dim. Dear step, turn the face-love hands laughing unsuspiciously opening eyes and tender. Fell down upon a desk a house and parcels. Could she kiss there with a face that blushed a baby of knowledge? Wring its heart to breaking good nite for goodness sake. The horses head muffled the house old. And before the cart, tackle the mother by the fire in contemplation.
I entertain english hard sun shines idiosyncrasies fucking fornifications courts trembling and trampling air drought people expected multitudes only hand only stomach. Hand steven roses possessed with a peck of trouble…old steven in reference.
It was a wet night, and many groups of women passed with bear heads held close under their chins to keep Rain Rachel out. Glance at any group. I was shown she was not here no more to come, in a tone of Mr…But he had not gone three streets when he saw shawl figures keen shadows reflected wet without a figure, moving from lamp to lamp fading and telling him what was there, quicker softer very near to the figure. Rachel! He turned. A lamp oval dark and delicate. Gentle eyes set off by a shining black face in bloom. A women 30 years ah tis thou said a smile. Nothing seen but eyes and hood. Thou was behind me, Rachel. No, a little late, Steven seems to me. Rachel, no, Steven! He looked with a face in respectful conviction, right in all. Did lighting true and old, yet getting no Rachel. Thou art puzzled in how to get old without get alive. Old friends honest truth sin pity and walks…Hard indeed to be a doll.
