Make up a book title, and guess what it might be about.

MJE · Post by **MJE** » 13 Aug 2012, 18:30

Hallo.

     I'm not sure just how popular games are here, and I sometimes get conflicting impressions from various comments. But I've just thought of a game which I think could be interesting.
     It's quite simple: the first person (which I suppose I can take the privilege of being, as the topic starter) will invent a hypothetical title of a book that Enid Blyton could have written, and post it. It can be a title whose pattern fits into an established Blyton series, such as an "R" mystery, or "The Secret [of]...", or "... of Adventure", and so on - or it can just be any title, not fitting a pattern, that seems suitable as a Blytonian title.
     The next person will then try to guess what the plot of this book might be about, and write a few sentences describing their idea of what it might be. Just imagine you're writing a back-cover blurb for the story, and invent anything that takes your fancy, but make it relate to the title in a credible way. (You can be as brief as you like, or as detailed as you like.)
     Of course you're not seriously trying to guess what the previous poster had in mind, and they may not have had any plot in mind - just the title - and in any case, if they did have, they didn't post it. (If the poster of a title *does* have a plot in mind, and can't resist sharing it with us, please wait until another person has guessed, so as to avoid influencing them.) Finally, the person who suggests a plot invents a new title, posts it, and the next poster thinks of a plot for it - and so on indefinitely, or until people lose interest in the whole idea of the game.
     Feel free to comment on any earlier entries, if you have something interesting to say about it.

     There are no rules, no winners, no losers, no errors that terminate a game - the point of it is just to have fun inventing titles and plots for Blytonian novels, and discussing them in any way you want to.
     Does anyone think this can work? Shall we give it a try?
     So I will begin by suggesting a title: "The Train of Adventure".

Regards, Michael.

pete9012S · Post by **pete9012S** » 13 Aug 2012, 19:29

The Train of Adventure;

The four Parker children Neil,Annie,Clare and of course the ubiquitous Jack,Plus Uncle Peter(ex detective) are on a vacation on the Orient Express a few years after the 2nd World War.

Unknown to everyone on the train a section of one of the carriages contains a vast hoard of treasure from the war due to be returned to its rightful owners.

Neil Parker,the oldest of the children notices that one of the guards of the 'mysterious carriage' is wearing different coloured boots shortly after the children are ejected from the area near the forbidden carriage.
Being Parkers by name and also by nature,they set out to solve this seemingly small mystery,which gets them into a whole heap of adventure,danger and international intrigue.......

The Mystery of Bannacle Hill

MJE · Post by **MJE** » 13 Aug 2012, 20:25

I want to read it! Yes, that's the kind of thing I had in mind.
I won't try to answer to this one, as I have no ideas in mind just now, and will let someone else have a go. But I just thought something needed clarifying: Is that name meant to be "Barnacle" - or is it just a name: "Bannacle"?

Regards, Michael.

pete9012S · Post by **pete9012S** » 13 Aug 2012, 21:18

Yes it is meant to be Bannacle.I could easily imagine a Peterswood style mystery occurring there.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Banna ... =firefox-a" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Moonraker · Post by **Moonraker** » 13 Aug 2012, 22:01

Who are the Parker children? What happened to the Mannerings and the Trents?

70s-child · Post by **70s-child** » 13 Aug 2012, 23:00

Strangely enough, I was thinking the same thing!

I am guessing Michael meant for us to create a generic plot as opposed to ones with existing Blyton characters. Also, didn't some forum members make up a plot for the Train of Adventure on another thread?

Gary · Post by **Gary** » 13 Aug 2012, 23:11

I think Pete it would be wise to read through the requirements for the particular game or thread you are considering replying to rather than just blasting off the first thing that comes into your head???????

Fiona1986 · Post by **Fiona1986** » 13 Aug 2012, 23:36

Gary wrote:I think Pete it would be wise to read through the requirements for the particular game or thread you are considering replying to rather than just blasting off the first thing that comes into your head???????

That was rather uncalled for. If you actually read the instructions yourself, you'd know that Michael didn't say the blurb-writer had to stick to the characters that would normally appear in a story which has a title belonging to an established pattern.

MJE wrote: Invent a hypothetical title of a book that Enid Blyton could have written, and post it. It can be a title whose pattern fits into an established Blyton series, such as an "R" mystery, or "The Secret [of]...", or "... of Adventure", and so on - or it can just be any title, not fitting a pattern, that seems suitable as a Blytonian title.
The next person will then try to guess what the plot of this book might be about, and write a few sentences describing their idea of what it might be. Just imagine you're writing a back-cover blurb for the story, and invent anything that takes your fancy, but make it relate to the title in a credible way. (You can be as brief as you like, or as detailed as you like.)

He also said

MJE wrote: Of course you're not seriously trying to guess what the previous poster had in mind.

So who's to say Michael's title MUST belong to the established Adventure series? Pete is free to write whatever blurb he fancies based on the title.

Finally, Michael, the game creator has already seen Pete's post and give the story a thumbs up. He clearly doesn't see anything wrong with it, and for that matter, neither do I.

70s-child · Post by **70s-child** » 14 Aug 2012, 00:08

I should clarify that I wasn't trying to dis Pete at all! It's just that I too initially thought that this game was about Blyton characters. I realized only after reading Michael's response that this was meant to be broader. Otherwise, I quite enjoyed reading Pete's blurb.

MJE · Post by **MJE** » 14 Aug 2012, 09:38

pete9012S wrote:Yes it is meant to be Bannacle.I could easily imagine a Peterswood style mystery occurring there.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Banna ... =firefox-a" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Oh, okay - I didn't know there was actually a place with that name - so I was wondering if it was meant to be "Barnacle".

Regards, Michael.

MJE · Post by **MJE** » 14 Aug 2012, 09:44

To tell the truth, I hadn't thought about the possible "rules" in sufficient depth to even consider whether the characters had to be Blyton ones or not. But I think I did indicate that following rules was not my uppermost concern. So yes, it's okay with me for people either to use Blyton's own characters, or their own - whatever you like, or whatever seems to fit best. (Although I suppose a title as specific as "Five...", for example, is *probably* going to be about the Famous Five - but I'm not going to insist on it.)
So please, let's not argue over it, or try to play "lawyer" with the rules. The "rules" simply are not rigorous enough to consistently support *any* lawyer-style interpretation. It's just a bit of fun, and a way of bringing up interesting story ideas, and talking about them - that's all!

Regards, Michael.

Loony the Dog · Post by **Loony the Dog** » 15 Aug 2012, 15:27

Ooh...

The Mystery of the Chinese Heirloom:

Miss Miao-Miao, a wealthy Chinese heiress, is guest of Lady Candling for a month in the Summer. Her English holiday is ruined when suddenly the priceless Sān Huáng Wǔ Dì Dynasty necklace is stolen from under her nose at a ball. Other jewel thefts have been appearing all over the country. It's up to the Five Findouters to solve the mystery before it's too late...

Daisy · Post by **Daisy** » 15 Aug 2012, 16:39

Sounds good Loony, but now perhaps someone will write a blurb for Pete's suggested title 'The Mystery of Bannacle Hill'.

Loony the Dog · Post by **Loony the Dog** » 15 Aug 2012, 16:46

Oops... I mustn't have read the instructions and got it wrong!

MJE · Post by **MJE** » 16 Aug 2012, 15:11

Loony the Dog wrote:Oops... I mustn't have read the instructions and got it wrong! :( :oops:

     Never mind - I guess anyone can make a mistake.
     Yes, the idea is to devise a plot for the *previous* person's title, and then invent a new one for the next person to assign a plot to - and so on.
     But if you really do have a plot for your own title (or any of the previous ones) and want to share it with us, feel free to do so - but please wait until after someone else has given their plot for that title, so as not to influence them subconsciously.

Regards, Michael.

Make up a book title, and guess what it might be about.

Make up a book title, and guess what it might be about.

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