Writing with a constraint: Mich's Summer Mystery

I spend the Summer working on the Mich's Summer Mystery. The solution to the mystery is that the letter A has been missing and the main character finally finds in it a book liberating my writing. This type of story is called a lipogram, it's not something new or something I created but it has been used by others before.

Why did I chose to write this story without the letter A?

When I was about 14 years old, my French teacher introduced a book called "La disparition" by Georges Perec. The entire novel is a mystery written in lipogram where the letter E has disappeared. I thought it was a brilliant idea and I really wanted to try to write something like that but I never thought I could. It is really hard to come up with twists and turns to make up for the lack of one single letter. At that time it was way beyond my writings abilities but then of course, somehow, I grew up and my skills grew and my confidence grew as well. 

I decided to give it a try. I decided for the letter A because well E had been done already and A is a really extensively used letter as well. I mean I was writing in Mich's point of view in the first person and I couldn't use anything like "I am", "I was" or even "There was". Something was missing and I couldn't even have other people ask her "What" it was. So this is the reason why A disappeared because I was sure it was something that people would notice. But they actually didn't.

What writing with a constraint did to my writing?

Well I have to say the first few posts were hell. I didn't have anything else than the idea that it needed to be a mystery and that I couldn't use any A. I had no plot, no characters and no location for it. I was on my own without As. The first thing that came to my mind was to get the main character to look for the As everywhere. I also decided to make the place a little foggy so everything around became Weird, not Strange, not Bizarre, just Weird. Then I needed to have her wake up, breathing, eating, walking and going to the bathroom without As. It was hell.

And then suddenly it seemed that my mind accustomed itself to it. When I opened the story the words would just flow out without A as if it was something absolutely normal. It surprised myself so much that I had to double check by underlining every A in the post. But the story was still without As. 

I think it helped me lot to get new vocabulary, especially different verbs, it helped me think the world differently as well, as every character and place needed to adapt to the new alphabet. It was a really enriching exercise. Maybe I'll do it again, who knows?

For the record, this post has 510 words and 165 As.

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Mich's Summer Mystery: Mystery solved

Hello wonderful people and welcome to the last Mich's Summer Mystery post. Today you won't have to kill your brain to try finding the answer but I'm sure you're going to go AH!!! When it's given.

Still no winner!! So the best participant, Chieftain Wang will receive a signed copy of Demon and Fairy anyway.

Last time, Josh took Mich to a bookstore but she doesn't like books so much.

And it's not her favorite place in the world.

If you didn't join the event don't worry there will be another one to win another of my novel next summer. So stay tune and not to miss the start of it you can follow one of those pages: Mes crazy experiences and Linda Hamonou's writing corner and on twitter @crazypuce.

 

After her weird awakening for lunch time, Mich met her mum in the Kitchen and she was very suspicious. Then it was time for shower. Mich was having some kind of problem with the mirror and she appears to be sucked inside it then she met the colorful inhabitants of this new side of the mirror and they were just mouths. She continued to explored the mirror world and met with some flower girls who didn't seem too happy that she had lost something, they pointed her to a group of rhinoceros attended to by a young boy who managed to get Mich to climb on the back of one of them. The rhinoceros knew everything and it took Mich straight to the tree and someone was waiting for her there. After some confusion between two people pretending to be the obscure professor Mich should follow, she finally picked one who took her out of the mirror. They arrive in UEC. Mich had some forms to sign, the obscure professor wants to send her on a trip that she doesn't know anything about. After a while in flight, she remembers that she planed on going to New York. Josh is waiting to meet her there, he plans to take her to a book store and she doesn't like books so much.

Mich's Summer Mystery: Mystery solved

"The Never Ending Story." 

I never knew someone wrote this story. I only knew the movie. When I first discovered it, I felt in love with the white, serpent looking plushy being which brings the kid everywhere. I thought it would be so cool to fly in the sky like this. Of course nobody else felt like this, my cousins told me it couldn't possibly fly, they found the story so stupid. You know without wings it's kind of difficult to fly. But still, I felt interested by the book now. I only did homework before, never something I enjoyed with books. I only opened them to get info, write reports.

If you don't know the Never Ending Story it goes like this: some kid who gets bullied by guys in his school ends up inside the book. The one book I just found now, in this weird looking bookstore.

I tried to see Josh but he seemed nowhere to be seen. I didn't noticed the size of the bookstore, so big I couldn't see the end of the shelves in my row, neither in front nor behind me.

Josh told me to look for info in the store, I still don't know where to begin. But books somehow... whichever could do. So I opened the Never Ending Story to begin somewhere. It stroke me in the eyes, the beginning of it, big.... it begun with A.

Every thing suddenly hit me, people needed to spin, of course they couldn't walk. Winter begun before time, of course Autumn is the only season with a A. AAA that was it, it was the part of me which had been missing all along and now I could use it every where... A, that part of my identity which had been stolen to me. AAA... my name is Micha.

I ran to Joshua and smiled, him too had it missing all along. 

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That's all for today. I hope you enjoyed this new part of the story. If you have any suggestion for next year's contest or something to say about this one, don't hesitate to leave a comment or to contact me at mescrazyexperiences@yahoo.com

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Mich's Summer Mystery: Books

Hello wonderful people and welcome to a new Mich's Summer Mystery post.

Still no winner!!

Last time, Josh took Mich to a bookstore.

And it's not her favorite place in the world.

We are getting close to the end of the story and to the end of the event. Hurry to give me your answers. Multiple tries allowed of course.

If you didn't join the event yet it's not too late, you can find the rules here, and be the first to know when the next Mich's Summer Mystery post is out by follow one of those pages: Mes crazy experiences and Linda Hamonou's writing corner, on twitter @crazypuce and on the facebook event page.  

 

After her weird awakening for lunch time, Mich met her mum in the Kitchen and she was very suspicious. Then it was time for shower. Mich was having some kind of problem with the mirror and she appears to be sucked inside it then she met the colorful inhabitants of this new side of the mirror and they were just mouths. She continued to explored the mirror world and met with some flower girls who didn't seem too happy that she had lost something, they pointed her to a group of rhinoceros attended to by a young boy who managed to get Mich to climb on the back of one of them. The rhinoceros knew everything and it took Mich straight to the tree and someone was waiting for her there. After some confusion between two people pretending to be the obscure professor Mich should follow, she finally picked one who took her out of the mirror. They arrive in UEC. Mich had some forms to sign, the obscure professor wants to send her on a trip that she doesn't know anything about. After a while in flight, she remembers that she planed on going to New York. Josh is waiting to meet her there, he plans to take her to a book store and she doesn't like books so much.

Mich's Summer Mystery: Books 

One thing for sure, there were lots of books in here. I turned to look behind me. Josh closed the door slowly trying not to be noisy but the rustiness of old door didn’t help. The bookstore seemed empty, full of books but empty of people. I turned to the books expecting them to be different. Expecting something to come to me, it would be nice to see something here to help me. I felt like I needed to go through the Everest except they build it with books. 

“I don’t like books,” I muttered to Josh who didn’t seem to be interested. 

He took his jumper of, I felt hot too but not so hot, the snow still glow in the street outside. 

“So where do we begging?” He smiled so bright, seemed so in his element in here, I struggled to get the words out of my mouth one more. 

“I don’t like books, they oppressed me somehow,” the feeling of pressure in my chest seemed to overcome me when I told him. 

“How is it possible?”

“There must be something you don’t like either.” 

If there were one or two things which completely pissed me off they would be people’s closed minds. 

You must be some sort of monster if you don't like books, so stupid, knowing nothing, being prone to violence... I would stop here, it unnerved me. 

I don’t like books, they don’t welcome me. So much words in so little lines. So much to tell but no voice. I didn’t need someone to tell me I should like them. It would just turn me off, dislike them even more. Books were burdensome. There were people everywhere to tell you which one to open, which to enjoy, which is good, which is the worse. I took some steps deeper in the forest of books trying not to look the cover flying over, getting out of their shelves. I needed to get further from Josh. I could still sense him next to me, he seemed to be following me, to try to tell me something but I couldn’t stop now. The shelves were moving, spinning, once more I felt dizzy, the dizziness which didn’t left me since I woke up with this thing missing out of my mind. 

Then I noticed it. It fell on the floor for everyone to see but nobody picked it up. Nobody but me with my dislike of books. 

On the front cover: “The NeverEnding story.” 

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That's all for today. I hope you enjoyed this new part of the story. A bookstore where you can't buy book, right? what is going on? Someone cares to enlighten me?  If you find why, you'll solve the mystery.

Did you already solve the mystery? I don't think so but if you did just let me know!
Send  your answer to mescrazyexperiences@yahoo.com

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Mich's Summer Mystery: Going to the book store

Hello wonderful people and welcome to a new Mich's Summer Mystery post.

Still no winner!!

Last time, Mich arrived in New York and a guy named Josh was waiting for her.

And today Josh is taking her to the book store.

We are getting close to the end of the story and to the end of the event. Hurry to give me your answers. Multiple tries allowed of course.

If you didn't join the event yet it's not too late, you can find the rules here, and be the first to know when the next Mich's Summer Mystery post is out by follow one of those pages: Mes crazy experiences and Linda Hamonou's writing corner, on twitter @crazypuce and on the facebook event page.  

After her weird awakening for lunch time, Mich met her mum in the Kitchen and she was very suspicious. Then it was time for shower. Mich was having some kind of problem with the mirror and she appears to be sucked inside it then she met the colorful inhabitants of this new side of the mirror and they were just mouths. She continued to explored the mirror world and met with some flower girls who didn't seem too happy that she had lost something, they pointed her to a group of rhinoceros attended to by a young boy who managed to get Mich to climb on the back of one of them. The rhinoceros knew everything and it took Mich straight to the tree and someone was waiting for her there. After some confusion between two people pretending to be the obscure professor Mich should follow, she finally picked one who took her out of the mirror. They arrive in UEC. Mich had some forms to sign, the obscure professor wants to send her on a trip that she doesn't know anything about. After a while in flight, she remembers that she planed on going to New York. Josh is waiting to meet her there, he plans to take her to a book store.

Mich's Summer Mystery: Going to the book store

“Mich, Do you need some sleep, or food?” Josh questioned. 

“I slept during the flight but I could do with some food. I’m thirsty too.” I told him.

“Then we’ll stop to get some food before going to the bookstore”

I still hoped to get to my hotel but Josh seemed to be is some sorts of rush. I sight deeply, my thought felt foggy.

“Why do we need to go to some bookstore, do you need to buy something there?”

“We need to find this thing, Mich, I only know it begun with you, this is why you flew here. Now the only possibilities I could think of is to go to the bookstore to get more insight on the missing thing. You still don’t know where or who or why?” Josh questioned once more.

I felt like I would never be left for myself, I would never rest until I found this thing. I could feel his urge trying to possess me too. I didn’t feel like myself, every time he questioned me I felt this missing thing… missing when it should be there. In his mouth it seemed completely… missing.

“I just know it is little, very little. I use it every hours, every minutes, most people do, it's difficult without it. I feel you miss it too, some pieces of me is missing with it. It’s missing for you too,” I told him.

I knew he wouldn’t get it. It seemed obscure even for me who thought so much of it, since I woke up the morning before. But he surprised me.

“Not everybody is missing it.” Josh told me looking through the bus’ window.

In the street, some people seemed to be lost. They spun to move just like the colorful people in the mirror. Others were progressing in lines. 

“Do you know why, they move so differently?” I questioned.

“It is difficult to tell, the people missing it like we do, the spinning ones were questioned. It’s some pieces of them, everybody told it like this, some pieces of them.”

“The others?”

“The others don’t use it too often not in their identity,” Josh’s words turned in my mind for long, the time to get food, the time to go to the bookstore.

I only thought “identity, identity” some pieces of my identity. I couldn’t comprehend which pieces of my identity missed but it felt somehow like it. My foggy thoughts, my memory… this missing thing’s effect on me seemed suddenly more serious. I left the bus, stood in front of the bookstore’s doors. It didn’t seem I could buy books in there. 

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That's all for today. I hope you enjoyed this new part of the story. A bookstore where you can't buy book, right? what is going on? Someone cares to enlighten me?  If you find why, you'll solve the mystery.

Did you already solve the mystery? I don't think so but if you did just let me know!
Send  your answer to mescrazyexperiences@yahoo.com

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Mich's Summer Mystery: New York

Hello wonderful people and welcome to a new Mich's Summer Mystery post.

Still no winner!! Bus someone tried and I'm pretty sure that with all the clues he will finally get the answer.

Last time, Mich was on a flight to New York trying to sleep

And today she arrived but the place is a bit messed up.

New York was proposed by Sheena.

If you didn't join the event yet it's not too late, you can find the rules here, and be the first to know when the next Mich's Summer Mystery post is out by follow one of those pages: Mes crazy experiences and Linda Hamonou's writing corner, on twitter @crazypuce and on the facebook event page.  

 

After her weird awakening for lunch time, Mich met her mum in the Kitchen and she was very suspicious. Then it was time for shower. Mich was having some kind of problem with the mirror and she appears to be sucked inside it then she met the colorful inhabitants of this new side of the mirror and they were just mouths. She continued to explored the mirror world and met with some flower girls who didn't seem too happy that she had lost something, they pointed her to a group of rhinoceros attended to by a young boy who managed to get Mich to climb on the back of one of them. The rhinoceros knew everything and it took Mich straight to the tree and someone was waiting for her there. After some confusion between two people pretending to be the obscure professor Mich should follow, she finally picked one who took her out of the mirror. They arrive in UEC. Mich had some forms to sign, the obscure professor wants to send her on a trip that she doesn't know anything about. After a while in flight, she remembers that she planed on going to New York.

 

Mich’s Summer mystery: New York

Very thick snow covered the entire city when I step out. Nobody seemed to notice we were in the middle of the summer. They put on winter clothes, continued with their live just like nothing differed. I took some cold oxygen inside my lungs but it didn’t go too deeply. The cold stopped it before it could. I froze. My fingers were turning blue, this definitely couldn’t be.

“Mich! I’m here!”

I felt relieved. I didn’t expect NewYork to be so weird but someone welcomed me.

“I’m sorry, it’s winter now, it never snows in September, but the world is upside down now. We need to find the thing you forgot,” the boy told me hurrying to hold my stuff, running to get us some ride through the city.

I climbed with him on the bus. I met him before, in UEC, he used to be member of the English club.

“Josh, I don’t know how me loosing something get it to snow in the middle of the summer, could you enlighten me?” This didn’t seem to improve. I wished I could go to bed, forget everything. This seem to be the weirdest time of my life.

“It’s not just you. It begun with you but then, the entire world forgot.” Josh told me.

“It’s the entire world?” I couldn’t believe it. “like some epidemic or virus?”

“Yes,”

“But why it is winter, where is the sunshine?” He frightened me. I couldn’t be responsible for everything.

“You wished to come to New York in winter, so here it is, New York winter with the snow, the enlightened tree, everything just few months before due time.”

“I did this?” the incredulity stuck to me.

“We did this, there is nothing left between summer….” He stopped there like forgetting something. I too felt the empty hole there in between. “Winter.” He finished.

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That's all for today. I hope you enjoyed this new part of the story. Nothing between Summer and Winter, really, what is going on? Someone cares to enlighten me?  

 

Did you already solve the mystery? I don't think so but if you did just let me know!
Send  your answer to mescrazyexperiences@yahoo.com

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Mich’s Summer mystery: In flight

Hello wonderful people and welcome to a new Mich's Summer Mystery post.

Still no winner!!  Last time, The obscure professor made Mich sign some form to get her on a trip for somewhere mysterious.

And today we are going to discover where Mich is going.

If you didn't join the event yet it's not too late, you can find the rules here, and be the first to know when the next Mich's Summer Mystery post is out by follow one of those pages: Mes crazy experiences and Linda Hamonou's writing corner, on twitter @crazypuce and on the facebook event page.  

After her weird awakening for lunch time, Mich met her mum in the Kitchen and she was very suspicious. Then it was time for shower. Mich was having some kind of problem with the mirror and she appears to be sucked inside it then she met the colorful inhabitants of this new side of the mirror and they were just mouths. She continued to explored the mirror world and met with some flower girls who didn't seem too happy that she had lost something, they pointed her to a group of rhinoceros attended to by a young boy who managed to get Mich to climb on the back of one of them. The rhinoceros knew everything and it took Mich straight to the tree and someone was waiting for her there. After some confusion between two people pretending to be the obscure professor Mich should follow, she finally picked one who took her out of the mirror. They arrive in UEC. Mich had some forms to sign, the obscure professor wants to send her on a trip that she doesn't know anything about. 

Mich’s Summer mystery: In flight

The obscure professor didn’t tell me much while we were going to get my flight. He seemed to be rushing through everything pulling on my purple box. I wondered where he hide so much strength. He is so little, I couldn’t see his muscles, he is too skinny. 

I struggled to follow him. My mind seemed filled with so much questions. I couldn’t forget the mirror, my memory of it blurred further with every step we took. I needed to remember. 

“Stop, stop! I need to go to the mirror now, I forgot something, I…” I told him hurrying to prevent more memories to be gone. 

 He just continued to go, wherever he intended to go, I didn’t know. I couldn’t continue with this confusion. I stopped looking everything so different while not so different either. I tried to remember I knew where we were, I knew the mirror could only be my mind joking. I needed some rest but we couldn’t spend time on it. He stopped noticing I didn’t follow, took my wrist with his free fingers, got me up. We were going. 

He left me in the bus, with my bus ticket, the box with my stuff. 

“Goodbye! Enjoy yourself! Come to us when rested!” 

I felt perplex. I looked through the window when the bus left with some sense of remembering something, something very tiny which I could see everywhere. The feeling didn’t stick to my mind long enough. I took the flight ticket “New York”. 

Yes, we worked on it for months. I took the oxygen inside of my lungs few times, closed my eyes. 

I could sleep before the flight. No more weird things. Only me, the ticket, the flight. There were no problems to get to my flight, no spinning, no weird colorful people, no rhinoceros. The flight seemed boring next to the mirror, I wrote it down, everything before it went further from my mind. I seemed like some weird story, which on one would believe. I didn’t believe them either. Did I sleep? Did the obscure professor woke me up before the flight? It seemed unlikely I remembered the shower, but the opposite seemed so weird. I needed to sleep now, before getting there, it would be some long flight. I didn’t feel in the mood to go through the movie or music list. I closed my notebook on my knees, closed my eyes, decided to sleep. I would be in New York soon enough. 

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That's all for today. I hope you enjoyed this new part of the story. Any idea where Mich should go next?  Did you already solve the mystery? I don't think so but if you did just let me know!
Send  your answer to mescrazyexperiences@yahoo.com

Find us on Google+

Mich's Summer Mystery: UEC

Hello wonderful people and welcome to a new Mich's Summer Mystery post.

Still no winner!!  Last time, Mich met the obscure professor and he took her out of the mirror.

And today we are going to discover where the obscure professor took Mich.

The place was proposed by Nik Kiri on the event picture.

If you didn't join the event yet it's not too late, you can find the rules here, and be the first to know when the next Mich's Summer Mystery post is out by follow one of those pages: Mes crazy experiences and Linda Hamonou's writing corner, on twitter @crazypuce and on the facebook event page.  

After her weird awakening for lunch time, Mich met her mum in the Kitchen and she was very suspicious. Then it was time for shower. Mich was having some kind of problem with the mirror and she appears to be sucked inside it then she met the colorful inhabitants of this new side of the mirror and they were just mouths. She continued to explored the mirror world and met with some flower girls who didn't seem too happy that she had lost something, they pointed her to a group of rhinoceros attended to by a young boy who managed to get Mich to climb on the back of one of them. The rhinoceros knew everything and it took Mich straight to the tree and someone was waiting for her there. After some confusion between two people pretending to be the obscure professor Mich should follow, she finally picked one who took her out of the mirror. 

Mich’s summer mystery: UEC

My eyes wouldn’t stop looking the shift in the obscure professor. His form in this world, his clothes, they were nothing like they were in the mirror. I wonder if I looked so weird too. I discovered myself to be used to the colorful world on the other side. The other side of my shower room mirror but we were not in the shower room. I turned left, right in confusion, knowing I didn’t need to spin to progress in this world. We were where we belonged, it felt different, the hot wind of summer on my skin, the humidity, the voice of the semi. I knew where we were without doubt.

The professor dusted himself, coughed, he looked puzzled. 

“I got you here, you were difficult to find.”

“I didn’t know I need to come here on week-end.” I didn’t like to go to the university on week-end, it felt like disrespecting my free time.

“It’s fun here on week-end, lots of people pretending to study.” The professor moved to show me the students but found nobody.

He coughed once more. The university felt empty. Nobody studied on week-end. I sure knew it.

“Let’s go to my office, we need to put the forms in order for your trip,” the professor move to the highest tower.

“My trip?” nobody told me I needed to go on trip before, where would I go? I didn’t bring new clothes, or toothbrush. “There is no time to go on trip, I need to find something I lost, it's something…”

“I know I know but where could it be, you don’t know it, you don’t even know who took it, could you recognize it?”
The question turned me upside down, could I recognize it? I didn’t know.

We took the lift to his office, it smelled like old books. The obscurity stroked me. I knew why he is the obscure professor despite the smile from cheek to cheek. 

“Sign the forms.”

I needed to look through them first. 

“Could you turn on the light?”

He growled but turned it on in the end. I wondered if he knew where to find the button. 

Only one thing disturbed me on the form. I couldn’t figure out where I would be going.

“Just sign the form.”

“Where will I go then?”

He still smiled. 
“We worked on it for weeks, did the mirror got you so forgetful? How long did you spend in there?”

“I don’t know”

“You need to get to your flight quickly,” he pulled my stuff from behind his desk, I recognized it for I put rhinoceros stickers on the blue cover. 

“Hurry up,” he continued going to the door.

I signed, he took the form. I followed him to the corridor. I guess I’ll figure the rest during the flight. 

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That's all for today. I hope you enjoyed this new part of the story. Any idea where Mich should go next?  Did you already solve the mystery? I don't think so but if you did just let me know!
Send  your answer to mescrazyexperiences@yahoo.com

Find us on Google+