“Most of us have only two or three genuinely interesting moments in our lives, the rest is filler... At the end of our lives, most of us will be lucky if any of those moments connect together to form a story that anyone would find remotely interestingâ€
One of my favourite writers is Douglas Copeland.
The name of this swap (and the quote above) are taken from his book 'Generation X', which is a novel where the central characters tell each other stories.
The idea of this swap is therefore to tell your partners three (true) stories or anecdotes:
The first should be about a member of your family – perhaps something you were told about your legendary Great Grandfather, or the story of how your parents met, or an amusing tale of your eccentric aunt's behaviour at a family gathering.
The second should be about someone else – a lover, friend, work colleague etc.
The third should be about yourself.
You will have three partners, and send each of them copies of your three stories.
But these don't have to be full-sized short stories, they could just be a few paragraphs describing a particular event. It doesn't have to be a huge life-changing event, it could be just a memory of the person, or a description of something you remember them saying or whatever... It could be funny or tragic or poignant. But do try and take time to describe things in the best way that you can, and make it interesting to read.
Summary:
* Three Partners
* Send each of them three 'stories' (which can each be quite short)
* The three stories will be about a family member, another person, and yourself.
* To be sent by post (not email), but will probably just be cheap, 'flat mail'.
How you interpret these basic requirements is then senders choice.
You could send each story on a handmade 'PostSecret' style postcard, or produce a mini-zine. You could hand-write them in a little journal or simply print them out onto computer paper.
How much effort and pride you put into the presentation is up to you; in the end, this swap is just about sharing our lives and getting to know each other a bit better.
Newbies are allowed.
I will check profiles before assigning partners, and will drop anyone who seems to having problems.
Please do not flake; if you need extra time then please communicate with me, and with your partners, and I'm sure we can work something out.
If anyone does flake then I will arrange for the swap to be angelled.
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