Hotel China

Dear All

Just wanted to let you know the results of our initial story-sharing meeting that took place at the Fringe on Tuesday 6 May.

In attendance were Lawrence Gray, Jane Wallace, Betty Bhownath, Jeff Zroback, Ian Greenfield, Christine Shin, Reid Mitchell and Tammy Ho.

At this point the stories are still a bit sketchy so most people were nervous about putting forward their ideas. Eventually though we all shook off our stage fright and the stories are looking like this:

1. Love cheat feels guilty and takes his wife to the same room to do it all over again.

2. Family members return to scene of murder 20 years on to solve the whodunnit.

3. Down on her luck hooker finds new client in the bar.

4. Three swinging couples get together with the concierge.

5. Underachieving woman seeks out old boyfriend to resolve current issues.

6. Psycho guest goes murderously wild.

7. Hotel is back drop for a con.

8. Tales of the guests from the perspective of the room.

9. Long-stayer watches expat and other guest antics.

Everyone at the meeting is going to send fuller descriptions of their stories and characters to Lawrence who will put it up on our website so anyone who also wants to submit a story to the Hotel China collection can get a grasp of what's going on. 

None of this is set in stone so please do not think that you can't write your story or there won't be room - there is. There are still loads of storylines up for grabs and lots of characters to borrow, have appearing in your story, or even team up with personalities in other stories. Christine and Reid agreed to try a collaboration! Or you can ignore all the shared characters and simply stick to your own, they are only optional.

Although the word limit is 5,000, much shorter pieces are also welcome such as conversations overhead, anecdotes told in the bar, maybe even the suicide note found in the bin! 

The shape of the book will be dictated by what goes in to it and at the moment that's difficult to tell! But it will certainly be a lot different and much more innovative than our last collections, so don't miss this chance to contribute your own story and have a stake in the direction of the project! 

The first workshop is tentatively planned for Tuesday 17 June, so get writing now! There will be one in July and probably one in September. More details will be announced nearer the time.