On March 30th, in the year of their 25th anniversary, Fall for the Book—George Mason University’s independent non-profit literary arts organization—hosted its first Story Sprint in over two years. Part of Fall for the Book’s new year-round programming schedule, the event poses an exciting challenge: write a compelling story given one line with which to start it, one with which to end it, and 20 minutes to do it. "It's been years since we've been able to host Story Sprint in person, and it feels so good to get the writing community back together to have fun and host some friendly competition,” said Suzy Rigdon, Fall for the Book’s festival manager. “This is one of my favorite events, because it challenges the authors and the audience to test their writing chops."
This year’s Story Sprint featured an array of established writers, including Laura Ellen Scott, a participant in the last Story Sprint before the pandemic who emceed the event, and competitors Tara Campbell, author of the spooky, fabulist story collection Cabinet of Wrath, Michael Landweber, author of the mind-bending novel The Damage Done, and Nathan Leslie, author of the strange, caustic story collection The Invisible Hand. With the help of the audience, who submitted suggestions for the opening and closing sentences and took them to a grand vote, these three authors met their prompts. With 20 minutes on the clock, Tara Campbell, Michael Landweber, and Nathan Leslie were to write a story beginning with the line, “I’ve been craving apple cider all week,” and closing with, “That’s why I always check my voicemail.” After their allotted time was up, each story would be judged, and one would be crowned winner.
“Story Sprint is nerve-wracking fun,” Laura Ellen Scott commented before Thursday’s event. “When I participated in the Story Sprint challenge in 2020, I lost to S.A. Cosby, who has since gone on to become a New York times bestselling author and winner of the LA Times Book Prize. No pressure, Tara, Nathan, and Michael!”
While the authors drafted their submissions, the audience also had a chance to participate in the fun through an interactive writing workshop, where members got a chance to try their hand at writing six-word stories and experimented with artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT’s short story writing abilities. Then, the three challengers shared their work. The pieces ranged from stories about stuffed animal plushies, to a relationship detailed over voicemails, to an extraterrestrial infant, with two of the three stories oddly including a broken ankle. For his captivating story about an alien baby with no special powers, Michael Landweber won.
“Suzy and I first talked about Story Sprint when we were thinking about ways we could shake up the traditional reading and bring a different kind of energy to the event,” Kara Oakleaf, director of Fall for the Book, stated when asked about the origins of the competition. “We weren’t sure if any writers would be willing take on something like this, an event they had no way of preparing for. But every time, we’ve had writers embrace the challenge and come back with remarkable stories, as well as audiences who are game to try out their own writing. There’s a creative energy to the whole event that is so much fun to experience.”
Story Sprint is part of Fall for the Book’s new year-round programming schedule. To see all of the festival’s 25th Anniversary offerings, visit fallforthebook.org.