A Thousand Words For Love |
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Welcome to athousandwordsforlove.co.uk
A Thousand Words For Love has been set up for the sole purpose of raising much needed funds for the charity, Helen and Douglas House. Helen and Douglas House is a hospice for children and young adults that provides 24 hour care and support for them and their families. For full details of the charity and how they distribute their funds follow the links for the site on the left. Note that 100% of all monies raised by the project on this site will be collected by the charity Helen and Douglas House directly, no actual money will pass through this site - all will be explained below. All start up fees have been met by the founders of the site, and the site will be maintained at no expense to the Helen and Douglas House. Those of you who saw the series of documentaries about Helen House on the BBC in 2007 will understand the love and assistance that is given to help these families' unimaginable heartache through a children's hospice. Ok, so what is the idea behind this site and how does it hope to raise money for those kids and young adults and their familes being cared for by Helen and Douglas House What we at athousandwordsforlove.co.uk aim to do is publish a book made with contributions by up to 100 of the country's top published authors.
How will we do this? We will contact directly the literati of the Why would they want to participate? To help us help these kids and young adults, their parents and families; to have a very real impact on the care of these people in the It will be challenging enough to the writer to be engaging, and an interesting, ambitious experiment in a literary concept. It will not require a great deal of time, and it is something that can be done from the privacy of their own homes, and hell, they might even enjoy it. It will also give them the opportunity to sit amongst their peers within the pages of a unique publication, that will be entirely shaped by the randomness in which the participating writers are sequenced. Each writer will be asked to provide exactly 1,000 words to be 'donated' to the finished work. They may know the names of other authors involved, if they wish, but not the order in which they have contributed. Each subsequent writer will be able to read the novel up to the point at which they are to continue the story. They will be expected to maintain and develop the storyline. The fact that it is only 1,000 words is very interesting, and indeed very relative to this site and the charity for which it is trying to generate funds: for it is about doing as much as you can within a limited frame. The thousand words could be reached mid-sentence, perhaps during an important conversation, or plot development. The writers are being urged not to rewrite their work to fit its confines, but to just stop writing when it gets to precisely 1,000 words. How long will the book take to complete? That depends entirely upon the writers involved of course, but we expect the project to come to fruition within five years. It may end up being completed sooner or later than we anticipate, however, all we do know for sure is that we will continue with the project until it is complete. When the book is published we hope to set up a small forum on the site, in which contributors and interested parties can voice opinions and ideas, and can comment on particular sections. Note that the text of the novel will not show any indication of where one writer finishes and another begins, but this information will be made available on this site - or you could always just count. You will be able to rate what you think the best chunks and also try to guess which author wrote which piece. Eventually, these facts will be revealed on the site.
What wil happen when this projects is completed? This project is very much a one off. It is ambitious in its nature, which is what will make it so interesting to read. It shall remain a unique publication for many years to come.
How much do we hope to raise? In short, it is impossible to predict how much and depends entirely upon the number of books sold. So please, spread the word about this project, add our link to your sites, buy a book for yourself, your friends when the time comes, or donate directly to Helen and Douglas House. Become part of it. Help us raise as much as possible. What is the legal standing of the site? Though we are not a charity, we are working directly with Helen and Douglas House. Helen & Douglas House is a registered charity (1085951). We reiterate that NO monies whatsoever shall pass through this site or anyone connected to it. All monies raised will be paid directly to the charity via booksale receipts. The site and project will be overseen by them and they have full control and authority over content and operation of the site and project. In order that things remain uncomplicated, all rights to the 1,000 words donated by each contributor will remain with the Helen and Douglas House charity. This will include film rights - which will be available to any film company which wishes to make a large donation to the charity. If you are interested in this, please contact us here, or the charity direct, and we can let you know more.
Please help us to help these families. |
