I am fortunate enough to get a chance to be part of Game of blogs and experience this amazing yet different way, how a story was made with 10 different brains working part by part. Unfortunately my team was not among the winning team.
It
feel great to read the amazing winning stories and got a chance to review the
compilation of 3 winning stories as six degrees!
About The Game
In
the September of 2014, when BlogAdda decided to #CelebrateBlogging, the office
went into a frenzy to come up with the one activity that would capture the
imagination of the blogging community. After several brainstorming sessions, an
idea was born- Game of Blogs!
For
the first time in the history of Indian blogging, bloggers would collaborate
and work single-mindedly towards one goal- write a story based on the
characters given by BlogAdda. In another first, the best story would be
published in the form of a book- the first collaborative blogging novel!
We
invited bloggers, extended personal invitations to them and finally had 30
teams of ten members each! Let the games begin!
The rules were simple- each team would have to write 1 blog post a day, weaving an absorbing story as they went along. This entailed a huge collaborative effort from the teams as they had to coordinate the order and content of the story which had to be written.
The
jury for Game of Blogs consisted of the top names from the author community,
including Ashwin Sanghi, Natasha Badhwar, Ravi Subramanian, Meghna Pant, Raksha
Bharadia and Kiran Manral.
The
teams employed every means of communication available- calls, messages and
social media to come together to write amazing blog posts each week, breathing
life into all the characters and adding some of their own. So much so that at
the end of Week 1, the impressed judges decided not to eliminate any team!
Round Two saw the introduction of a twist in the
tale, with BlogAdda throwing a curveball at the teams. The teams responded and
how by hitting a home run on the twist, making the stories more interesting!
Sadly,
20 teams were eliminated after Round Two as 10 teams carried on with the Game
of Blogs challenge. BlogAdda felt that none of the stories should remain
incomplete, so we introduced a Wild Card round where the
eliminated teams could continue with their stories and get a chance to still be
in the reckoning.
The
Game of Blogs teams had the time of their lives (their words, not ours) putting their
heads together and writing some great quality fiction content which though
written by different people, had to look seamless.
At the end of the challenge, we announced the Top 5 teams which had bowled over the jury with their stories.
At the end of the challenge, we announced the Top 5 teams which had bowled over the jury with their stories.
You
must be wondering why we are telling you this, because you have lived the
excitement of Game of Blogs and #CelebrateBlogging with us. Well, we just
wanted to relive those moments with you before we announced the winners of Game
Of Blogs!
Yes,
the wait is over and we have the winning teams of Game of Blogs right here:
A
huge round of applause to all the winning teams! Thank you to all of you who
participated in Game of Blogs and gave us unforgettable stories. It is because
of you that #CelebrateBlogging became a huge celebration in the truest sense.
A
big thank you to the judges who pored over hundreds of pages of stories and
selected the best stories from Game of Blogs.
About
the book:
This book as you know is the labour of love of the top 3 teams of the Game of Blogs activity at BlogAdda, which means you will read 3 engrossing tales in this book.
The Game of Blogs activity is the result of India's first collaborative blogging initiative, where 30 teams all over India came together to write linked stories on their blogs, taking the story forward. It was a one of its kind activity, which transformed bloggers into authors!
Characters
Shekhar Dutta –
Stay home Dad, freelance writer, Hindu, Stays in Mumbai
- Description – French beard, bald, average height, fair, thin specs, lean, and wears t-shirt & track pants generally, ever smiling.
Tara Dutta –
Shekhar’s wife, Media professional, career oriented woman.
- Description – Fair, short hair, tall, prim & proper dressed, wear formals & high heels.
Roohi Dutta –
9 years girl, Shekhar and Tara’s Daughter
- Description – Fair, healthy, notorious, 2 ponytail, wear frill frocks.
Jennifer Joseph –
Photographer, Christian, Stays in Kochi (Kerala)
- Description – Dusky, average height, tattoo on right hand, wears casual shorts and tees, lots of accessories, always carries a camera.
Cyrus Daruwala –
A law student, stays in Delhi
- Description – Tall, extremely fair, big specs, curly hair, stern face, and beard on the chin.
BOOK REVIEW:
Every
person has its own style of writing/telling a story, and when 10 brains work on
one story, it will be interesting or it will be crazy for sure. Here situation
is not much far from reality the stories woven by 3 teams on a same plot comes
under different genre. It is similar to making of same dish by 3 different
chef, obviously texture, aroma and taste would differ.
Reading
all the stories gave me a feel, our team was not too far, but these stories are
the best possible way one could imagine.
All
characters are well balanced and were well etched. The connection between
characters were crystal clear.
First
chapter gives you a good feel and keep you hooked. The story headed to a
suspense in first chapter itself, that’s the beauty of weaving a story with
your own flavors. In the end I felt lack of edge and thoughts. I felt the story
was dragged and ended forcefully.
The
second story entangled lives is a murder mystery. The maid servant at Dutta’s
house is killed. By a strange stroke of coincidence all the characters land up
at the Dutta residence at the time of murder. As a result all of them are
suspected murderers. How the cop finds out the real culprit is an interesting
tale to read. The story changes tones in many chapters. That affects the
reading experience adversely. For example the cop Java has all his soliloquies
in English. But in chapter 29, he suddenly speaks to himself in Marathi, that
too incorrect Marathi. However the end of the story is absolutely brilliant. It
is something different and unexpected.
Third
story was kind of mysterious one and confusing too. It seems on and off track and
the story left us with suspense and left the guessing game for us. . The flash
backs should have been gelled well. . I would have loved if the writers had
elaborated it. But still this story of a gay man is something different.
All
three stories are well written and keep you glued till the end. But the book is
poorly edited, which mars the reading experience. Line spacing between many
words is missing. Apostrophe is typed as > instead of ‘.I wish these
mistakes could have been avoided. Yet I loved the book.
My rating will be: 3.5/5
6
Degrees is India's first book published through collaborative blogging, written
completely by bloggers for the Game of Blogs activity at BlogAdda. Know more
about Game of Blogs here. You can buy 6 Degrees: Game of Blogs if you liked the review.
:)
To
buy click : Buy now
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