Beneath the Manicured Lawn
This post highlights a series of narrative fragments that peel back the layers of familiar settings to reveal the unease or the mystery underneath. These unfinished tales are constructed as mid-point intercepts, catching characters in moments of realization or danger without offering the safety of a conclusion. The lack of a defined ending serves to heighten the atmosphere, leaving the resolution entirely to the reader’s discretion.
Emerging from a study on the intersection of human creativity and applied artificial intelligence research, this collection tests the utility of digital tools as partners in the writing process. The initiative aims to broaden the scope of storytelling and scriptwriting workflows, providing a testbed for enhancing digital literacy through practical application.
The selection today traverses the unsettling quiet of Suburban Gothic and the puzzle-solving nature of Cozy Mystery. It also grounds itself in Contemporary Fiction and Slice of Life, before veering into the stark realities of Dystopian scenarios. These stories are the result of work by authors Jamie F. Bell and Leaf Richards, who have utilized these experimental methods to craft these scenes.
Consider these fragments as writing prompts for your own imagination. As you read, look for the clues scattered in the text and construct your own ending, effectively collaborating with the authors to finish the tale.
Today’s Unfinished Tales and Short Stories
Exploring the uncanny within the ordinary, this set of short stories moves from Suburban Gothic and Dystopian settings to the familiar comfort of Cozy Mystery and Contemporary Fiction. The narrative styles vary from Stream of Consciousness to Whimsical and Playful tones, underpinned by elements of Dark Comedy. Our initiative seeks to revolutionize publishing by promoting digital literacy and the integration of creative technology. Through the lens of AI-assisted narrative, we examine how these diverse genres reflect the complexity of the human experience in a modern context.
The Hum of the Substation at Dusk
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Dark Comedy | Genre: Suburban Gothic
The new subdivision was a ghost town of good intentions. Skeletons of half-built houses stood against the bruised purple sky, their windows empty sockets. The only finished things were the roads, perfect black ribbons of tarmac that went nowhere, and the electrical substation, a huge, caged beast crouched at the edge of it all, humming its single, monotonous note into the thick, humid air of the last night of August.
A Custard Tart and a Missing Trinket
Author: Leaf Richards | Category: Mystery | Genre: Cozy Mystery
The aroma of cinnamon and stale coffee hung thick in ‘The Daily Grind,’ a small café nestled on the main street of Willowbrook Falls. Outside, the early spring sun, watery and pale, was just beginning to coax reluctant green from the dormant branches of maples lining the pavement. Inside, Agnes Winter, a woman whose spectacles often sat askew on her nose, was meticulously dissecting a custard tart with a tiny fork, her attention only partially on the pastry. Her friend, Betty Davids, across from her, was in full flow, detailing the latest local scandal.
Where the Pavement Gives Up
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Stream of Consciousness | Genre: Contemporary Fiction
The car was parked where the gravel road dissolved into coarse sand and smooth, grey stones. The air was thick with the smell of low tide: salt, brine, and the faint, organic scent of decaying seaweed. The sky was a uniform, heavy grey, indistinguishable from the surface of the Atlantic, which rolled in with a slow, percussive rhythm, each wave collapsing on the shore with a heavy sigh.
A Blanket of Unscheduled Quiet
Author: Leaf Richards | Category: Whimsical / Playful | Genre: Dystopian
The city, usually a symphony of muted, rhythmic hums, found itself momentarily softened by a thin, unscripted layer of crystalline precipitation. It was a deviation, an aberration, from the meticulously catalogued weather patterns broadcasted daily. In the sprawling, geometric expanse of Centennial Park, where every tree and bench had its designated coordinates, the pristine white offered an unsettling, yet oddly beautiful, contrast to the rigid order. A cold, crisp air, sharp with the metallic scent of static electricity, hung heavy, stirring the skeletal branches of the ‘Approved Flora’ and hinting at a much deeper chill to come.
The Loom and the Algorithm
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Slice of Life | Genre: Slice of Life
The air in Seminar Room 3.2 was thick with the scent of lukewarm coffee and the subtle, metallic tang of an old radiator struggling against the late autumn chill. Outside, a light, insistent rain streaked the windowpanes, blurring the already grey cityscape into an Impressionistic wash. Inside, the hum of the fluorescent lights competed with the low murmur of anticipation, a prelude to the usual intellectual sparring.
About the Project
By design, these stories have no beginning and no end. Many stories are fictional, but many others are not. They are snapshots from worlds that never fully exist, inviting you to imagine what comes before and what happens next. We had fun exploring this project, and hope you will too.
The Unfinished Tales and Short Stories collection is part of an experimental, creative arts and research program by The Arts Incubator Winnipeg and the Art Borups Corners collectives. Each chapter is an interdisciplinary arts and narrative storytelling experiment focused on two key areas: AI-Assisted Scriptwriting, where researchers explore using AI to generate story ideas, plot structures, and alternative story arcs to enhance creative development; and Talent Development and Training, where the project studies the necessary skills for creative professionals to manage AI and immersive technologies in production, helping to inform future training curricula. The project was made possible with funding and support from the Ontario Arts Council Multi and Inter-Arts Projects program and the Government of Ontario. We thank them for supporting the arts, digital transformation research and innovation in Ontario.
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