The House of Words is a collaborative creative writing project, part of the Boulevard des Desseins in LinguaMOO. The House consists of writing events organized by cahoots and Everdeen. For each event a new room is added, with its own theme, that serves as a place for writing and chat during the event and as a permanent installation afterwards. The room's description, details, image and furniture objects suggest the theme and atmosphere for contributed articles. They also preserve the spirit of the event for future visitors to the room.

The first series of events (October 2002-March 2003) each take a holiday as the central inspiration for its theme. This theme is reflected in both the room being built and in the genre of writing being sought as contributions.

Forbidden Room (Halloween and Guy Fawkes) -- horror

How to peek into the Forbidden Room

Dining Room (Thanksgiving) -- mystery and family

Stables (Christmas, Boxing Day and the New Year) -- childhood memories

A window into the Stables and a chance to read a random story from the Hayloft

Blue Bedroom (St. Valentine's Day) -- romance and travel

Ballroom (Mardi Gras) -- festival and celebration

In keeping with a room's theme, objects are created to hold individual writing pieces. Writing can be contributed by guests as well as LinguaMOO citizens and remain a part of the room's installation. Even after the event is over, visitors are encouraged to add theme-appropriate writing to each room.

In contrast to individual writing contributions and objects, a chain story in each room is open for contributions only during that event.

Each room also contains an homage to the words of the French philosopher, Gaston Bachhelard, which inspired the name of the project, and to the game of Adventure, which gave birth to MOOing.

The House of Words is located at LinguaMOO.

To visit the House of Words, go to the LinguaMOO login page at: http://lingua.utdallas.edu:7000/

User ID = Guest
Password = [leave this field blank]
Hit: Enter
A new browser window will open.
You will be in the Courtyard which will appear in the right frame.
In the text box at the bottom of the left frame, type: @go House of Words
The House of Words will appear in the right frame.
Enjoy exploring from there!
[For additional assistance while visiting LinguaMOO, type: help ]

The House of Words may also be reached from the Courtyard via the Collaboratory and then the Boulevard des Desseins by clicking on the links in the right frame.