The blur Group blog has always been a bit of Tim Burton fan. We like his take on the unconventional, the wacky and taking everything just that one step further than anybody else… But now he’s only gone and trumped himself by creating a Crowdsourced script via Twitter!

The tale, which began its open-ended journey on November 22, is being written by Twitter users through what Tim Burton defines as “Cadavre Exquis” (Exquisite Corpse), which is a “technique used to collectively tell a story. Each contributor adds to the story in sequence, building on the last line revealed.”

So here’s the opening line to the story: “Stainboy, using his obvious expertise, was called in to investigate mysterious glowing goo on the gallery floor.”

NB (Stainboy has been recurring character in previous Burton stories, including The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy).

So how does it continue? Well essentially, that all depends on the likes of YOU! Tweet your next line, accompanied by #BurtonStory- and away it goes!

There are rules- Burton and his team select the best tweets of the day for use in the story, although all submissions can be read under the ‘All Submissions’ section- and spammy, or ‘inappropriate submissions’ are blocked altogether. And that’s about it! You can tweet as often as you like, and the chosen Crowdsourced tweets can be viewed under the ‘Read the Story’.

And to give you a taster of where the story is at present, here are the most recent published entries:

“He continued to struggle as the old man inched closer & closer, the goo on his lab coat beginning to glow. Stainboy tried to…clear his mind and focus, instinctively relying on his training for extricating himself from tight situations…The old man whipped his head around and stared at Stainboy. He brushed the dried goo off his coat, adjusted his glasses and…reached into the breast pocket of his lab coat. After a moment’s pause he pulled out a voluminous syringe, full of glowing goo.”

This could prove an absolute disaster- not that it matters particularly. I very much doubt Burton has designs for turning this masterpiece (?) into a smash-hit worldwide blockbuster any time soon. That said, considering the elaborate and dexterous nature of Burton’s usual story writing, this idea really might have legs and turn into something credible…  

But even if the story does turn out to be a bit rubbish, it’s still a great opportunity to add some creative writing clout to your CV- “I collaborated on a story with Tim Burton.” Not bad at all!

You have until Saturday December 6 to get involved with this Crowdsourced experiment. Which direction the story concludes is anyone’s guess…