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Out of Nowhere

My NaNoGenMo entry for 2018 is a 50,000-word stage play generated from the English example sentences given in late 19th and early 20th century European phrasebooks. Among a cast of seventeen, each character is assigned their own phrasebook and will only use verbatim sentences from it in their speech.

Dialogue is generated such that each line tends to be similar to or otherwise follow on from the previous one. Stage directions and scenery are created to match the generated dialogue of each scene.

Full text of first edition (50,581 words): https://kevan.org/nanogenmo/2018firstedition.html

Sample output:

ACT 1, SCENE 1

A cold railway carriage. It is raining outside. Jan is counting out money. Karen is leafing through a letter. Carla is sipping beer.

JAN: [persuasively] Is this the first time you have been at sea?

CARLA: This is the tenth time you have disobeyed me.

JAN: I must be back in London the day after to-morrow. We will leave that till the day after to-morrow.

CARLA: The English is in Europe, the language of well bred people.

JAN: That is too much, half will be enough. A mark is one shilling, English money.

KAREN: [abruptly] This you will always find, when you go to a foreign country.

CARLA: We intend to go to London next week.

KAREN: They intend to go abroad. Like you I am accustomed to the English.

[Jan glares at Carla]

CARLA: They speak to me, as well as to you and to them.

[Karen walks to the edge of the stage]

JAN: One goes slower on the Dutch railways than on the English.

KAREN: [pouring some beer] Are there railways only on this island?

JAN: He is going to Germany.

KAREN: He is going to fight.

JAN: [gloatingly] It is beginning to rain.

KAREN: There is still something to add. The picture is behind the door.

JAN: [pouring some beer] There is nothing more beautiful! There is nothing in it.

KAREN: The postage to England is 30 Shillings (9 d.) for a single letter.

JAN: The moon is in the first quarter. I go in the first cabin.

[a train pulls up]

CARLA: In England the beer is excellent. [mildly] I drink it without sugar.

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NaNoGenMo entry 2018: "Out Of Nowhere"

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