Need Idea for Anthology Host/Storyteller. Like the Crypt Keeper or Rod Serling.

lukewarmwater · Jul 19, 2014

I'm writing an anthology and the stories will take place in the future and past and in fantasy and the real world. I need a narrator who can tell stories about all these times, but I can't think of one.

Part of me was thinking of having a bunch of narrators at a library, and there telling their favorite stories on the last day of the library before being torn down, but to me that's a little to bland and requires a lot of set up.

Another idea I had was archaeologists going into a cave and seeing different illustrations, but that's going to be hard to do with scifi/fantasy stories and I really need someone who is telling a story.

I'm stuck.

Any ideas? The ones I'm thinking of that I like are the crypt keeper, rod serling and the storyteller from Jim Henson's the storyteller.

Williebee · Jul 19, 2014

lukewarmwater said:
I'm writing an anthology and the stories will take place in the future and past and in fantasy and the real world. I need a narrator who can tell stories about all these times, but I can't think of one.

You need a Timekeeper. Part Chronos, part librarian. Probably played by John Hurt or Donald Sutherland, or maybe Wallace Shawn.

Or go the opposite way and make him or her perpetually young - Elijah Wood or Evanna Lynch.

Climb the ladder, pull the leather bound tome down. If he's young, let him put his feet on the outside of the rails and slide down.

Blow the dust off. Crack the book open and hold it level for you to see as the the world appears in small, domed hologram.

"Shall we go inside?"

Russell Secord · Jul 19, 2014

These days it would make sense to have a smartphone tell a story. Someone finds it in an unlikely location. It begins to play video or audio without any prompting. Some of the apps visible on the screen have disturbing icons or names. By the end of the story it may have attached itself to the finder in some way. Several other possibilities, including social media.

jkenton · Jan 13, 2015

Creepy Old Gramma who's just a little too cheerful...

ironmikezero · Jan 14, 2015

Whoa...

Williebee said:
You need a Timekeeper. Part Chronos, part librarian. Probably played by John Hurt or Donald Sutherland, or maybe Wallace Shawn.

Or go the opposite way and make him or her perpetually young - Elijah Wood or Evanna Lynch.

Climb the ladder, pull the leather bound tome down. If he's young, let him put his feet on the outside of the rails and slide down.

Blow the dust off. Crack the book open and hold it level for you to see as the the world appears in small, domed hologram.

"Shall we go inside?"

OMG... That is good - it just played out in mild sepia tones in the theater of my mind... complete with that network series feel... Hmm, I'm thinking a later evening time slot on a Thursday night... Well Done!

Jamesaritchie · Jan 14, 2015

I think you mean you're writing a collection, not an anthology. An anthology is a bunch of stories by different writers. A collection contains stories that are all written by you.

robjvargas · Jan 15, 2015

What if the narrator is as plain-vanilla as you can get. Until he or she stops in the middle of the room, and rips time-space open to send the reader to the next story?

jennontheisland · Jan 15, 2015

A little kid, laying in bed, making it all up, as little kids do.

WriterDude · Jan 17, 2015

Russell Secord said:
These days it would make sense to have a smartphone tell a story. Someone finds it in an unlikely location. It begins to play video or audio without any prompting. Some of the apps visible on the screen have disturbing icons or names. By the end of the story it may have attached itself to the finder in some way. Several other possibilities, including social media.

I was gonna suggest something very much like this. A sort of Illustrated Man of our time.

Need Idea for Anthology Host/Storyteller. Like the Crypt Keeper or Rod Serling.

lukewarmwater

Williebee

Capeless, wingless, & yet I fly.

Russell Secord

nearly perfect

jkenton

ironmikezero

practical experience, FTW

Jamesaritchie

robjvargas

jennontheisland

the world is at my command

WriterDude

Writer?