Weekly Unfinished Tales and Short Stories from our Dataset
Welcome to our weekly dispatch from the ‘Unfinished Tales and Short Stories’ collection, a curated selection of narrative experiments from our ongoing creative arts and research program. This interdisciplinary arts and storytelling project was undertaken primarily for fun, and to explore the boundaries of what we can do when we combine diverse creative impulses in an exploratory, open-ended environment.
These narrative fragments and character studies are more than just creative exercises; they are vital components of our research. They serve as a dynamic dataset for exploring AI-assisted scriptwriting, idea generation, and the construction of alternative story arcs. Furthermore, they provide a practical framework for studying the talent development and training needs of creative professionals navigating the intersection of AI, immersive technologies, and interdisciplinary storytelling.
Today’s Unfinished Tales and Short Stories
The Glacial Grin
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Contemporary Fiction | Genre: Coming-of-Age
A biting winter wind scoured the city, whipping around the grey towers of glass and steel. Snow, already old and gritty, clung to the corners of buildings and lay in crusty drifts along the sidewalks, reflecting a pale, indifferent light. Inside, the sterile hum of an office building offered little warmth, only the cold promise of another monotonous day.
The Unfurling Weaver’s Knot
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Psychological Drama | Genre: Espionage / Spy Fiction
The mid-afternoon sun, a persistent, heavy presence, baked the ancient cobblestones of Malá Strana, drawing a shimmering heat haze from the old stones. The scent of roasted coffee and something vaguely floral, mixed with the faint, metallic tang of the trams, hung thick and humid in the summer air. Ted sat, outwardly unremarkable, a man absorbed in the careful unwrapping of a traditional Bohemian glass piece, the delicate clink of glass against paper a counterpoint to the distant, rhythmic clang of a church bell.
The Crimson Exhale
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Boys Love (BL) | Genre: Satire
The air, sharp with the bite of a prairie winter, usually carried the scent of woodsmoke and ice. Tonight, it tasted metallic, like copper and distant ozone. A peculiar amber glow, not quite natural for a January evening, pulsed against the grey-blue canvas of the sky. It felt wrong, like watching a movie frame-by-frame, each breath of the wind a stutter in the world’s rhythm.
The Sky’s Last Joke
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Expository | Genre: Dark Comedy
The kitchen window, usually just a frame for grey spring skies and slush, now glows with an impossible, sickly orange. A child, Abraham, watches the distorted light consume the familiar Winnipeg street, his small world shrinking under an indifferent, colourful apocalypse.
Mud-Stained Ambition
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Stream of Consciousness | Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
The air, thick with the scent of pine and damp earth, pressed down. Early spring had turned the narrow track up Crimson Canyon into a treacherous ribbon of greasy mud and slick stone, each step a gamble against gravity. Overhead, the sky, a bruised purple, promised an imminent tempest, but beneath it, two figures, small against the vast, rugged landscape, pushed onward, their breath pluming in the chill.
Design Notes and Applied Research
This collection demonstrates a focused exploration of narrative craft within the context of digital-era storytelling. The inclusion of structurally demanding forms like stream of consciousness and psychological drama highlights a core objective: the rigorous development of authorial skill and voice. Simultaneously, the presence of genres such as Young Adult Contemporary and Boys Love (BL) acknowledges the digital transformation of the arts, engaging with categories shaped by online communities and new modes of distribution.
The juxtaposition of varied genres, from satire to espionage, provided a dynamic and insightful framework for this project. This deliberate blend challenged creators to adapt their techniques across different tonal and structural expectations, proving to be a valuable exercise in narrative versatility. As an experiment, this collection successfully maps the diverse skills necessary for contemporary storytellers navigating the intersection of classic form and digital immediacy.
About the Project
The Unfinished Tales and Short Stories collection was an interdisciplinary arts and narrative storytelling experiment in 2025. It was part of a creative arts and participatory research project by The Arts Incubator Winnipeg and the Art Borups Corners collectives. It focuses on two key areas: AI-Assisted Storytelling and Scriptwriting, exploring AI tools for generating ideas, plot structures, and story arcs; and Talent Development and Training, studying digital skills, literacy and training needs for creative professionals by experimenting with AI and immersive technologies to inform future projects. Funding and support were generously provided by the Ontario Arts Council Multi and Inter-Arts Projects program and the Government of Ontario. We thank them for supporting the arts, digital transformation, and applied Artificial Intelligence (AI) research.
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