Weekly Unfinished Tales and Short Stories from our Dataset
Welcome to our daily collection of narrative experiments, drawn from the ‘Unfinished Tales and Short Stories’ dataset. This ongoing creative arts and research program began as an interdisciplinary exploration undertaken simply for fun, and to learn what we can do at the intersection of storytelling and technology. The stories presented here are small windows into that larger experiment, capturing moments of human connection and conflict that form the raw material of our narrative investigations.
These narrative fragments serve a dual purpose within our research framework. For our work in AI-Assisted Scriptwriting, they act as rich, character-driven prompts, providing nuanced scenarios that can be used to generate alternative plot structures or explore divergent story arcs with generative models. Concurrently, they are instrumental in our Talent Development studies, offering tangible case studies for creative professionals. By analyzing these tales, we can better understand the evolving skills needed to manage AI-driven creative workflows and foster the digital literacy required for modern, interdisciplinary storytelling.
Today’s Unfinished Tales and Short Stories
The Peril of Prairie Delays
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Family Saga | Genre: Family Saga
The Winnipeg train station, usually a bustling hub of departures and hurried greetings, was now a purgatory of delayed Christmas hopes. Fluorescent lights hummed with a weary indifference above a scattered congregation of stranded travellers. Outside, the world was a blur of snow-whipped grey, a true prairie white-out, pressing against the vast windows like a ghostly hand. Inside, the air was thick with the faint, metallic tang of an old building, overlaid with the less pleasant smell of too many bodies in too small a space, the persistent whine of a toddler, and the faint, sweet decay of forgotten festive cheer.
A Delay of Sorts and Frozen Pines
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Cinematic | Genre: Family Saga
The air in the station hung thick with the cloying scent of stale coffee and damp wool, a stark contrast to the biting cold that relentlessly clawed at the city’s edges outside. Fluorescent lights hummed a weary tune overhead, casting a sickly yellow glow on the restless throngs gathered on the hard-tiled floor. It was a holding pen, not a transit hub, each delayed soul a pixel in a sprawling, impromptu canvas of winter despair.
Frostbitten Futures
Author: Tony Eetak | Category: Cinematic | Genre: Family Saga
The Winnipeg train station, usually a hive of hurried departures and tearful reunions, was, on this biting December morning, a stagnant pool of festive frustration. Flashes of tinsel glinted mockingly under the harsh fluorescent lights, and the distant, tinny carols only amplified the rising hum of discontent. A thin layer of slush clung to the floor just inside the automatic doors, tracked in by an endless stream of parkas and frost-dusted boots, each arrival adding another layer to the general, simmering chaos.
The Scrimshaw of October
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Epistolary | Genre: Slice of Life
The air already held that crisp, almost brittle edge of late October, hinting at the frost that would soon cling to everything. Outside the coffee shop, a solitary red maple clung to its last, most defiant leaves, each one a stark, almost violent splash of colour against the dulling grey sky. Inside, the scent of stale coffee grounds and cinnamon hung heavy, mingling with the low murmur of conversations and the incessant hum of the pastry display fridge. The window, streaked with condensation, offered a distorted view of the street, where puddles reflected the bruised evening light, and the first few streetlights blinked on, casting long, wavering shadows.
The Stasis of Iron and Ice
Author: Jamie F. Bell | Category: Cinematic | Genre: Family Saga
The Winnipeg train station, usually a bustling artery connecting the vast expanse of the prairies, was a tableau of static humanity. Outside, a blizzard raged, plastering the grand windows with swirling white, reducing the world to a frantic, opaque blur. Inside, the air hung heavy with the cloying scent of stale coffee and desperation. Fluorescent lights hummed overhead, casting a pallid glow on the rows of hard, unforgiving plastic seats that had become temporary beds, offices, and battlegrounds for a small army of stranded travellers.
Design Notes and Applied Research
This collection demonstrates a focused development of narrative craft within the genres of Family Saga and Slice of Life. The works required participants to build sustained character arcs and capture nuanced human interactions, honing fundamental skills in pacing and perspective. By incorporating Cinematic and Epistolary approaches, creators were further challenged to translate expansive stories into visually-driven scenes and intimate, document-based narratives.
As an inquiry into our program’s core themes, this selection serves as a valuable experiment in form and digital adaptation. The intersection of these genres and subjects explores how deeply personal, long-form storytelling can be re-contextualized for contemporary platforms. The resulting archive is a dynamic and compelling record of this investigation into the evolving relationship between narrative structure and its medium.
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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