Out of Nowhere

[kevandotorg]

After a couple of false starts, I'm working on the generation of a 50,000-word play where each of a cast of characters speaks in example sentences from their own European-language phrasebook, attempting to follow on from what the previous character has said.

[kevandotorg]

Generation complete.

Source code: https://github.com/kevandotorg/nanogenmo-2018

First edition output (50,581 words): https://kevan.org/nanogenmo/2018firstedition.html

Extract:

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.