Our writer's critique group had fun the other day. We each wrote a 1000 word story based on the setting of "beach" that we printed out with no name and no title on it. When we arrived for the meeting, each manuscript went face down in a pile. A neutral observer (my daughter) mixed them up and handed them out. We labeled the manuscripts A through E and read them aloud one at a time.
We were not allowed to look at the manuscripts or hear any part re-read, except for the one we read out loud. We just had to guess who wrote it and
who they were trying to sound like. I failed miserably. If it weren't for my own story being in the pile, I would have guessed wrong 100% of the time. Drat.
Andrea got 100% right. The three men in the group wrote manuscripts that fooled three people each. Apparently, I was so intent on sounding like everyone else, I came out sounding like me! Andrea & Gene write first-person contemporary stories, the one minor in our group writes sci-fi/fantasy contemporary, Charlie writes pieces that always have lots of facts woven throughout. So I wrote a first-person, contemporary, sci-fi, factual fiction story--about an alien family with a fascination of sea turtles.
I could tell you a bit about sea turtles now, especially the Kemper's Ridley turtles on Padre Island in Texas :). (Research is always great for fictional stories; makes them more real.)
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