Back in the day, I remember doing this round robin writing thing in one of my English classes. I don’t remember exactly, but I was maybe 13 years old. We were put into small groups, given 5 minutes to start writing a story, and then that story was passed to the next group, we were given another 5 minutes to continue the story we were given, and this went on for the course of the class. Each group would later read the finished story to the class, and a title would be decided. We wound up with some interesting stories for sure!
One of them, I don’t think I’ll ever forget. It was reminiscent of, and likely inspired by, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I don’t remember exactly what it was called, but it was something about Naked Cookie Men.
Allow me to explain. The story starts innocently enough. A group of friends hanging out in a pool, lounging on tubes or floaties or whatever, munching on cookies. A freak storm rolls in, and the pool is struck by lightning! The friends are transformed into cookie/human hybrid creatures, and they’re naked because the lightning burned their clothes! They, of course, have some wacky superpowers, because what mutant being in a fictional story doesn’t have superpowers? I mean, come on now! Wild antics ensue, but I don’t remember the details at this point. All I remember is the entire class laughing when we read the story out loud, and several of us asking why they didn’t just put clothes on. Of course, they couldn’t, because the supernatural energy that created their hybrid state would singe any clothes that came in contact with their skin. Or something. We have to remember that the strangeness in the story came about from a group comprised of all boys, so 13 year old boy logic has to come into play here! Duh!
It was a really awesome exercise, and I found that relinquishing control over something I had helped to create was difficult, but rewarding at the same time, because it allowed me to see different ways the story could evolve. And, it was just fun!
This got me thinking (oh, look, unexpected plot twist! 🙂 ), and I would love if I had an opportunity to do something like this as an adult. Or to see the result of adults doing this. Imagine – J.K. Rowling meets John Grisham meets Danielle Steele with a pinch of Stephen King! I think this would be an amazing thing to do, and could create some truly incredible stories. In practice, each writer sets a 5-10 minute timer. When that timer goes off, even if you’re mid-sentence, you pass it along to the next writer. They do the same thing. Around and around for a predetermined number of iterations and then review the final product. I think this would be fun!
If anyone reading this is interested in doing something like this just because, hit me up at laura@apeculiarcerebraltangle.com!
If not, I hope you enjoyed the Naked Cookie Men anecdote! Have a great day!
A Peculiar Cerebral Tangle 