A game and a writing exercise - that's what the Memorial Day Challenge was meant to be.  The founding members of Purple Hearts (Bayonet, Anzio Annie and Foxhole Filly) decided to get together for a whirlwind writing weekend, where we would each be challenged to develop independent stories from the same set of 'required elements'.   First, we brainstormed to come up with lists of characters, possible settings, props.  From these lists, we held a series of random drawings to determine the final requirements.

For example, the options for a setting included a basement, a wall, a cemetery, a hill, a church, a cave, a farmhouse, a chateau, a river.  We put them all in a bowl, and pulled out 'chateau'.  So, each story had to take place, all or in part, at a chateau.

After the lottery was finished, we came up with the following story requirements, which could play as significant or insignificant role as we wanted, but they had to be included:
 

• Caje, Sarge, Doc (and no other squad members)
• a "guest star" of the week - a character who poses some kind of threat off the battlefield
• extreme cold weather
• a chateau
• an escape or need to escape
• a head injury/cut face and a separate upper body injury (after all, this page IS called Purple Hearts)
• these 10 props or words: groan, package, bandage, rock, glasses or spectacles, cigarette, cross, beret, letter and bayonet.

The guidelines were set.  We could muse in advance about plot possibilities if we wanted, do a little research on geography or weapons or WWII-era medicine, but not a word could be written until the starter's gun went off!  And no discussing our ideas amongst ourselves either.  Each story had to be developed completely independently!

Memorial Weekend, we packed up our laptops and essential reference materials and gathered in Michigan for two-and-a-half days of concentrated creativity - we hoped!  It wouldn't be a contest, but a game, and an opportunity for a friendly exploration of different writing styles and methods and lessons learned.

Who has to have absolute quiet?  Who prefers music to write by?  And who uses a yo-yo to combat writers' block?

What's a split infinitive?  When does the character's POV start to sound like the writer instead of the soldier?  Where would more attention to the axiom "Show, Don't Tell"  make a scene come more alive?

At 9:00 pm Sunday we lit the candles, poured the wine and diet coke, and sat downto share our creations - three wildly different adventures from seven to fourteen pages, in various stages of completion.  As they are beta-read and revised, we'll be posting them to the Purple Hearts page. Hope you enjoy them!

- Anzio Annie