Thursday Thirteen - 180 - 13 Ways to Build a Story While at the Writer's Retreat

In two days I will be at the annual writer's retreat hosted by my chapter of RWA - the Romance Writers of Atlantic Canada.

I don't think I've missed a retreat since I joined the group. As my friend Kelly said on her blog, "I start looking forward to this event the day I return home from it. It is a highlight of my year and is always a huge blast. Now, if this week would just END so I can GET THERE I’d be all set."

Last year we played the Add-a-Sentence game, where we started with a line from a randomly chosen book off the cottage shelf, then each added a sentence as we passed the paper around. Hope we play it again this year.

It was hilariously revealing.

Here are thirteen lines that wound up telling a twisty tale. I've split some of the sections in order to follow the Thursday Thirteen format. All lines preceeding a name are attributed to that writer.

1 - It's summer. Summer again.
[from the book Summer of Fear but I can't remember the author!]

2 - You can tell by the wardrobe of the the tourists - it's all khaki shorts, hawaiian shirts, and Crocs.

3 - I hate Crocs. [Nikki]

4 - I'm more of a strappy sandal girl. Who wants to spend fifty bucks on a pedicure and then have it covered up with overpriced plastic shoes that look like they belong on clowns? [Michelle]

5 - I killed a clown once.

6 - Pasty coloured bastard with that damn obnoxious red nose. [Kelly]

7 - Then there was the whole arterial-spray problem. [Julia]

8 - Yeah, Crocs. Why is it that the tourists always get them in the most garish colours?

9 - Is being on vacation a license to offend the eyes of all around you? [Jennie]

10 - Perhaps I'll kill the next tourist. Follow him home to his expensive air-conditioned hotel and suck the blood from him until he thrashes in that final moment of blackness. [Lilly]

11 - But shit, I'm getting lonely the last century or so. Maybe the next time I'll stop and turn one, have a pet for awhile. That one, maybe. No crocs. [Heidi]

12 - Then again, they do wash up easily. No DNA to trip me up.

13 - As for pets, I had a puppy once. Delicious! [Annette - with Heidi]

The End!

Photo L to R: Nikki, Annette and Heidi