Putting On the Mask of John Smith

All I can say is I hope I was not the only one who found masking the writing of another writer very difficult! At the same time, I found the exercise very intriguing. I have never though about trying to copy the writing style of another person.

Though I'm not a "huge" fan of my "John-Smith-Style" writing, I did have a little fun making the story.

I had to go back and read the John Smith story once again so I could truly understand how he wrote. While reflecting on the "epic" story, I contemplated how I wanted to write my version. The main ideas were simple: sound full of myself, switch from third to first to third person repeatedly, make the story sound "dangerous" and "heroic".

As I wrote, I felt like I was back in Creative Writing class. Obviously the daring tale of me traveling through the Great Wilderness (which is fictional) is completely made up. At the same time, I enjoyed writing a short story about yours truly.

Though I considered the assignment difficult, and I'll be absolutely mortified when I read it to anyone, I still found it to be a valuable writing exercise.