Playing a meta-game with the same theme

Several years ago, I took a class on narrative styles. In that class, we discussed the effects that the narrator's point of view has on the actual story. We read several books and short stories, each narrated from a different point of view, and examined how the point of view affected the story. That class fascinated me, and as a result, I have enjoyed playing with the narrators' points-of-view in my writing.

In all of my experimentation, however, I had never gotten around to experimenting with a point of view that was very popular in the late 1800's and early 1900's. This point of view consists of a narrator who talks about another person, who, in turn, tells the story. When I decided to write "In the Eye of the Beholder," I thought that this story would be an interesting way to experiment with that narrative style.

In my experiment, I found the narrative style extremely limiting. Not only was the plot different from many of my plots, but the narrative style forced me to use a very different voice than I am used to. AoD and I discussed that change.

AoD: I hope I'm not giving you the wrong impression; I really liked it. It was just, as you had warned me, a significant departure from what I usually think of as your "voice".

Me: Yeah. It was kind of weird for me when I was writing it. Both of the recent posts have been very experimental for me.

AoD: I think that's very in-character with how I perceive you, as a person. For example, our different responses to Ming's - you enjoyed it, but continue to search. I grabbed hold and clung as to a lifeline.

Me: I've never connected the two. That's a very interesting connection. That just gave me an interesting idea for a story. What if there was a person who had no identity but the identity that other people gave him. What if his identity changed according to how others defined him?

AoD: What would be really fun, is to have different people write that same story. Playing a meta-game with the same theme

From there, things snowballed. AoD and I recruited Daboo, and we all wrote a story that followed that theme. During the next week, we will be posting our stories. We hope that you will enjoy them, and that you will think about the subject yourself: What if there was a person who had no identity but the identity that other people gave him?