Who let the snakes in?

Are there hazards to belonging to a writing group for a period of time? I'm beginning to suspect that sometimes, there are.

One of the two groups I belong to seems to be experiencing a snake invasion. Snakes have appeared on the pages of work from at least two members in the last month or so. Of course snakes are a very common symbol, handy for use by anyone. Perhaps that's why I think they should be avoided, at least most of the time.

It seems that other similarities in the writing of group members are creeping in too. It all makes me wonder if it's best to change groups when this happens. The weird thing, or maybe it's a surfeit of ego thing, is that I don't think I've been influenced much. But I've noticed that little bits of what I think of as "my style" are popping up in other people's work. That's something I was not expecting and maybe I'm just imagining it.

The group meets again tomorrow and I hope that we have seen the last of the snakes, at least for a while.