Stimulate creativity
Practice using narrative structures.
Have fun reading a weird story created by coincidence and joint effort.
Creative togetherness
All the participants are in a circle – or in a line, the first in line has the paper and the pen, something hard to lean and write on e.g. clipboard or an A4 size book.
Materials needed
✓ One or more sheets of A4 or A3 sized paper (depending on the participants);
✓ A pen or pencil.
Proposed location
✓ location with tables where the participants can write on
Steps
1.
The first participant writes the beginning of a story, they stop at the end of the third line of text.
2.
Then the same participant folds the sheet of paper to cover the first two lines of text leaving only the third line visible, and passes the paper and pen to the second participant.
3.
The second participant reads the third line of text (only the one visible) and continues to write, adding 3 new lines.
4.
The second participant folds the paper to cover all the previous lines except for the last one and passes the sheet of paper to the next in the circle.
5.
Repeat until all the participants have added their 3 lines to the story.
6.
The last participant should bring the story to an end.
7.
The facilitator chooses someone or asks for a volunteer to read the story aloud for everyone to hear.
Closing up
- Ask the participants, were there any parts that flowed well?
- What elements were missing to make the story more structured?
To go further
- Compare the story just written with the basic structure of a story:
1. Once Upon a Time… (the starting situation with the characters)
2. Until one day… (the situation changes and the action begins)
3. and so… (the events of the story, can be used multiple times)
4. Until finally… (The story resolves the events)
5. And from that day on… (a conclusion that sums up how everything changed, may contain a teaching or a moral).
