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This exercise was inspired by Roger Zelazny's introduction to Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep? - "I can play the Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Trash Compactor Repairman Game, but I cannot turn it into a story at once puzzling, poignant, grotesque, philosophical, satirical, and fun."
Well, that's what we're going to try to do! Except we're going to do five ways instead to keep ourselves stimulated!
Here's how it goes:
Based on the topic chosen by the person above you, write 5 different possible rough story ideas based on that single mundane idea. Then, choose a mundane topic of your own for the next person.
As you work through five possibilities for one simple idea, you may develop a more "puzzling, poignant, grotesque, philosophical, satirical, and fun" idea that perhaps you will want to develop further.
Here's an example of my own attempt (skip to the bottom to see the next topic):
The topic is "Newspaper Carrier"
1. There once was a man who worked as a newspaper carrier because it was the best and only job he could get in his declining society...
2. There once was a man who worked as a newspaper carrier because he believed print media was the most important thing, but sales were declining, so he decided to approach the job with panache, charming his clients and causing a major revival in the industry...
3. There once was a man who worked as a newspaper carrier because, as the owner of the paper, he was curious about his customers, so he goes undercover, but soon discovers his paper is a universal joke...
4. There once was a man who worked as a newspaper carrier because it was the only way to keep his bird's cage lined, but after years, his theft is discovered and he is sent to jail with no one to care for his bird while he is away...
5. There once was a man who accidentally started a fire when delivering a newspaper because his toss caught on the wind and landed in the chimney, clogging it and burning down the house, killing the family inside, which he reads about the next day...
And there you have it! Ready to try?
Topic for the next writer is "A fast food franchise worker"
Good luck!
Well, that's what we're going to try to do! Except we're going to do five ways instead to keep ourselves stimulated!
Here's how it goes:
Based on the topic chosen by the person above you, write 5 different possible rough story ideas based on that single mundane idea. Then, choose a mundane topic of your own for the next person.
As you work through five possibilities for one simple idea, you may develop a more "puzzling, poignant, grotesque, philosophical, satirical, and fun" idea that perhaps you will want to develop further.
Here's an example of my own attempt (skip to the bottom to see the next topic):
The topic is "Newspaper Carrier"
1. There once was a man who worked as a newspaper carrier because it was the best and only job he could get in his declining society...
2. There once was a man who worked as a newspaper carrier because he believed print media was the most important thing, but sales were declining, so he decided to approach the job with panache, charming his clients and causing a major revival in the industry...
3. There once was a man who worked as a newspaper carrier because, as the owner of the paper, he was curious about his customers, so he goes undercover, but soon discovers his paper is a universal joke...
4. There once was a man who worked as a newspaper carrier because it was the only way to keep his bird's cage lined, but after years, his theft is discovered and he is sent to jail with no one to care for his bird while he is away...
5. There once was a man who accidentally started a fire when delivering a newspaper because his toss caught on the wind and landed in the chimney, clogging it and burning down the house, killing the family inside, which he reads about the next day...
And there you have it! Ready to try?
Topic for the next writer is "A fast food franchise worker"
Good luck!
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