At Imaginators Teen Creative Writing Club, we LOVE working on writing exercises and collaborating on fun, silly stories! A few weeks ago, we did a simple exercise using only pens and scrap paper. This works well for a group size of 5-8 people, and it’s a great warm-up to get those creative juices flowing. Everyone starts with a sheet of paper and a pen. (If writing prompts are needed, you can have each person draw a word or two from a prepared box or use story cubes.) Have each person write one sentence at the top of their paper to start a story. When finished, everyone simply passes their paper to the right, and adds a sentence to the new story in front of them! Play continues around the circle until you decide you’re ready to add the endings, usually 8-10 passes, but you can go on as long as you want! Here are some of our stories from our last collaboration.
“Once there was a super friendly safari burrito that loved fried chicken. Its favorite type of fried chicken was Mexican KFC. One day the Mexican KFC was closed. This caused the safari burrito to become unfriendly. The safari burrito barged into the company’s kitchen and demanded some chicken. He grabbed Colonel Sanders and held him at gunpoint. The Colonel demanded to be released, but the safari burrito would have none of it. It was a question of honor. And of chicken. At that moment two tacos walked in and the burrito was so surprised, he jumped and dropped his gun. He was so enamored by one of the tacos, that he fell in love. The safari burrito forgot all about his chicken, and he married the girl taco, and they lived happily ever after.”
“The courtroom was silent. Everyone in the jury box was focused on the man on the witness stand. He looked weary. The prosecutor asked again, ‘How did you kill him?’ After a pause, the man said, ‘A paintbrush.’ Looks of shock appeared on everyone in the room. One lady, a tall, elegant woman in a purple hat, fainted onto the floor. The man came up to her and painted her face with a burrito. But the jury hated burritos, so they immediately gave the man the death penalty: hanging with a noose made of toenails. The man begged and begged not to die. All he wanted to do was express his artistic views. He looked up with regret. ‘It was a mistake,’ he said. ‘A mistake?!’ the judge cried, outraged. ‘There are no mistakes in art! Only happy accidents.'”
“There are lots of times when it would be bad for your zipper to go crazy. But the worst time is probably at your Great Aunt Mildred’s funeral. When the zipper broke, its remains zoomed in the air and flew into Great Aunt Mildred’s coffin. Suddenly, we heard a cough from the coffin. Great Aunt Mildred slowly rose up and faced me. The whole funeral was chaos, and I got trampled and was left groaning on the floor. Great Aunt Mildred’s gnarled and crooked finger stretched accusingly toward me. ‘X…Y…Z…’ she groaned. My eyes wide with horror, I looked slowly from Great Aunt Mildred’s frozen stare to my pants. Down went my zipper, then up, then down again. It had gone berserk, just like Great Aunt Mildred!”
“A hairy banana lived on his beautiful home, an asteroid. But one day, it started hurtling toward the earth and the heat singed his hair. As the surface of the asteroid heated up, he wondered if he ought to peel himself. But he decided his thick, hairy peel would protect him from the flames. ‘Weeeeeeee!’ he shouted as the asteroid broke through the clouds. Before he landed, he saw a friendly burrito eating fried chicken. But the chicken exploded. The hairy banana was amazed, but scared, but mostly amazed at the fried chicken exploding. He wished he was a beautiful exploding specimen of edible material! The hairy banana crashed down to the land, yet he was alive thanks to his banana peel armor.”
Imaginators 