Dear Word Dancers,
I hope now you have an idea for your story and are ready to expand on the idea. In Playing with Stories, the exercises are vocal, oral---you need to talk them out. Let them take shape by creating narratives out loud.
You need to give yourself Permission to Play (see the book for the pledge)and put yourself in a mindset for play.
Then, expand on the idea that you talking out. This is best done with a partner who can engage in the talk and play. However, they work well with only you as long as you put yourself in a mindset ready to play.
Here you will hear me talk out loud and expand the idea and then we will develop exercises for you to build your story. Don't worry about right or wrong choices, let the play build and take shape. Worry not about being correct, instead place yourself in a tone of discovery.
Keep in mind we are not working in chronological order, we are working on finding and building significance in your story from your play.
Most writers don't worry from beginning to end, they work on impact. Over time, more and more links will surface if you allow them to first be created. As much as I enjoy writing, we move too fast to paper.
We sometimes handcuff ideas to our first draft. Instead, think of talking and playing out loud as creating many choices and engaging in world building so that you are not stuck to one idea, but playing in the world that you want to make. From this work, you are building your choices for your story. In a sense, creating many story-filled worlds.
Check out the video for more.
After extending your idea, we will know talk about who is telling your story and a critical question is why is he/she/they or it telling the story? Think of the impacts that are made because it is being told.
Who is telling the story?
I would love to hear about your ideas. Take the week to play and I will soon post another Word Dancing exercise. Enjoy. Play. In play, meaning is made. Next week, more exercises. Feel free to share how you used play and we can all be Word Da