Ex 2. Pick 3 Things

“There’s more to making up stories than just tucking the children in with a nighttime tale.” — Mark Sumner

Forcing yourself to create a story with three unrelated things can help break down preconceived notions about how things ought to work and make you more comfortable exploring alternate possibilities that may lead to the next great idea.

A fun story game to play is “Pick Three Things.” The idea is to have someone pick seemingly unrelated things, and then you use them in a story. The challenge is discover how the things picked were connected or to create a connection as the story unfolds.

For example, here is a story made up when a group of children chose a paper clip, the Man in the Moon, and George Washington.

Once upon a time, George Washington was sitting under a tree relaxing late on a hot September evening. A little girl came up to him and asked, “Is the moon really made of green cheese?” George replied, “I don’t think so!”

Just then a loud voice proclaimed, “I am the Man in the Moon, and I’m made of green cheese, but I have crackers on my backside that you can’t see!”

They’d never heard the moon talk; scared, they ran to see Benjamin Franklin. Ben was repairing his kite that had been struck by lightning. They told him, “The Man in the Moon spoke!” Ben chuckled and explained, “Thomas Jefferson’s in the woods practicing his lines for a play; he’s playing the Man in the Moon.”

After a good laugh, the little girl said, “This is a great story!” She sat down at Benjamin Franklin’s desk and wrote it out. The story was three pages long. She announced, “I hope I don’t lose any of the papers before I get home to show my mother! Ben, being an inventor, thought for a moment and grabbed some wire. He bent the wire into a couple of loops, spread the loops slightly apart, then put the paper between the loops to hold the papers together.

Impressed, George Washington asked, “What do you call that Ben?” Ben paused and said, “I’ll call it a paper clip!”

Assignment:

• Your task is to do this by yourself. As the storyteller, gather your listeners whether children or adults. Have them think of three unrelated things that you will use in a story. No dictionaries allowed. If there is no one around to help you, write your story using three unrelated objects in your environment. (Or choose some at random)

For example: a clown, a spider, and a piece of cooked spaghetti

• Trust your imagination to find the connections between the items, to bring them to the surface, and to keep the story flowing. Your imagination is well trained in connecting information in many different ways. It’s important to become more receptive to the unexpected connections — therein lies creativity.
   
• Once your story is complete, draw a cartoon style picture that depicts the action in your story and the three unrelated objects. If you are feeling extra creative, try creating a comic strip, a poster, or a booklet.
   
• Your completed project should be posted on your portfolio. This means that if you did not create the artwork on the computer, you will have to scan your artwork into the computer and upload the image.

Adapted from Disney Imagineers: The Imagineering Workout: Exercises to Shape Your Creative Muscles