And What Happens Next?

Grab a group of friends, family members, whoever! In a circle, designate a person to start the story. The designated person will say one sentence to start a collaborative story. Once the sentence has been said, the entire group says "And what happens next?" The next person in the circle then makes up the next sentence of the story. This then continues until the group feels that their story has come to an end.

​

To get a better idea, take a look at a story the club created! Between each sentence, imagine a large group saying "And what happens next?" Click the "W" below to read the collaborative piece.

​

 

 

 

If/Then, Why/Because, I used to/But now I

Instructions:

This activity is best in a group of four or more. You can either all write out different phrases or do this activity on one piece of paper and fold it like an accordion to conceal each response. The main goal when writing the prompts is to not see what other people have written so that the response is entirely unique. In a group, half the people can respond to the first prompt and the other half responds to the second prompt. On a single piece of paper, the group passes along the paper and switches back and forth between which prompt they are responding to. Only respond to one set of prompts as a group at a time. So you'll be doing either If/Then, Why/Because, or I used to/But now I.

​

Example:

One person would write an if statement, such as "if all the cows in the world suddenly died..." and another person wrote "then the cable guy would get annoyed with the lack of respect he is shown." These two phrases are written independently and they might go well together once the group comes together to reach their prompts, but they might not. Some lines end up being quite good, some are funny, and others make no sense at all.

​

Writing out of order activity

Instructions:

Beginning, middle, end cannot be written in order. Do this in groups. This activity challenges people's approach to structure and story writing

​

Three Things

Instructions:

Find two people to create a group of 3

Each of you write the following down on three separate pieces of paper...

​

• The setting of the first story you ever remember writing

• The time of year or time of day you most associate with writing

• The name of your favorite song or a song you really enjoy

 

Each person involved in the icebreaker picks a random paper of 1, 2, and three from someone else. They then proceed to write a poem, short scene, or piece of flash fiction set in their selected location, at their chosen time of day/year, and incorporate a line from the song.

​