In order to try and retain the spontaneity of the original game, The Exquisite Corpse Adventure contributing authors had only a couple of days to brainstorm and then write their individual episodes. And the story itself would then be much more vibrant and entertaining! I wanted to bring together a wide variety of writers and illustrators to play this story game-because the companion educational resources that the NCBLA created and coordinated with a number of its education and literacy partners would then encompass all kinds of reading suggestions and writing activities. However the game is played out, its trademark elements are spontaneity, humor, bigger-than-life characters, and wild and wily plot threads, some of which inevitably remain unresolved! Progressive story games, like The Exquisite Corpse Adventure, can be played as an oral storytelling tradition, or in a written form, or even in a visual form as a drawing game.
It is the game where one person begins a story, stops at a cliffhanging moment, and the next person picks it up and continues, and so on, until everyone in the group has the opportunity to contribute. Rather than inviting one children’s author to write an episodic story to be published electronically, I thought it might be more interesting to assemble a “motley crew” of children’s book authors and illustrators to play the progressive story game that young people and adults play at home and social events, and have played for centuries! It goes by many names-Cliffhangers, Consequences, The Exquisite Corpse, etc. John Cole at the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress wanted to come up with a reading outreach project for the new website (launched in 2009), and he asked me to join his talented staff on a brainstorming session.
And just like in those games, characters spontaneously erupt out of one’s imagination plots lines tumble forth, some realized, some lost and we are often poised at the edge of a cliff with no logical solution in sight!Ĭhildren of all ages have played progressive story games for centuries, mainly because we all seek entertainment to appease the boredom of a long trip warm a cool night by the fire lighten the seemingly endless hours of dark winter. The Exquisite Corpse Adventure is a buoyant, spontaneous experiment-a progressive story game just like the one many families play on road trips, at camps, at parties, at home when there is a power outage. History of The Exquisite Corpse Adventure
0 kommentar(er)
