What Works in Stories?

The beauty of this simple prompt is that is something people take out and hold, but the story is always something that starts with a symbol and leads to something broader, be it about a charm on the chain, a key to a car, house, or something else. But not wanting to assume everyone had a keychain, I suggested if not, use a piece of jewelry, something in their wallet.

I have them first form pairs.

• (One minute) Think about which item on keychain you will use.
• (Two minutes) One person starts talking about one item on their keychain, not describing it, but what it means, represents.
• (Two minutes) Switch and the other person shares their store.
• (Two minutes) Combine groups to be four. One person volunteers to share a story (here is the hook), but not their own, they have to re-tell the story they heard.

This gets at the issues of communication often as telling someone else’s story, that it changes when it’s told by someone else, how it feels to hear someone else tell a story, the importance of listening.

Reference Links

• Keychains, Retelling, and Getting to the Heart of Stories (CogDogBlog)
• Found art: Cornelia Parker and Jarvis Cocker share their spoils (The Guardian)
• Whether Humble or Glorious: Telling Stories of Human History Through Objects (New York Times)
• Every Object Tells a Story (Sheffield University)

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Featured Image: Keys for a Story flickr photo by cogdogblog shared under a Creative Commons (BY) license