training for debates

[geoffnelder]

In the 60s I belonged to a political debating group. We’d have games where a topic was drawn from a hat & we’d talk about if for 5 mins. One of us had only one topic he could speak about – transport. He knew nothing else. When it was his turn his topic was Lyndon B Johnson’s trip to the UK. He started with, “LBJ arrived on his specially adapted 707-320B airliner with the serial number 62-26000. The rivets on the wings were quarter-inch—” We stopped him. Tell us about what LBJ said!
“LBJ said he liked the Rover P5 car that took him to the embassy, with its 115 horsepower engine and…”

[Jo Bannister]

That is a brilliant story! 

I think we should do something similar on here.  Not so much the transport theme, though whatever floats your boat, but someone proposes a theme, someone else writes 150 words on it, then proposes the next theme.  Writing related or not.  A bit like the definitions game, but you're expected to dig a little deeper.  Humour good but not essential.  Come on, 150 words don't take much writing!

Anybody up for it?

[geoffnelder]

I encourage those kind of prompt challenge writing even though I don't particularly enjoy doing them. I think my resistance arose from attending a creative writing adult ed course at the local college. The tutor would talk about characterisation and description and throw out a prompt word like Mirror. Oh such a cliche! So while the tutor left to have a ciggie us aspirers would perspire over describing ourselves in a mirror. Except I described the cracks and tarnishing in the mirror itself, avoiding my image.
I prefer to get my prompts from serendipitous moments. I need to write a short every month for the SFF writing group I'm in so I just dip into a big Word file of ideas I've accumulated and pick one and rush, write on. Reminds me that June 1st is a deadline for such a short.

[Spell Chick]

I think that sounds like a great idea. I think it might be really fun.