A Fun Writing Game That Is Also Fashionable

Here’s a really fun game for writers that you play with your shoes!

First, you have to imagine a little story. (This story is one I totally made up, just so you don’t think this actually happened to me or anything.) Okay, imagine that you have two pairs of shoes that look almost exactly alike, except that they are slightly different. For example, let’s pretend that you have two pairs of black boots with the same heel height, except one pair has (let’s just say) a buckle and the other pair is (I’m just imagining) a more nubby leather. Other than that they are very, very similar. (And again, I’m just making up these details. You can have fun making details for up your own similar yet different shoes.)

Then let’s pretend that you are getting dressed very early in the morning and you don’t want to wake up your husband who is busy sleeping so you get dressed with only a very dim light on.

And then we will pretend (because I am still just making this up) that you walk around ALL DAY, meeting with people, going to lots of different places, doing many things. Isn’t this a fun game?

And then – and here’s the REALLY fun part – let’s pretend you get home at night after walking around for a WHOLE DAY and you start to take your boots off and then, and only then – AFTER AN ENTIRE DAY of walking around and being seen by MANY MANY people – do you notice that you are wearing TWO DIFFERENT BOOTS! And you never even realized it ALL DAY!

So now, the next fun part comes when you start to imagine all the various people who noticed that you were wearing two completely different yet somewhat similar boots. You can think up lots and lots of people you interacted with, all day long. Maybe some of the people are really important and even might be thinking of hiring you! Challenge yourself to really raise the stakes here, because that is what will make your writing come alive.

And then you can make a funny little list of all the things that they might have been thinking! Things like “What’s her deal?” and “Did she get dressed in the dark?” On the list, you can also write down what they might have been feeling. Were they amused? Did they pity you? You can imagine all sorts of fun reactions by the people who saw your two different boots!

And then, another really fun part of the game, and where more of the fun writing part comes in, is to now come up with another list of words to describe how you feel. Words like “idiot” and “loser” and “idiotic loser.” I’m sure you can think up many more wonderful and fun descriptive words for this totally made-up game!

Of course, this would not be so much fun if it actually happened in real life, which it totally did not. Happen. To me. Not at all.


4 Comments on “A Fun Writing Game That Is Also Fashionable”

  1. Rick Sanchez says:

    They could be thinking…”This is a woman who thinks outside the box. She’s fashion forward. She’s a risk taker. She is so smart and self confident that she can push TWO different brands of boots at the same time. She’ll drink your milkshake…she’ll drink it up.”

  2. I wrote this story once, except mine was a male lead and instead of boots, he put his shirt on backwards. He then proceeded to go to work, let’s call the company 4-oh!-6 Creative (stupid name, I know, but it’s my story), where each day began with a rather useless morning meeting where, because it was so useless, everyone in the company kind of looked around the room and at each other in boredom and thus, everyone in the company noticed that our hero was wearing his shirt on backwards. How can you tell you may ask? Because his right left pocket was now his back right one.

    And just in case anyone missed it, our hero made sure to turn his back to the entire company while preparing his morning bagel, showing off his new back right pocket.

    It wasn’t until our hero noticed more than one person whispering in his direction and finally one kind soul, we’ll call him Bravis, took pity on our hero and let him in on the joke.

    At which time our hero explained that he MEANT to do that while he calmly turned his shirt around.

  3. Tara Zucker says:

    Dear Caped Crusader –

    Ha ha! I enjoyed reading your totally made-up story! I’m glad that this did not happen to you in real life because that would have really been very embarrassing! At least the hero in your story got a bagel though, and that’s nice.

  4. Lani Voivod says:

    Ha! You have quite the imagination, Tara! Although I find your story requires too much of a willing suspension of disbelief for me to embrace. I mean, I’ve personally written stories about, er, a woman who went to her brother’s high school graduation wearing a smart ‘n sassy looking sleeveless rayon shorts suit (yeah, this was the ’90s, in my story, that is) in 97 degree HUMID weather, and when the main character looked down she saw nothing but giant wet circles where her “lovely lady lumps” pressed against…And all friends and relatives and bro’s friends and relatives were privy to the same view…

    I didn’t say it was a good story. I just said it was perhaps more believable than YOUR story…


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