Grab Bag Stories

Have you ever done a bag skit? It’s a drama exercise where a team of actors is given a bag that contains a variety of unrelated objects, and they must create a short skit that makes use of all the objects in a sensible or funny way.

Write your own Grab Bag Story

Grab Bag Stories are the writing equivalent of a bag skit. Use the three objects in the prompt above (stopwatch, a loaf of bread, a globe), or choose objects from your surroundings. Use these items as a starting point and write a story that uses all of them.

Need more of a push? Here are some questions to get you thinking:

• What kind of person would have all of these objects?
• Are the objects close to each other in physical space, or are some of them elsewhere (like part of a memory)?
• Is your story from the perspective of one of these objects?
• Is the object important to the plot or narrative, or just part of a scene?