Chain Story

Ekaterina Panikanova, Un Sicuro Rifugio, 2017 (detail)

• How cool would that be to have a story that we are both a listener and narrator of. No, nothing like a story one tells to herself in solitude. Rather a story that belongs to you as well as to others. A game that reminds once again that the story told is of ourselves.

• Chain story is a verbal game for two or more players. Actually the name is almost self-explanatory. Let's describe how it exactly goes though.

• The players sit in a circle. One of the players start telling a story. After one or two sentence she stops – which may well be in the middle of a sentence too. The next player picks up the story from that point and continues for another few sentences.  Stops. Another player continues. In this way the group of player-narrators gradually build up a story.

• In one variation, players contribute only one word at a time. But this version is more challenging. So it might be a good idea to start with sentences first.

• The game goes on until the ‘end’ of the story or otherwise as long as the players wish to continue the chain reaction.

• When it is over, the story is recapped and might even be written down or recorded so that it can later be recalled and retold.