The activity uses the basic concept of an "add-on story," where everyone adds 1 or 2 lines to a story. With this activity, I have everyone take out a sheet of paper and write 3 totally non-related words at the top of it, such as "butter, shipwreck, bunny." The harder they are to connect, the better. Then everyone hands his or her paper to the person behind (or, in the case of the last student in the row, the paper goes to the next row over). The idea is to have everyone build upon the previous student's story and try to incorporate the 3 words into the story at some point. I tell the students to begin writing, then I stop them a minute or so later. If they are in mid-sentence, they still have to stop. The papers get handed back again, and this process is repeated until everyone has added something to the story of each student. The joy of this assignment is watching the students giggle as they skim over the progress of the story. The students are allowed to read what everyone else has written, but because the stories get quite long, I encourage them to "skim, then write." If I see them dawdling too long when reading other's writings, I keep commanding "write, write!" Usually they get into the habit of just giving the story a quick glance and then they begin to write. This activity has been a big hit so far. I had all my English classes do it one day, and each class was excited to read what the other classes had written. It is definitely a good way to stimulate imaginations. Jennifer Swanson