For our last group session before Christmas we had a bit of fun with our writing. Here are a few games you might want to try.

Names in a hat: This is a bit like the party game ‘Who Am I?’ and it follows on from the last group session which focused on identity. To play it you need a group of four people or more. Each player writes down the names of three or more people on separate pieces of paper. These should be people known to the rest of the group, or famous people. They then fold up the pieces of paper and put the names in a hat.

Each player then picks out a name and writes a piece about that person without naming them. It can be written from the named person’s point of view, or the point of view of an observer. It can simply be a description of the person. The important thing is not to make it too obvious.

Each player then reads their piece to the group for the other group members to guess. You can then play more rounds with the names left in the hat.

First and last lines: Each person in the group has two pieces of paper, on one they write a first line, on the other a last line. They pass the first line to the person on their right, the last line to the person on their left. Each person then writes a piece using the first and last line they have been given.

Consequences: There are lots of variations on this game but basically players write a line each to create a story. It usually goes something like this X met Y at (place), what X wore, what Y wore, X said to Y, Y said to X, and the consequence was…

I’m sure there are lots more writing games out there and if you know of any I’d love to hear about them!

In the meantime, I wish you all peace, joy and good will at Christmas. Happy writing!