It's On! Pass the Story

I’ve dreamed of launching an online version of a game called Pass the Story for years. What better time than now, when we’re stuck at home and in need of serious distraction?

For those of you who may have forgotten, Pass the Story involves having one person start a story and pass the baton to the next person, and then next, and the one after that. Your contribution must stem from the entry directly before it. Interactive storytelling at its finest!

The point is to see where the story goes with each person’s input, so please limit your contribution to a passage that’s not much longer than my lead (see below). You can contribute as many times as you want, but only after at least two other people have added to the story since you did.

The only other rules: Keep it clean in terms of language and sex, no violence, and be respectful to others. I reserve the right to delete any contributions I deem offensive. Also, by contributing to the Pass the Story game, you give me the right to publish your portion(s) of the story should the end result turn out to be surprisingly great. Of course, I would only claim authorship to any passages I wind up throwing in and to the lead.

That story lead actually happened to me during a six-week trip to Europe in 2017. The rest, whatever it winds up being, will immediately move this story from nonfiction to fiction.

So here goes. Drum roll, please. Your story lead launchpad:

Airport security had been heightened in anticipation of the pope’s 2017 visit to Lisbon. The Portuguese official studied my passport, flipped to the next page to see when I had landed on the continent, then paused. He looked again, then a third time before nodding to his passport control counterpart and holding out my passport for him to see.

What could be wrong? I wondered. Are they going to let me enter the country? And what happens if they don’t?

Finally, the officer handed the passport back to me. “You arrived in Paris almost twelve months from now, on April 29, 2018,” he said with the barest trace of a grin.

“That’s because I’m from the future,” I replied, offering him a wide American smile.

So there you go. Now it’s your turn. Head to https://lindengross.com/2020/04/03/its-on-pass-the-story/, take your imagination for a whirl, and let your fingers do a jig on your keyboard. Then come back for a return performance and see where this story dance has gone.

Originally published at https://lindengross.com/2020/04/03/its-on-pass-the-story/.