It has not been easy to value play. Mainstream culture urges us to rush and finish what we are working on to quickly advance to the next task at hand. Too often we must punch our time clock forward without much consideration. As the minutes and hours move, we indirectly communicate both to ourselves and the world no time remains to play; we must work.

Despite that the world around me does not value play, in my creative life, play is necessary. In fact, I have discovered it is the real work I do as an artist and teacher. As a storyteller, writer, teacher, and imaginative thinker, it is play that has produced the most desired results in my life, in my work, and especially, in my creativity. It is in play that we experience who we are and we begin to extend our choices. Play is not consciously prepared; discovery that happens in the moment. It invites reflection. In fact, Plato once shared, "You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation."

In this book, you will discover new ways to work with your story craft and find new story direction using play. Indeed, play is a meaningful way to create and learn.

In both childhood and adult play, the imagination plays a central role in the meaning making process. Although there are many types of play: school-based, recess, sports, this work is rooted in play inviting the writer, storyteller, or imaginative thinker to make choices as they work to create meaning in their work.

I will share how collaborative play can increase your choices when making a story. You will find not only exercises to build your story making and telling skills, but pedagogy of practice to use when called to create story.

About the Author: According to the National Storytelling Network, Dr. Kevin Cordi has made it his personal crusade to share the rich value of story making and storytelling. He has told stories in more than 40 states, and in England, Japan, Scotland, Canada, and Qatar. A leading advocate for youth storytelling, Cordi has served as Executive Director for the National Youth Storytelling Olympics, now National Youth Storytelling Showcase. He created Voices Across the World Youth Storytelling Project, which hosted youth storytelling groups from the United States, Japan, and Canada. Now he is Assistant Professor at Ohio Dominican University and he also serves as a Co-Director for the Columbus Area Writing Project at OSU.