Getting your bearings

Before we go too deep, it's worth thinking about Frankenstories in three layers:

Frankenstories has what we call a core game loop, which players repeat several times in every game:

These are all things we want students to be doing!

(For comparison, Writelike is Read-Analyse-Write, and each activity is proportioned differently.)

Using that core loop, you can create a wide variety of writing experiences by changing settings such as:

You can use Frankenstories in any subject, for any topic, with almost any grade level from middle years and up.

You can play it for fun or you can use prompts to target specific writing skills aligned to your curriculum.

Before we get into using Frankenstories more seriously, we should talk about what makes Frankenstories fun.

This is important because you want to preserve these qualities as you start pushing students to work harder.

Low stakes—games are disposable, ephemeral
Fast pace—no time to overthink, jump in, keep moving
Constraints—provide challenge & scaffolding, relieve some personal responsibility
Social play—share ideas, help each other out, build relationships
Intense focus—flow state, good stress
Constant surprise—direction changes every few minutes
Live feedback—hearts, votes, wins
Collaborative process—everyone plays a part, multiple valuable roles
Creative result—something that didn’t exist 30 mins before (and sometimes the result is great!)

Teaching with Frankenstories