10.03.2011

Truth and Lies - writercize #114

Truth and Lies is an ice breaker party game in which a person shares several true statements with a lie, and challenges strangers to figure out where the truth lies.  (Pun sort of intended...)

Beyond a bit of fun reflection on life, the joy of truth and lies for a writer is in the presentation of it all.  It's fun to figure out how to trick the guesser, and it's up to the teller to choose whether to share extraordinarily simple tales or highly intricate outlandish novellas.  The key is to keep the tone consistent and stick within a theme.  (You might pick family or pet names, personal medical history, school stories, work tales, broken relationships - pick one and stay on topic to cause optimal confusion.)

Since this post is scheduled and I'm traveling in Massachusetts, a far cry from my current home of Redondo Beach, California, I decided to go with a travel theme.

writercize:  Pick a topic and write several truths and a lie from your life experience.  Leave your truths and lie as a comment.  I'll guess yours and you can guess mine! 

Click "read more" for writercizer sample response.  (The truth of my lie will be revealed Friday.)
writercizer sample response:

  • I belly danced onstage during a dinner cruise down the Nile.
  • I hiked in to camp on several feet of snow during a week-long ski trip at Whistler.
  • I went for a morning jog to see the sunrise along the Great Wall of China.
  • I ate a grilled guinea pig in the rain forest in Ecuador.
  • I made an announcement over the PA system on a delayed train in Germany.

Which one is a lie?

11 comments:

  1. I think the grilled guinea pig one is your lie.

    Okay, here are mine (with a parenting theme):

    1. After I delivered my oldest, the doctor told me that I probably shouldn’t tell the other mothers in the maternity ward how easy her birth had been or they’d be sure to hate me. The same thing happened 18 months later when I delivered my twins. Different doctor, different hospital, even a different state, but the same comment.

    2. We chose all of our children’s names from books that meant a lot to me. My husband was easily onboard with two of them, but one was a really hard sell (he gave in, though).

    3. When my kids were growing up, I took their first day of school off every year. Not for them, but for me. I started each of those days with a bubble-bath, got myself a nice lunch, and basically happy-danced my way through the whole day.

    4. Both times that I’ve been pregnant, I knew immediately that we’d just conceived. I’ve never had that feeling any other time except for those two.

    5. I once made a soap-opera-ish deal with my teenaged son, who was grounded at the time. I told him that if he’d agree to stop seeing the girl he was dating, I’d lift his grounding immediately. He agreed without hesitation.

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  2. I'm soooo mad, I just spent the last 20 minutes completing this awesome exercise and I hit who knows which keys and it's all gone!!! :( Will get to it again tomorrow. By the way, I think walking along side the Great Wall of China is a lie Alana. Right? Word Nerd, I love your idea for 1st day of school, but I believe that's a lie. :)

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  3. Truth and Lies: Writercize #114

    1) I allowed a friend of mine to eat a bag of chips, which I knew had already been visited by a mouse, because I was angry with her.
    2) I went back to college and carry a 4.0 GPA at Davenport University.
    3) I have gone to a party with Eli Callaway (owner of Callaway Golf)
    4) I have been sung to by Smokey Robinson
    5) I have ridden the infamous Indian motorcycle.
    Alana your lie is #5 you didn’t make an announcement over the PA system.
    Word Nerd your lie is #1 twins do not equal an easy delivery

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  4. I hope you don't mind me participating, even though my most outrageous truths are x-rated. Hmm, let's see if I can keep this clean. I don't think you made the announcement on the PA, and Word Nerd, I think you are lying about #5, though I wouldn't put anything past a teenage boy. And for humor after 50, I think you are lying about #4.

    1. I once worked with a married man that every other woman, except me, threw their selves at, yet I was the one that ended up having an affair with him. (I was not married at the time myself)

    2. I hold two associate degrees and have never held a job related to either of them.

    3. I have two different colored eyes, one green and one blue.

    4. Through all three of my pregnancies, I've never experienced a single day of morning sickness.

    5. I once had a boyfriend that walked 5 miles in the snow just to see me for a couple of hours, then trudged back home in the snow on foot in the middle of the night.

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  5. @Alma: My 1st day of school tradition was truthful...and it was fabulous. :O)

    @humor after 50: I think your lie is #1, letting your friend eat the chips. Oh, and my #1 was the truth. Easy-breezy-lemon-squeezy. :O)

    @Angie: I think your lie is #1. Oh, and my #5 was the truth. That girl was trouble and I was relieved when my son took the deal. :O)

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  6. Oh wow - this is fascinating! It's so hard to figure out which one is the lie for everyone.

    Ok, so my lie is ... the Great Wall of China. Alma got it!

    Here are my guesses - Word Nerd is now down to #2 or #4 being a lie based on the comment above, and I'm going to take a stab at #2 - naming the kids after book and having difficulty with the hubby on one of the names. I'm guessing there's some element of truth to it ... but maybe all were easy or it was songs instead of books? PS - I didn't realize two of your kids were twins!?! I have 4 y.o. ID girls ...

    Alma - I am soooo curious to see what you wrote. I hate when the computer does that nasty trick. When you have a chance, write again. :)

    Humor after 50 - I hope your #1 is the lie! Eww! ;) But my second guess would be #5.

    Angie - so glad you decided to participate! I'm going to guess that #4 is a lie. If it's true, I am so very, very jealous!

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  7. @Alana: Yep, you nailed the lie. The kids' names weren't chosen for any reason other than we liked them.

    And you ate a grilled guinea pig in the rain forest in Ecuador??? How cool is that?!

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  8. Well, my eyes are both green. So, #3 is my lie. Yea, so, @Alana sorry to make you jealous, but I've never known a day of morning sickness.

    And @Word Nerd, I'm not really proud of it, but it did happen.

    This was fun.

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  10. I failed to number them
    1 When I joined my sorority, I lost almost all of my college friends within a week
    2 I used to wear short skirts to sorority meetings to annoy the older members
    3 I stopped collecting sorority related figurines more than ten years ago because friends kept giving me tacky gifts
    4 While presiding a meeting, I referred to the president of a different sorority as my sorority sister
    5 My best friend is a member of my sorority and that is how we met
    6 I flat iron my hair for important sorority events to please the older members

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  11. Robin, I think your fib is the last one.

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