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Questions need answers. If you can’t come up with an answer, it limits the ways in which you can serve the spect and the story. Here are some ways to make answering questions easier.
Questions can be helpful or problematic, depending on how you use them. Before we explore how questions can be useful, let’s consider the issues they sometimes create.
If you’re stuck for what to say, declare something. Say how you feel. Make an observation about a character, the location, or what’s going on. Let it be simple. State the obvious. When you make a declaration, you establish a detail while avoiding a question.
Any student knows that multiple-choice questions are easier to answer than essay questions. They’re easier because the answer is provided.
The more you talk, the less spects contribute. Allow room for others to speak. Say one sentence, maybe two, then be quiet. See what the spect has to say, and respond to that. This tool gets spects verbally activated and produces good give and take. It also keeps you from talking too much.
Some questions invite spects to generate information, some limit their contributions, and some invisibly direct how they answer. Each kind of question can be useful, depending on what you are trying to achieve.
Working in pairs, one player asks a question and the other player reframes the question as a statement. Alternate who gives the question and who transforms it into a statement.