7 ways to do “25 Things”

Posted on Feb. 16, 2009, at 12:00 a.m.

So you’ve been tagged by the dreaded “25 things” list on Facebook, and you’re looking for some advice on how to look interesting.

Well, you’ve got two choices: Take it as an opportunity to reveal hidden talents and bizarre childhood obsessions, or use it to confuse your friends. We’ll focus on the latter.

The WikiList

Use Wikipedia to fill in autobiographical details of a fictional or historical figure. How long will it take your friends to realize they’re actually reading about the exploits of Charles Edward Magoon, the former occupational governor of Cuba?

Stream of Consciousness

Take a cue from James Joyce and explore the boundaries of narrative fiction with your Facebook list. Invent words with hundreds of letters and dash them through your Facebook note to symbolize lightning storms.

Magical Realism

Take a cue from the magical realism school and incorporate subtle miracles into every event you mention.

Metafiction

Use your “25 Things” list to write about others who wrote “25 things” lists. Or write about writing your “25 things” list. Or write about writing about writing about your “25 Things” list. Or write about writing about writing about … well, you get the point.

Lipograms

Write your entire “25 Things” list in the style of George Perec, who wrote his novel, “A Void,” without using the letter “e”. You could also write it without using the word “I,” if you want to evoke Ayn Rand’s socialist dystopia from “Anthem.”

Palindromes

Compose every item on your “25 Things” list so that it reads the same forward and backward. Misspell words if you need to.

Cut Ups

Steal from the style of beat poet William S. Burrough, and make your list entirely out of random cut-and-pastings from the lists of other friends.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 16th, 2009, 12:00 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.