The Hilarious “Sexy Nostrils” Game for Writers

A silly game to seriously boost creativity and playfulness

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On a podcast with Tim Ferris, Rainn Wilson (who played Dwight Schrute on the smash TV show, The Office) shared a hilarious exercise from acting school to trigger the emotional and psychological states of playfulness and creativity.

As soon as I heard it, I thought, “This would be a great exercise to adapt for writers.”

Or any content creators.

The exercise is called, “Sexy Nostrils” — which, I might add, is an absolutely perfect name. This article is about the Sexy Nostrils game, what it is, and how you can play it.

“The true object of all human life is play.” — G. K. Chesterton

The Sexy Nostrils Game

The game is pretty simple on the surface but there is a lot going on beneath the waters.

Here is a bulleted list, followed by a breakdown of the game:

1. Make a list of body parts and adjectives
2. Choose a paired body part and adjective
3. Develop a character (or perspective)