Engle, you remind me of one of my favorite young adult authors, Madeleine L'Engle!
This thread as a whole reminds me of one of the fundamental rules of improv comedy, which is known as "Yes, and..."
As improvisers have no script, they must work together to create something for the audience. The rule of "Yes, and..." tells us that when our partner says (or does) something, we will say "yes" to it. Then we add something of our own. In turn, our partner will say "yes" to that, and add one more thing. This process repeats forever -- or until the players leave the stage.
Examples:
I'm taking this spaceship to the moon! Yes! And when we get there, we'll start a lunar settlement!
Let's start a political party based on pirates! Yes, let's! And another one based on ninjas so we can fight over which is better!
This concept has proven to be much better than the one it replaced: "No, instead..."
