A lot of people advise improv as a method to improve your conversational skills. You practice making up a story from any word possible so if a girl says mid set "pickle" you will be able to make up a story about a pickle because you can talk about anything.

I am having difficulty with this exercise. For example I generate a random noun (like "opossum" or "pencil") but when I improvise on that noun it sounds less of a story or a conversation and more like an encyclopedia entry.

Example of me improvising: "Pencil. Pencil... A pencil is sharp. It is long and slender. Like a beautiful woman. A pencil is used for study, which is important if you want to succeed in life..."

Now I did improvise, but that isn't going to teach me to come up with conversation topics on the spot.