Q:

How can I let the users of my python hangman game input their own words?

I have been stuck on this for a while now and I can't figure out what to do. I know that it will probably involve creating an empty list and then adding the words to the list but I haven't got a clue when it comes to retrieving the words as I have never done this before.
the code itself works, it's just adding this new function I'm having trouble with. 
import random
import sys 
#importing both random and time modules

print("Hello!")
playAgn = 'yes'
animalNames = ['wildebeest','wolverine','woodlouse','woodpecker','yak','zebra']
#this is the list of words that the user will have to guess if they play the game multiple times
while playAgn == 'yes':
    secretWord = random.choice(animalNames)
    #this line tells the computer to randomly select one of the words in the list "animalNames"
    lives = 6
    #Defining how many lives the user has
    guessedletters = []

    print("Okay!\n Lets play hangman!!")
    while lives > 0:
        inword = False
        #user has not guessed word yet so the boolean value is automatically off (False)
        print("you have",lives, "lives")
        #tells the user how many lives they have left 
        guessedletter = input("Guess a letter: ")
        if len(guessedletter) > 1:
            print("Error! Please only enter 1 letter at a time")
            #if the user tries to guess something longer than 1 character the computer displays a message asking to only enter 1 letter at a time
        elif guessedletter in guessedletters:
            print("Sorry, you have already guessed this letter. Try again")
            #if the user tries to guess a letter that has already been guessed the computer displays a message telling the user to choose another letter as they have already chose this one

        else:
            guessedletters+=str(guessedletter)
            #adds the guessed letter to guessedletters variable
            print("You have guessed:")
            for letter in guessedletters:
                print(letter.upper(),"")
                #prints the letters already guessed in uppercase
            shownword = ""
            for letter in secretWord:
                if letter in guessedletters:
                    shownword +=str(letter)
                    #if the letter is in guessedletters then add the letter to shownword(word displayed to user)
                    if letter == guessedletter:
                        inword = True
                        #inword is true as the guessed letter is in the secret word

                else:
                    shownword+=str("_")
                    #the computer is now adding the underscores too the word being displayed to the user
            print(shownword)
            #the computer prints the word with the letters that the user has guessed so far (word including underscores for not yet guessed characters)
            if "_" not in shownword:
                        print("Congratulations, you won! The word was '", shownword,"'")
                        #if there are no underscores(meaning the word is completed) tell the user they have won the game
                        break
            elif inword == False:
                #the guessed word is not in the secret word so the boolean value is now off (False)
                print("No luck," , guessedletter , "is not in my word")
                lives -= 1
                #deducts a life for the wrong letter being guessed and also displays a message telling the user that the letter just guessed isn't in the secret word

    if lives == 0:
        print("You have run out of lives. The word was '",secretWord,"'")
        #if the user runs out of lives and still hasn't guessed the word, tell them they failed to beat the game and also tell them the word

    while True:
        playAgn = input("Would you like to play again? yes/no: ")
        if playAgn == 'no':
            print("okay\n Goodbye!")
            break
        elif playAgn == 'yes':
            break

thanks a lot to anyone who can help figure this out :)

A:

You could just swap this:
animalNames = ['wildebeest','wolverine','woodlouse','woodpecker','yak','zebra']

For this:
animalNames = getNames()

And define the function:
def getNames():
    names = []
    while True:
        name = raw_input("Add a word to the list (or press enter to cancel): ")
        if name == "":
            break
        else:
            names.append(name)
    return names

