Tag: Telling stories with children characters

Childhood Meal

On By Terry ConnellyIn prompt, Uncategorized, Writing promptLeave a comment

            Kids are often picky eaters. They might love mac and cheese one day, then claim that they never liked it the next. They dislike certain textures that only they can see, before putting the food in their mouths. Smells, appearance and even parental pressure affect how children react to food.

            Because of this, meal time can often turn into an all-out war. Parents insist the child try one bite of everything, the kid refusing to eat anything.

            But, there are happy memories of meals shared as well. Try to recall your favorite childhood foods. Were they connected to a grandparent, perhaps the way Grandpa trimmed the crusts off your bread? Were they family affairs where a variety of foods were put out on a long table?

            Your task is to write a story about eating a meal, making sure that the protagonist is a child. To make things interesting, include in the meal foods the child likes, but also those which she detests. Use sensory details to make the story pop.

            Was anything mushy? Burned? Undercooked? Who was sitting at the table and how did that affect the experience of the meal?

            Were there rules in place, such as eating everything off the plate before having desert? Carrying dishes into the kitchen when finished? Remaining at the table until being excused?

            Have fun with this one.

Children in Our Lives

On By Terry ConnellyIn Uncategorized, Writing promptLeave a comment

We cannot live without children. Sure, some choose a life without them in their homes, which is perfectly okay. However, for the future of our world, children must be born, grow up and become contributing adults.

This is true even in our stories. Many times we ignore children in our writing. We don’t mention them, even in passing, and certainly don’t have them impact the way our protagonist behaves.

But what if we did? How would the presence of children impact our main characters? Alter the pace of the story? Change the plot?

This is for you to discover.

Your task is to write a scene in which there is at least one child. Said child can be a newborn, toddler, elementary school age, high school student, or young twenty-something. The child must not be a shadow figure, someone who floats in and out of the scene without interacting with the adults present.

Rather the child must participate in the action. The child might play with something, break something, throw something. Run in and out of the house/apartment/dwelling. Speak to people, if capable of speech. Be touched in some way. Do things, like spill milk, draw, play an instrument.

Interaction with this child will have meaningful impact on the story. For example, it might give added insight into the protagonist’s personality, or cause the adults to choose going to the park where a body is found, or alter vacations plans from lying on the beach in the Caribbean to going to Disneyland for a family adventure.

Have fun with this one.