At the beginning:
Stories . . . ahh . . . the dreaded narratives. Those writing pieces with story arcs or mountains, plots, characters, . . . already stuck so I’ve googled and love this post What is a Story, and Where Does it Come From?
Second Start – Google Images
Typing on a typewriter. This was seen at the opening or closing of some TV shows when the writers were given credit.
The places that you can go and see when you can imagine the story.
That extra dimension when the reader takes you, quite literally, into the story!
Still in search of a story . . .
- There was once a young man who knew a lot about dinosaurs. (In fact he knew more than his grandmother.) When you named a dinosaur he would point to the correct one. Tyrannosaurus Rex (T Rex), brontosaurus, stegosaurus, triceratops, and pterodactyl to name a few. This amazing two year old also knew that dinosaurs liked ice cream as he had the T Rex order ice cream at the shoppe. His T Rex was partial to chocolate ice cream in a chocolate cone with chocolate sprinkles. Chocolate all the way!
- Ten kids. During the Depression. One pair of shoes per child. Of course they went barefoot at home, outside, while doing farm chores. The extra warmth from the fresh cow pie was appreciated when frost covered the ground.
- Father, grandfather, uncle, great uncle, brother. All describe Uncle Leo. But what I didn’t know about Uncle Leo was all the folks that he “rubbed elbows” with. Strong family ties connect us across the ages, but now I know that he met and talked with Bobby Kennedy, Jimmy Carter and many other political and presidential folks.
- My shirt-tail cousin, one of the most famous baseball players of all time, Babe Ruth. Babe Ruth was infamous both on the field and off the field.
Does it need to be MY story or can I retell someone else’s story?
I can make the story MY story by including the details that I find most fascinating. I can leave out the details that are boring and get right to the heart of the story. I can elaborate on the most unusual parts or where I “show, not tell” to develop the details.
What are your stories?
How and when will you share?
Resource - Full 
Darn you Fran! That quote you chose spoke straight to me this morning! We are having all the carpet removed from our home (dining room, living room, and 4 bedrooms), and having the original hardwood floors sanded and stained. This means moving a lot of furniture and memories. As I clean out my kids bedrooms I find bits and pieces of untold stories, some wonderful and others very painful. I have yet to practice what I preached to the staff all year about becoming a writer, but I am getting very close with all these objects calling out to me. Tammy
Tammy,
That’s such a great quote. There’s nothing like living the “writerly life” to build the inspiration through perspiration to enhance your own writing skills! ❤
This is an engaging post with a great format, Fran. Thanks for the link to the other post.
Thanks, Carol. It was a fun post to write. I was actually thinking of it as a quick write or flash draft, but then I was lost in the possibilities!
I love how you dug for your stories. Some remind me of mine. Isn’t that the way stories can go? And thank you for the link to The Wrap. This quote spoke to me: “Perhaps it is the listener within us that demands the story and the teller within us that does its best to accommodate.”
Julieanne,
I like that line as well. Today the story was about the search. What do we do when the story doesn’t pop up? Doing nothing is not helpful. How can we model this for our students? How can we do something to get “unstuck”?
I think I confused some people with this topic, but not you. I love this response and all the stories that could be.
Thanks, Margaret.
I believe the digital world makes it easier to find a “starting point” with stories. I can search for a quote or graphic to begin or even begin again as I demo’d in this post. So many possibilities! ❤
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