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What’s something that happened in real life that made you think, “I have to put that in a story!”
Okay so for me it’s not anything huge, but I thought it was cute when I saw it so yeah, here it is.
It was two years ago when I was at a 2 week apologetics summer camp in Colorado. You share a room with three other roommates, have classes most of the day, go hiking, spend the little money you have on quirky ice-cream and coffee shops in town, and all that cool stuff.
In class, the row in front of me sat a boy and a girl. You weren’t allowed any food or drinks in the class, but that didn’t stop the boy in front of me. He brought a stash of candy to every. single. class. But the thing was that he didn’t even eat any of it.
Like an undercover spy he’d stuff candy in the pocket of the bluest blue hoodie you’ve ever seen. He’d have his hands in the pocket so that the people at the door did notice the goods.
During class he would take a hand out of is pocket with a piece of wrapped candy and pass it to the girl with curly hair and gorgeous eyes next to him. With a little smile she’d take it, unwrap it, pop the candy in her month, and stuff the empty wrapper under her seat cushion, all without catching the attention of any of the teachers.
This happened everyday for the two weeks. The boy would secretly bring candy and share it with the girl next to him. I didn’t call them out of course because one, it’s kinda sweet and two, I was smuggling some of my own illegal goods as well.
Anyway, I ended up writing a short story around a boy who sneaks candy in class for the girl next to him, but I spiced it up a bit with some ghosts ’cause ummm… why not?
(Side not: I wonder what the janitor’s reaction was when they went to clean the seats and an avalanche of candy wrappers spills out from one of the cushions) XD
So what about you? What moment from real life did you experience or witness that you had to write a story about?
@kathleenramm That’s such a fun story!
Other than people that would make good characters…
On the first day of one of my classes this year I was heading in doors to the place where we hold our co-op, and anyways, while I was still outside in the parking lot, this car just drove by in front of my, crunching this safety cone (which are indestructible, technically) and after it drove by there was a guy standing on the other side of it, tall with a hoodie up, and we met eyes and basically were just like, “Did- did you see that car – ”
Anyways, I haven’t found a chance to use this in a story yet. Maybe one day.
Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into days@kathleenramm Awwwww, that’s such a cute story!!! I would love to read that short story one day, because it just sounds too perfect. (I love the phrase “spicing it up a bit with some ghosts” btw–that’s such a writerly mood. 😉 )
Well, I work in a library now, so I’m sure there will be lots of things that inspire my stories that I see there. Yesterday though, I was reminded of the fact that occasionally in my town, there’s this ice cream van that drives around. Unlike the typical models, however, this one is bright orange. And plays out-of-tune songs over its loudspeaker (most notably “We Three Kings”). And in general just feels strange and slightly hilarious.
It’s nothing huge, but definitely feels like something off the pages of a humorous novel. Perhaps I’ll find the perfect plot to put it in one day…
“Seven seconds till the end. Time enough for you. Perhaps. But what will you do with it?”
That is so incredibly cute! And I think we need a sequel to that short story about the janitor 😛
Occasionally little things I’ve experienced make it into stories of mine, but one thing that happened actually made it into the work I am possibly most proud of, a short story I wrote a few years back. Essentially, my family had lunch with a few other homeschooling families on a Sunday afternoon after church at the local park (which is incredibly beautiful, with lots of big old oak trees and green grass, huge for a rural Australian town :P). One of the boys in the group, who I think would have been around 12 at the time, made an origami animal (unfortunately I can no longer remember what sort of animal it was, but he is very good at making origami animals, so it literally could have been anything) and gave it to my sister. I thought it was so sweet and cute that I immediately started brainstorming a story about a boy giving a girl origami cranes in a park. I adore that story to this day 😀
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
Oh, wow. What kind of car was that? If you do end up writing this into a story I bet you could make up some really cool explanation, like… alien car, fairy car, super-high-tech-rich-guy’s car, I don’t know. XD
But I can imagine it being a really fun scene.
Haha! It would would be really fun to write about a main character who drives a bright orange ice-cream truck. Oh wait, on second thought, what about a villain who drives a bright orange ice-cream truck? Now that would be interesting…
That so sweet! I’d personally love to read a story about that. I feel like it would have a sweet, but melancholy feel to it, but that’s just from a little snippet of an idea. Let me know if you ever write a story about it!
@kathleenramm I actually did write a story based on it 😀 a little bit loosely albeit, but here it is if you’d like to read it 😀 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oa-DrOTBmcNVHcn3DZbgjPmYM1qNDuKPzyE_u0AWeaA/edit?usp=sharing
INFP Queen of the Kingdom commander of an army of origami cranes and a sabre from Babylon.
@kathleenramm It was one of those homeschool minivans, which is lowkey funny to me. That would make a great device, as well as a way to introduce a character.
Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into daysThat is an incredibly cute story! And you added ghosts? How does that sound amazing!:)
As for me, this happens a lot. I see things in real life and -this is why I carry writing supplies everywhere, even just around the farm- jot random things down from a man riding out of a grocery store on a shopping cart to a boy and girl that bicycle through town in the summer.
I remember one happenstance that I had turned into an actual story once. It was an extremely windy day on the farm, so much that you literally had to shout for anyone to hear you even if they were a foot away. And on this particular day, all the horses but one got out and were fleeing across the fields. Neighboring farmers had come to help and it turned into a full-blown manhunt… uh, horsehunt that is. We chased them for almost three different landowners’ fields (no short jog that’s for sure) and eventually we chased them right through a neighborhood where they decided the neatly mowed grass looked worth grazing. They stopped in front of this one house and a little girl, probably six, in a pink fairy dress I think it was, came up to the window and flattened her face and hands against the window. The look of enthrallment on her face as she watched the horses in her backyard, made me wonder if she was thinking all her wishes that she ever wished had come true for a moment before we started herding them back out of the neighborhood. We got the horses back eventually (eventually a.k.a. an exhausting chase. Which is strange because, in all these years, that was the only time our horses pulled that little stunt). But anyway, the whole thing stuck with me and I never forgot the girl against the back window door watching the horses graze on her lawn, and of course I had to write the story.
And now I might even dig up that old draft of mine and rewrite it:)@kathleenramm I love that story! So cute
I ship itHere’s one that related to my latest WIP:
Last year I was running laps, nothing unusual, normal fall day, and then I pass this group of kids.
They were probably… idk, 12, 13? But there was this one kid, super short with super messy strawberry blond hair, super freckled, who was being super awesome. Everything about him seemed extreme.
He kept sprinting against his friends, and really just being a people magnet. Despite being tiny, he was absolutely the leader of the group and drew people to him. Totally sassy, but totally fun. (And then someone started throwing frisbees at him and he caught literally all of them XD)
I didn’t even need to think about it, I just knew I HAD to write about him. So this random person I happened to see has now become an MC in my WIP, and I love love love writing for him. The real dude was just such a character, and I could tell that from a literal 15 second encounter. So, to-the-random-person-I-met-and-didn’t-even-talk-to-but-just-looked-weirdly-at: thanks for being amazing, I will now immortalize you in my writing X’D
I can't think of anything witty at the moment.
Aw, I love that memory 🙂 It reminded me of my own origami memory a long time ago. A boy from my old church, who had a chronic disease, had made an origami dragon (he was great at it), and I still have it actually.
And so when I read that, I had to read the story you said you wrote and girl, that was nothing short of beautiful. The imagery and story and characters, Annabelle and Colan, were so real and during the last six pages, I lost a few tears. Have you ever tried to publish it? Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I thought it was amazing:)That’s awesome! That kid sounds like an amazing character, (if only he knew he were going to be immortalized as a MC ), but I guess that proves that all is fair game to a writer XD Seriously though, just by reading that, I can tell that he has got to be quite a main character 😀
Maybe one day you will get to make a story from it:) Because that totally sounds like it would make an epic one 😀
A bright orange ice cream truck that plays “We Three Kings”? That is the crown jewel of ice cream trucks! And so strange and funny at the same time, it would make an excellent addition to a story!:D
@abigail-m Very much looking for an opportunity every chance I get. It’s just too good to pass up.
@lewilliams I’m with Kathleen on villainous ice cream trucks. You should definitely include it in a story. Like, where do ice cream trucks even come from? Are they even stoppable?
@relia Ah, yes, I’ve done this myself several times. It’s awesome, isn’t it? Because then you have a real-life basis for a character, making them somehow more developed. And it’s easier.Lately, it's been on my brain
Would you mind letting me know
If hours don't turn into daysOf course:D
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