kid lit nanowrimo discussion and support

[Heather Boyd]

@Braden-Hallett how do we know your writing then. Just kidding

[MOO]

PROMPT 4
My name is Jeremy Brown and there is an elephant sitting at my desk. There is also a monkey by the window, a snake curled up in the trash can, and a tortoise under my feet. My “school” is at home with my parents and all these animals. Today we are looking for our little lost goat He is very small and wanders around eating the grasses and bleating for his Mama. My Dad hid him from us so we could learn to do tracking. It will be useful for me to know. Later we will go to the shore and do math using shells and writing in the sand with a stick while we fish and hunt for edible plants. My favorite part of school though, is cooking. Because I am always hungry.

We have been stranded in this place since I was about three years old. We were on a boat in a storm and we crashed here. Now I’m 6 years old. I don’t know any other life than this one. I can’t remember very much at all about the other place we lived. The only people I see are my parents. They tell me that out there across the ocean there are more people than I could count! I guess I had many friends there when I was small. I do remember one called Benny. He had orange hair and he laughed a lot. I think we played together. Also, I have a grandmother and grandfather there. I remember that they really liked me a lot and it was fun to visit them but, I can’t remember what they look like very well. Mom and Dad want to leave this place someday soon. I’m not sure I want to go! It is a nice place here. The sun shines, there are plenty of animal friends and we have a cozy hut to live in. My friends are the animals here. At least, most of the animals. I have been taught which ones to look out for and the other animals are good at warning me when a hunting animal, or predator, is near. They protect me so I am not afraid.
My parents have been drying fish and fruits and storing them. They are trying to build a boat that will be very big and strong so that we can survive on the ocean because they don’t know the way home and they said it might take a long time. They saved some things from the boat that they can use. They also made some fishing baskets and some big knives in case we need to fight off a shark! They are still learning about boat making. And how to make clothes and baskets but they are pretty good. They are a lot better than they used to be. And they are watching the stars at night and making charts. They hope to be able to read the stars like a map to find our way to some land where there are other people. I am learning how to read and write english words and numbers. I like words best. We don’t have any real books but we have figured out how to make some paper and we can make ink out of ashes and fat. I am making a book of the alphabet. That’s my schoolwork. It’s kind of hard right now but I will get better, they say. I am making pictures of animals and writing their names right now. My Dad helps me spell the words right. It’s a little smeary but I have lots of time to work on it. I have an idea to use tree sap for ink...I haven’t tried it yet. Mom says it might be very sticky and that mixing things up together is called chemistry (or cooking if it’s food).

So, that’s why I have an elephant sitting at my desk. By the way, my desk is a half of a log on some rocks. We made it ourselves because we are survivors and Mom says that is what survivors do.

to be continued.......someday

[braden H]

@Heather-Boyd :smiling_face_with_open_mouth_closed_eyes: lol

[eriberart]

I joined in yesterday for the Jeremy Brown prompt, but I think posting it for me is out of my comfort zone! Writing is not my strongest point :smiling_face_with_open_mouth_closed_eyes:

[braden H]

@eriberart Do what you can! Writing is just like any other skill. Practicing the craft is part of learning the craft

[braden H]

The opening and ending lines from one of my prompts:

"Uh oh... I need to pee..."

"Uh oh... I need to poop..."

When in doubt, scatological stories are always winners :smiling_face_with_open_mouth_closed_eyes:

[MOO]

PROMPT 5
An old flashlight and a shadow that has a mind of its own leads to a very strange first sleepover.

NOTE: This is pretty rough and I'm sure the meter is off but, it's written.

A story was told me along time ago
About some kids and a shadow show
The cousins had come to stay overnight
Mel was prepared with an old flashlight,
They plopped on their sleeping bags facing the wall
The short kids in front, ( in the back they were tall).
Munching on popcorn, the lights turned down low,
They eagerly waited for Mel’s Shadow Show.
He wiggled his fingers and cracked the bones
Then asked them politely to turn off their phones.
With great skill he fashioned a Red Riding Hood
And a ravenous wolf that lurked by in the wood.
A Granny that screamed and jumped out of bed
So the wolf took her place and tried to eat Red.
A hunter came running to save the day
But the wolf, apparently, got away!
Mel put his hands down and turned on the light.
Something was wrong, it wasn’t quite right!
That hunter was meant to get rid of the beast
That’s what Mel’s hands showed…. he thought so at least.
So, where was the wolf? Where did that guy go?
The show had gone wrong but the kids didn’t know.
They put on their PJs and chattered and played
Wherever the wolf went, I guess it had stayed.
The kids were all sleeping but Mel was awake
He stared at the wall and then started to shake!
The shadow was back, it reared up on two feet
It opened its mouth showing ugly sharp teeth!
Mel dropped his old flashlight and covered his head.
That’s all that I know, that’s all that was said.

Now turn off the lights and get back to bed!

[MOO]

@Braden-Hallett I want to hear the middle

[MOO]

Played around on GIMP with the shadow wolf. Very rough and done with my mouse and fill but, thought I'd share

[MOO]

PROMPT 6:
I don't know who these people are but they have NO idea how to run a pirate ship.

Four brothers in a bathtub playing pirates.
“Me mateys are gettin’ it all wrong. Where’s the sharks? No plank! No peg legged captain. no eye patches or parrots. What kind of pirate ship is this? ARRRRRR!”

That’s all I’m doing today

[braden H]

@Marsha-Kay-Ottum-Owen It's far to strange and grody to publish, lol. But it gave me an idea for something worth writing instead

[MOO]

@Braden-Hallett Ha! Ha! Okay, I don't want to read anything grody!

[peteolczyk]

Hello, just letting you all know how great I’ve found Lee whites video on visual storytelling techniques. It’s so very relevant to this challenge.
I will definitely be following his process from now on.

[MOO]

@peteolczyk Thanks! I need to sit down and watch more videos! I have a lot of partially finished classes too.

[braden H]

@peteolczyk Awesome! I'll have to check that out!

[braden H]

So 7 days has gone by. I've got 5 fully written stories and two quick synopsis (a couple of them decent, I think!)

Checking in, are others still finding these random silly prompts useful?

[peteolczyk]

@Braden-Hallett I like them Braden. They help you to think outside the box. It reminds me of an ideas generation lesson we did at college, the more random and peculiar the better.
( I’m behind at the minute but I’m going to try using your prompts with Lee Whites visual story telling process.)

[braden H]

@peteolczyk Cool cool

They'll probably start to get weirder as I start looking around for inspiration, lol.

Which I suppose is part of the point!

[NicolaSchofield]

@Braden-Hallett That's loads - good going! I have four small somethings so far - chunks of dialogue, opening scenes or plot outlines. The prompts are great, thank you for supplying them!

[eriberart]

@Braden-Hallett You're doing so well! I am just happy I've written something every day haha. Most days I have written just a synopsis or a start to a story but I'm getting into the swing of things I've used the prompts every day, except for one day where I wanted to expand on the story I'd been writing the day before! I find the prompts useful to tackle ideas that I usually wouldn't think of so thank you for posting them. I think I'll be able to get a few good portfolio pieces out of some ideas I've come up with