Where Do Stories Hide? Finding Tales in Everyday Life
A squirrel races across the fence outside your window. It stops. It looks left, then right, then dashes up the tree. Nothing special happened... or did it? Maybe that squirrel was late for a very important squirrel meeting. Maybe it was hiding a secret acorn from a nosy blue jay. Stories are hiding in ordinary moments all around you, waiting for a writer to notice them.
What You'll Learn
- How to spot a story idea hiding in something ordinary - Why every character needs to WANT something - How adding one surprise makes a story more fun to read - How to write a tiny story of your own from start to finish
Every Day Has a Story Inside It
Writers don't wait for dragons or spaceships to find story ideas. They look at small, real things: a dropped ice cream cone, a lost mitten, a dog barking at its own shadow. Then they ask one magic question: "What if?" What if the dropped ice cream cone belonged to the last cone in the whole city? What if the lost mitten was trying to find its way home all by itself? Asking "what if" turns an ordinary moment into the start of a story.
Give Your Character a Want
Every good story character wants something. It could be small, like wanting the last cookie, or big, like wanting to make a new friend. When readers know what a character wants, they keep reading to find out if the character gets it. Try this: pick an animal, a person, or even an object (a story about a lonely umbrella works!) and decide one thing it wants more than anything.
Look at something in the room right now. Finish this sentence three different ways: 'What if this ___ could ___?' The silliest answer is often the best story idea.
Add One Surprise
A story gets more exciting when something unexpected happens. If a character wants to reach the top of a hill, a surprise might be that the hill is actually a sleeping giant. You don't need ten surprises, just one good one placed in the middle of your story, right when the reader thinks they know what will happen next.
Why do writers give their characters something they want?
In the story-writing tips from this lesson, what does the 'what if' trick help a writer do?
Write a Tiny Story
Pick one ordinary object near you (a shoe, a spoon, a backpack). Write 4-6 sentences: name the object as your character, say what it wants, add one surprise, and tell how it ends. Draw a small picture of your character next to your story.
Flashcards — click each card to reveal the answer
Want to keep learning?
Sign up for free to access the full curriculum — all subjects, all ages.
Start Learning Free