Monday Moment #123: a writing prompt for your work-in-progress

(If you’ve already read this then skip past all the italicized blah-di-blah and start writing.) Monday Moments are writing prompts for your work-in-progress. They are questions that come from my experiences and are my favorite way to find out more about my characters. I find I learn a lot. Some of it I use. Some of it I don’t. But I always, always get to know my characters better just by answering the question. I hope you do too.)


I mentioned in my last Monday Moment that my oldest is graduating 5th grade and moving on to the craziness that is middle school. To celebrate the 5th graders, parents created posters of the kids from babyhood on. Going through pictures stirred up a lot of memories.

On top of that, my mom pulled out a journal she's kept with funny and sweet stories about her grandkids. It's so nice to have those stories written down.

Here are two stories, one about each of my girlies, written by my mom. Both girls were about 2 and a half when the following happened.

Madison's story:

Madison discovered her roaring voice during the month of October. She was very good at it too! It was a lion-roaring voice as far as she was concerned and she was quite proud to show it off to all.

For quite a while, when asked, Madison said she would be a lion for Halloween. Somewhere, somehow, sometime that changed. Her mom bought her a beautiful lion costume, but when asked shortly after that purchase she exclaimed, "I want to be a doctor for Halloween."

I think a bit of "lion persuasion" started, to no avail. Madison wanted nothing to do with the lion costume.

One day, shortly after all of the discussion and questioning about what Madison would be for Halloween, her mom asked the controversial question, "Madison, what do you want to be for Halloween?"

Madison's reply? "Not a lion!"

Here's a photo of from that Halloween.

NOT A LION!

Skylar's story:

Skylar loves Mommy's arms. She loves to rub, pinch, and scratch. (Mommy doesn't like the pinching and scratching.) So Mommy told Skylar that if she pinched Mommy's arm she would have to stop reading a book.

Daddy said, "What's Mommy going to do if you pinch her arm?"

Skylar said, "Stop reading the book and put it away."

Daddy said, "How would that make you feel?"

Skylar said, "Sad, and then I would cry. And call Mommy poo-poo head, bad Mommy."

Those dimples help ease the pain of being called poo-poo head, bad mommy.

Ah, I love those girlies. It's fun to recall those memories. And hearing these stories made the girls crack up.

Childhood stories, those that are sweet, funny, and embarrassing, are often told by family members or others. Whether it's a fun experience for a kid or horrible depends on the story, who's telling it, where it's being told, and the kid him/herself.

What's a story recalled and told about your main character and what's that experience like for him/her?