Currently we are looking at ways of getting inspiration to write stories. Where do you get your ideas? A method that many people employ is the “What If…?” method. If something catches your attention ask the question '”What if…?” Keep asking the question and you’ll see a plot emerge.
This is a good time to look at what famous children’s writers have to say on this topic of getting ideas and see how they used the What If question.
E.B.White – Charlotte’s Web
E.B. White, in one of his letters, tells how he got the inspiration to write Charlotte’s web. “I like animals and my barn is a very pleasant place to be, at all hours. One day when I was on my way to feed the pig, I began feeling sorry for the pig because, like most pigs, he was doomed to die. This made me sad. So I started thinking of ways to save a pig's life. I had been watching a big grey spider at her work and was impressed by how clever she was at weaving. Gradually I worked the spider into the story that you know, a story of friendship and salvation on a farm. Three years after I started writing it, it was published. (I am not a fast worker, as you can see.)”
So, the What If question could be ‘What if I could save the pig’s life? What if the spider could save the pig’s life?
E.B.White – Stuart Little
”Where did I get the idea for Stuart Little? Well, many years ago I went to bed one night in a railway sleeping car, and during the night I dreamed about a tiny boy who acted rather like a mouse. That's how the story of Stuart Little got started.”
So, the What If question could be “What if there was a very tiny boy who acted like a mouse?”
A.A.Milne – Winnie the Pooh
In an post called ‘Where do Children’s Book Writers Get Their Book Ideas’ Jenny Smith talks about A.A.Milne and Winnie the Pooh. “It has been said that the inspiration for this popular character was a bear that Milne’s son loved to visit in the London Zoo named Winnipeg…. As for the character of Christopher Robin, it is practically common knowledge that the inspiration for this character in the Winnie the Pooh series was the author’s son, Christopher Robin Milne. The other equally popular characters that make up the entire gang of friends Winnie had in the story – Piglet, Tigger, Eeyore and others – are also inspired by the other stuffed animals Christopher Robin owned and talked to on a regular basis as he played with them.”
So, the What If question could be “What if all Christopher’s stuffed animals lived in the woods together?”
Lucy Maud Montgomery – Anne of Green Gables
In the Wheelock Family Theatre Study Guide prepared by Jeri Hammond we find out how Lucy Montgommery got her idea for writing Ane of Green Gables. “One day in the spring of 1905, L.M. Montgomery was leafing through her notebook in search of an idea for a routine serial for a Sunday School paper when she came across something she had written years before, after a neighbour adopted a little girl: “Elderly couple apply to orphan asylum for a boy. By mistake a girl is sent to them.” With that, Anne of Green Gables was born.
So, the What If question could be “What if an elderly couple apply for a boy orphan and a girl is sent to them in error…?”
Jeff Brown -Flat Stanley
This children’s book is one of the most widely read books today and it is the originator of the Flat Stanley Literacy project that is currently practised in schools world-wide. In an article about Jeff Brown in Business Day it is said, “The idea for Stanley came to him one night at bedtime when his sons J. C. and Tony were young and stalling for time. One asked what would happen if the big bulletin board on the wall were to fall on J. C., and Mr. Brown said he would most likely wake up flat. That led to speculation about what such a life might be like…”
So, the What If question could be “What if a bulletin board fell on a little boy and squashed him flat?”
So, think about something you have been pondering of late and see if you can turn it into a What If question? It might be the start of of a great story!
This is a good time to look at what famous children’s writers have to say on this topic of getting ideas and see how they used the What If question.
E.B.White – Charlotte’s Web
E.B. White, in one of his letters, tells how he got the inspiration to write Charlotte’s web. “I like animals and my barn is a very pleasant place to be, at all hours. One day when I was on my way to feed the pig, I began feeling sorry for the pig because, like most pigs, he was doomed to die. This made me sad. So I started thinking of ways to save a pig's life. I had been watching a big grey spider at her work and was impressed by how clever she was at weaving. Gradually I worked the spider into the story that you know, a story of friendship and salvation on a farm. Three years after I started writing it, it was published. (I am not a fast worker, as you can see.)”
So, the What If question could be ‘What if I could save the pig’s life? What if the spider could save the pig’s life?
E.B.White – Stuart Little
”Where did I get the idea for Stuart Little? Well, many years ago I went to bed one night in a railway sleeping car, and during the night I dreamed about a tiny boy who acted rather like a mouse. That's how the story of Stuart Little got started.”
So, the What If question could be “What if there was a very tiny boy who acted like a mouse?”
A.A.Milne – Winnie the Pooh
In an post called ‘Where do Children’s Book Writers Get Their Book Ideas’ Jenny Smith talks about A.A.Milne and Winnie the Pooh. “It has been said that the inspiration for this popular character was a bear that Milne’s son loved to visit in the London Zoo named Winnipeg…. As for the character of Christopher Robin, it is practically common knowledge that the inspiration for this character in the Winnie the Pooh series was the author’s son, Christopher Robin Milne. The other equally popular characters that make up the entire gang of friends Winnie had in the story – Piglet, Tigger, Eeyore and others – are also inspired by the other stuffed animals Christopher Robin owned and talked to on a regular basis as he played with them.”
So, the What If question could be “What if all Christopher’s stuffed animals lived in the woods together?”
Lucy Maud Montgomery – Anne of Green Gables
In the Wheelock Family Theatre Study Guide prepared by Jeri Hammond we find out how Lucy Montgommery got her idea for writing Ane of Green Gables. “One day in the spring of 1905, L.M. Montgomery was leafing through her notebook in search of an idea for a routine serial for a Sunday School paper when she came across something she had written years before, after a neighbour adopted a little girl: “Elderly couple apply to orphan asylum for a boy. By mistake a girl is sent to them.” With that, Anne of Green Gables was born.
So, the What If question could be “What if an elderly couple apply for a boy orphan and a girl is sent to them in error…?”
Jeff Brown -Flat Stanley
This children’s book is one of the most widely read books today and it is the originator of the Flat Stanley Literacy project that is currently practised in schools world-wide. In an article about Jeff Brown in Business Day it is said, “The idea for Stanley came to him one night at bedtime when his sons J. C. and Tony were young and stalling for time. One asked what would happen if the big bulletin board on the wall were to fall on J. C., and Mr. Brown said he would most likely wake up flat. That led to speculation about what such a life might be like…”
So, the What If question could be “What if a bulletin board fell on a little boy and squashed him flat?”
So, think about something you have been pondering of late and see if you can turn it into a What If question? It might be the start of of a great story!
Wonderful I wuold have missed something great if I had not joined this programme.
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