What’s YOUR Story?

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Ten years ago the SoKingNews (newsletter) theme for the year was What's YOUR Story?  That question is still relevant today; let's make it our theme for 2023.

Reprinted from SoKingNews, Volume 28, Number 4, January/February 2013

One of the most difficult hurdles to writing a story is putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard in the modern genre) and getting that first sentence or paragraph flowing. The creative juices do not always gush; sometimes they barely drip!

In a recent radio interview of a creative writing teacher, it was suggested that, for an exercise, to take a common object and write a paragraph about it. The steps she outlined were very simple:

· Select your object

· Think of all the ways you have encountered that object

· Select one occurrence and answer these questions

Where are you?

Who is with you?

What is happening?

What are you feeling?

In the interview she offered “the kitchen table” as the common object. Following the steps outlined, think of all the kitchen tables you might have encountered in your lifetime. Does one stick out in your mind? Whose table is it? Where is it?


Courtesy of Pixabay


Courtesy of Pixabay



In just a few minutes you might write a childhood memory of a delicious bowl of chicken noodle soup that you ate after building the first snowman of the season.




Courtesy of Pixabay

Or maybe your story is about making an apple pie with your grandmother, rolling out the pie crust on her kitchen table. Do you still use her recipe?





Some of our most endearing family stories are about these common occurrences. They show an underlying current of character or tradition we might otherwise struggle to portray.

 And also keep in mind that if you don’t tell your story, who will?

And, don’t be shy! Submit your stories to this blog by emailing to m.strickland@skcgs.org.




 

Comments

  1. ValorieDecember 26, 2022 at 7:18 PM

    I love the images you found to go with this article, MaryLynn. I hope you get lots of stories in response!

    ReplyDelete

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