“Grandma, where do you get your ideas?” Liz asked. I had no ready answer. “Life experiences, I guess.”

Then I thought about it. Was my life exciting enough to weave stories around it?

1. I grew up on a chicken farm. Kids wouldn’t be interested in chicken business so no need to write about that, even though one of our newly hatched chicks had 4 legs.
2. I attended a small country school.
3. It would be too scary to write about the time I ran out in front of a car and was seriously injured. Besides, Moms wouldn’t want me to put ideas into the heads of their little ones.
4. My little brother wanted to be a detective.
5. My unmarried aunt often told me stories about her childhood, especially the time my mother caught a rabbit by the tail and it came off in her hands. Gross!
6. During my years as a camp counselor nothing exciting happened. Nothing there to write about.
7. I married a man who had grown up in England.

I could add to the list, but I’ve lived such an ordinary life, who would be interested?

At a book signing, Barbara A. Roberts shared how she used an experience from her childhood to write a story for young readers. In an effort to catch the teacher’s attention, she sang loud. She certainly had her teacher’s attention because she also sang off key. In the second book of Phoebe Flower’s Adventures series, Phoebe wants to sing a solo in the second grade program. So that her teacher will know she can sing, she sings loud and of course off key.

As I look back now, I realize that I did use experiences from my own life to write fiction.

For example: when I attended a small country school, some years we had a school bus, other years we walked or our parents took us to school. In good weather the older kids rode their bikes, but at age seven, all I had was a tricycle. Occasionally, my teacher loaded her car with kids and dropped us off on her way home. Usually I crossed the road behind her car, thinking if I go in front and she starts up she’ll hit me. She didn’t hit me, but another car zooming down the country road sent me flying through the air. I was in second grade at the time and survived only through prayer and God’s healing hand.

“Katie’s Prayer” Bread for God’s Children (2000 Issue 2).
Bread for God’s Children looked for stories based on healing. Becky is struck by a car while walking to school and lies in a coma. Her sister Katie says she’s praying for Becky. Mom is naturally upset and it’s not that she doesn’t believe in prayer, but Becky is seriously injured. Katie is faithful in prayer. Becky begins to heal and Mom’s faith is renewed.

While I was in college I received a letter from my little brother, stating he wanted to be a detective. Did I have any work for him? He not only wrote to me, he wrote to the police department asking for work. I’m sure my mother didn’t know about that letter until she saw it published in the newspaper. A few years ago a local bank robber actually took a taxi to get away and the police were able to track him down through the taxi company.

“Rusty and the Bank Robber”
From my brother’s experience and what happened locally, I created a little character named Rusty. He wants to be a detective, but always misses the clue to solve the “crime.” In the end, he witnesses a bank robbery and is able to give the police the license plate number (which happens to be his initials and date of birth) of the getaway car. It originally was to be a chapter book or middle grade novel. I submitted to a publisher once and it was rejected. More recently, I rewrote the part about the bank robbery and submitted as a short story. It has been neither accepted or rejected, but is sitting on the back burner at Bumples.

“A Light Unto My Way” My Light Magazine, June 2009.
Using my experience as summer camp counselor, I remembered that path we walked to the latrine, otherwise known as “The Friendship House.” Dani is afraid of the dark and when she has to get up in the night, she starts out alone along that path. Her counselor catches up with her and explains there’s nothing to be afraid of. She points out that what Dani thinks is a snake is really a tree root. (Yes, I saw that tree root after dark and it would be believable.) Dani realizes that God cares about her and she doesn’t need to be afraid.

All ideas don’t necessarily have to come from our own experiences. I faithfully read the Dear Abby column. Once a letter from a concerned Mom mentioned that one grandmother gives expensive gifts while the other grandmother can’t afford much. I thought of my own grandchildren and how I always gave them toys for Christmas while the other grandmother gave clothes.

“Grandmas and Snowmen” was included in a collection of Christmas stories, MISTLETOE MADNESS, edited by Miriam Hees (Blooming Tree Press, 2004).
Emily doesn’t want to go to Grandma Watkin’s for Christmas because all she gives her is homemade hats and mittens, while the other grandmother gives expensive toys. As the family drives out to the country, they pass a number of snowmen. (I’d read about a snowman contest in one of Jan Karon’s Mitford books.) Emily realizes that grandmothers are as different as snowmen. Some are knitting and baking Grandmas, while some are shopping Grandmas.

While thinking of Christmas, I remembered the various Christmas programs we put on in our little country school. One year an embarrassing incident happened to me, but thankfully it was during rehearsal. Also a girl in the upper grades came to school with a new red dress, which I loved and wanted.

“My Special Part” was also included in the above book, MISTLETOE MADNESS

My husband took me to England and Scotland to visit family and friends. I tasted British meals, learned new words and different meanings of words I already knew.

“Brianna Learns English” hasn’t found a home yet.
Brianna visits her British grandmother, glad that she doesn’t have to learn a new language. But when she hears that Ian’s father is out with his lorry (truck), she thinks that he has a girlfriend named Laurie. At the end of the story I included a multiple choice quiz about different words used in England.

From the back cover of the Phoebe Flower’s Adventure series: “Author Barbara Roberts is a kindergarten teacher in Upstate New York. . . . The ideas for Barbara’s stories have come from her experience as a mother of three children, a speech therapist, and a teacher whose students have shared their concerns and adventures with her.”

Your life doesn’t have to be anything special to trigger an idea for a story. Grab a notebook and pen/pencil and as I did, list things that have happened in your life. Then go back and see how you can use some of those experiences in your next story. It’ll be fiction, anyway, so take a memory and run with it. Write from your experience, not about your experience.

Copyright 2010 Amy Houts