Calling all inspiring writers – our weekly story starter is here!
Every Friday, our Fiction Editor, Shirley, thinks of a story starter to inspire you to write a story. Our weekly story starter today shines the light on umbrellas.
A First for Me
Don’t you love this brolly? We haven’t had any rain this week, as it’s been sunny, bright, blowy and jolly chilly. But last week was a different story, and that’s when I came upon this. It was propped up – no, that’s not right, because if you look closely you’ll see that it props itself up. A brolly with its own stand! I’ve never seen one like it before. Isn’t it a genius idea?
It was standing in the sort of foyer bit of our first-floor office, between the two doors where we leave wet brollies and so on. Though now that I come to think about it, when we first moved here almost a year ago there was a brolly stand – I wonder what ever happened to that?
Anyway, I love the flamboyance of this. A pink flamingo! That wouldn’t half brighten your spirits as you sheltered from a downpour.
Pink Flamingos?
What story will you come up with for it, do you think? Florida? That’s the only place I’ve ever actually seen flamingos, in one of the parks, possibly Epcot.
By the way, I just Googled flamingo to see where they’re native to, and got completely distracted… Do you ever read the “people also ask” lines that pop up when you start a search? We got the giggles earlier in the week when Alan was researching the Eiffel Tower for a story. The first “other people” question was about when it was built, or its height, or some such. The second? “Can I take my pet up the Eiffel Tower?” ‘Oh, of course I need to know – my goldfish has always wanted to go!’
The Google Giggles
Well, the same sort of thing just happened when I typed in “flamingo”. First question that other people ask: “What is the plural form of flamingo?” Second question? Go on, have a guess. No? It’s “Are flamingos mean?” We’ve got the Google giggles again.
Anyway, after all that, I’ll just hand this lovely brolly over to you. See what it inspires.
For more inspiration start with our writers tools – click here for more inspiration You can do this!
Shirley Blair Fiction Ed Shirley’s been with the “Friend” since 2007 and calls it her dream job because she gets to read fiction all day every day. Hobbies? Well, that would be reading! She also enjoys writing fiction when she has time, long walks, travel, and watching Scandi thrillers on TV.
