How "spark words" can help you create ideas--Part 2

Continuing with our theme of 'spark words' and using the term, 'family' as a trigger to help you create stories, here are five more items you could write about.

1. How your mother and father met for the first time. What was it like for them when they met? Was it love at first sight? 

I haven't a clue how my parents met for the first time. They refuse to say, so I can only guess.

2. What went through your father's mind before he met your mother? What were his goals in life? Was he a hit with the women? Or did he have friends to egg him on? Maybe you could write about that?

3. Now do the same for your mother. What was she likely to be doing before she met your father?

4. Write about their wedding?

5. Write about the arrival of a newborn in the family. How did your parents prepare the house? Did relatives go out of their way to congratulate your parents?

Mine said, "I don't care if she's given birth to a monkey."

6. When relatives visited the newborn, what was the experience like? Were they praiseworthy or downright rude?

Mine said, "He doesn't look like either of you..."

7. Describe your first day of school. What did you have to do in the run-up to school? What was it like in class, meeting new people?

8. Homework. Write about that. Write about the teachers that assigned you homework: who gave you easy homework and who gave you mountains of essays to do?

9. Detention: did that make you late for dinner at home? What happened then?

10. Talk about the family vacations. Did you sing any songs in the car during those long journeys, or did your father listen to the car radio?

11. What upset you the most when you took a family vacation? Was it learning that your dog was not coming...AND...was going to stay at kennels. What reasons did your mother give? How did you react?

More to come. Enjoy.