After my sister and I finished writing prompt #2, my little brother jumped up and said “Can I do one with you, too? Can I choose the sentence? Can we do it now?”
Me: “Now?”
Little brother: “Yes.”
Sister: “I want to! We should do a different game though… I know! Let’s do pictures.”
New writing game today! We’ll call this one Snap Shot.
The rules: Stare at the picture. What does it make you think of? What story is it telling? Okay–thought of something? Good. Now set a timer to 10 minutes and start writing that story. Ready, set, go!
After you try this out, you can find what I wrote by clicking here (because comparing everyone’s different ideas is the best bit!). I fixed some of the punctuation and spelling to make it easier to read, but this is about fun, not editing.
This… lovely picture was picked out by my little sister–as always, a great help with these writing prompts! She wrote an absolutely hilarious piece but has decided to continue writing it and turn it into something longer, so I’m not posting hers. However, here’s my little brother’s piece (he’s 12). Next time we’re doing his sentence, which he’s already picked out!
If you’re really feeling brave, you can post what you’ve written in the comments because, as with all writing games, comparing our unique takes on the picture is the best part.
Good luck!
Sonora Hills 
“They had been travelling for days, crammed into the foul smelling, rattling old bus; elbows digging into ears, bums in faces, knees in stomachs, but they had no choice. Their only chance of survival was to flee their homeland. To flee the fighting. Like many others on this bus Umayma had lost loved ones in the conflict. Her Mother had been killed trying to save her baby brother, and her Father had been ordered to join the fighting. Before he left he had given Umayma 2 precious bus tickets, and told her to take her little siblings and run.
“As soon as dark falls tonight, little mother,” – my pet name – , “you must take your siblings and leave this place – it is too dangerous here. Take these tickets and get on the bus to Germany. You will be safe there.”
Umayma had had no choice, or desire, to do anything but obey, so there they were, four of them stuffed suffocating together into two crammed seats. On the fifth day the bus driver called out to the passengers, but he spoke no words of their language, so they did not understand. What felt like hours later, although it was probably only a few minutes, the bus jolted to a stop. Everyone inside froze – why had they stopped so suddenly? If it was the police they would all be arrested.
After a second the driver stood up. To their surprise he smiled, and climbed out of the bus, beckoning them to follow.
“Is this a trap?” Umayma thought.
A few older boys from near the front were brave enough to follow the driver. A moment later the occupants of the bus heard a cry “Bravo! Toilets! Come on out!”
At this the rest of the passengers began to stagger stiffly out from the confines of the bus, sighing deeply at the sensations of sunlight and fresh air hitting their skin. Umayma had forgotten how blue the sky really was.
It was true – there, on the parched roadside, stood three derelict portable toilets.”
– I really enjoy the ‘Snap Shot’ prompts! Thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person