Writers - Where Does This Take You?

A couple of weeks ago, I took my girls out to a special event at Hawaiian Falls in The Colony.  They had a sopping wet blast, and I enjoyed some great reading and people-watching.

Going along with my regular weekly post about settings, though, I couldn't resist this picture of one of the play areas in the park.  This particular area was for little kids only; all of my girls were too big.  But my inner child was just the right size and I could imagine the sorts of trouble and pranks that she could play in this wild, wet castle. 

I was particularly intrigued by the top-most area of the playground.  It's a little hard to see in the picture, but the bird sits on a pipe that pours a steady stream of water into the bucket.  When part of the bucket fills, it dumps the water out, sending it down the blue slanting roof and showering the steps beneath it. 

I can't hide that I'm a mystery buff at heart, so as I gazed at this area, it wasn't hard for me to picture the ultra-dramatic body rolling out of the bucket and down the blue roof to the stairs below.  A book that started that way would be catnip, to me. Yum!

The girls and some buddies at the park.

Since it is a kids' park, however, I cleaned up my imaginary situation.  In my second set-up, I pictured Megabadguy chasing Sweet-lil-innocent all up and down the stairs until, like Li'l Orphan Annie, Sweet begins to climb through the netting and onto the intricate weavings of pipes and rails.  Up to the top of play-place she climbs, becoming trapped with nothing around her but sky ... uh ... and that big parrot. Still, Megabadguy draws closer, but unfortunately finds himself on the wrong side of the bucket.  Oops.  He falls onto the sloping roof and rolls down it, like a kid on a grassy hill, only to splat into the pond beneath it.

Oh, I can SO see that happening!

So what type of story can you see here? A YA novel about summer love? A kids book about building courage? What about pirates? Oh, wait, that was the Smart Car thing, wasn't it? 

Share your idea, and while you're at it. Take a few minutes to put some words on paper and start your story!

Writers - Where Does This Take You?

Okay, I know that's a loaded question to ask about a car, but I'm thinking story settings here. Search for the title on my blog and you'll find a few of these articles. I use pictures of the places I go to stimulate fictional situations. 

Most of the time, I use interesting architecture, but this car just stands out. Is there anyway anyone would miss this car coming down the road or mistake it for another car? I confess, I'm not a car-watcher. (Well, the occasional 'Stang or Jag, but I digress.) Even I would have no trouble at all identifying this car. And I won't even touch the fact that the makers dubbed it "Smart."

This car could really mean trouble for someone in a story.  Imagine what would happen to it if a bear took a liking to it? No, strike that. No one would be so "smart" as to take this car to the woods. How about a train missing it by inches because it tucked in its booty. (Well, it looks like it tucked it in to me!) Speaking of booty, maybe it could double as a futuristic pirate's chest. Okay, I'm grasping at this point.

Still, I plan to have fun with this car - well, as you can see, I already have, but I intend to have a little more fun with it.  Maybe I'll have my main character find a body in it!  That sounds intriguing ...

Oh, and just in case you're curious--putting 2 and 2 together from yesterday's blog article--no, this is not my new car.  I'm claustrophobic, and me getting into this hot, tiny space felt like stuffing a teddy bear into a Hot Wheels!

So what would you do with this car that's called "Smart"?  I want to hear your idea, and then, why don't you go ahead and write up the story?