Story Writing Hints
By
Gerald D. O’Nan
Author of the
Adventures of Andy Ant Books
(Note: I will try to give you hints and ideas about writing stories using the 8 books in The Adventures of Andy Ant as examples. Having a set of the Andy Ant books available will help you understand the context better, but it isn’t necessary if you have a good imagination.)
The Stories Behind the Story – The Runaway Dog
I have always loved dogs and it’s no surprise to those who know me that some of The Adventures of Andy Ant had to feature dogs. While the Runaway Dog clearly features a dog, the real story is about a job I had taking care of our neighbor’s chickens.
Our neighbors were leaving for a vacation and needed a “responsible person” to feed their chickens while they were gone. And they would pay – cash money – for feeding and watering the chickens. I let them know that I was the responsible person they were looking for And, of course, I immediately started dreaming about what I was going to do with all that money.
My new job was pretty mundane except for gathering the eggs. If you have ever taken care of chickens, you know that task can get a bit exciting, especially if you don’t like chickens any better than I do. Nevertheless, I gathered the eggs and my mom was very happy to get them.
One morning I was in a bit of a hurry to finish the feeding and watering and go play with my friends. In fact, my friends were always asking if I had any new plans for all that money I was going to get. After all, I was the only entrepreneur in the neighborhood; the only kid actually earning money of my own.
In my haste, I forgot to close the door on the chicken coop. When I came home for lunch I saw my dad in the neighbor’s yard trying to round up the chickens. One look at his face told me he wasn’t happy. And you might guess I got quite the scolding when we had done all we could do to put the chickens back in the coop.
But the worst part was the fact that two chickens were missing. And the “responsible person” turned out not to be very responsible. My dad was always a believer in hard work and performing that work with integrity. Not only had I not performed responsibly but I had disappointed my dad. Nobody has to guess how I ended up spending my money.
You can see the similarities between The Runaway Dog and my experience of taking care of the neighbor’s chickens. Once again, the lesson in writing fictional stories is that you can manipulate the facts any way you want. Perhaps if I didn’t love dogs so much the story might have seen Andy riding bareback on a chicken, galloping down the street.
Copyright © 2023 by Gerald D. O’Nan All Rights Reserved. No part of this document may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system without the expressed written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
