One Image, Two Story Ideas: Girl Fishing
Jen and Tina love writing prompts. Sometimes they turn into stories, sometimes they just get our creative juices flowing. Either way, they’re a lot of fun.
Jen’s Idea
My first thought when I saw this picture was, “Oh, no. This is a little girl who wanders off alone from a family camping trip and is never seen again.”
But that’s not a story I would want to read, let alone write. So then I thought, “OK, this is a little girl who finds a dead body.” But I still don’t want to read that story. How devastating would that be for that poor child?
So instead, I channeled the joys of childhood and asked what adventures this girl could be in the middle of while she’s holding that fishing pole. It was a lot of fun.
Tina’s Idea
This image reminds me of my childhood summers on the lake. I used to love to fish with my cousin. As much as I enjoyed my natural surroundings, I was always looking for something more substantial to engage my brain. After reading Encyclopedia Brown, all I wanted was to be a detective. When I saw this girl, I decided that she would be clever and fearless…and a member of a detective agency.
Jen’s Back Cover
It was going to be the best summer ever. Rodney Loomis and his sister Sophie were getting an entire month with their grandparents in Maine. They’d been promised total access to a canoe, two horses AND an overnight in a tent, practically all alone.
Their cousins Elliot and Emily were going to be there, too. Sure, Elliot and Emily were a little fussy about their clothes and liked reading about adventures more than actually going out and having them. But Rodney was sure he could bring them around.
But when he and Sophie arrive, they find their grandparents distracted. More than that, they are disgruntled, even angry. Someone has broken into their home and stolen their research papers. Years spent methodically mapping the uncharted wilds of South America are gone. Well, not gone, exactly. They had copies. They weren’t completely senile yet, or so Grandpa says.
But Rodney has never seen his cheerful grandparents so upset. There are whispered conversations and stern-looking visitors and at least three mentions of the most dreaded word to serious archaeologists: looters.
So when Sophie stumbles across evidence that the missing papers might be close at hand, Rodney thinks his grandparents will be thrilled and they can get back to the fun summer they had planned.
But the Professors Loomis are called away on urgent business before they can obtain them, and Rodney realizes it’s up to the children to locate it before it disappears for good. Soon the evidence points to one of their grandparents’ most trusted colleagues, and the children must decide whether to anger their grandparents by following the clues, or leave it to the grown ups to solve.
(Wondering about how the girl with the fishing pole ties in? I imagined that as Sophie, put on lookout duty while the children search a visitor’s car. Sophie’s the most talkative of the group, and they figure she can distract any adult getting too close with a rambling story about her fishing exploits.)
Tina’s Back Cover
Alexandra is a one of four members of the 75th Street Girl’s Detective Agency. Their motto is “No Job Too Small.”
In this, the fifth installment of the series, the four girls are getting out of the city summer heat with their parents and are enjoying a camping vacation on Lake Groenmeer in upstate New York. The girls fish, pick wild flowers, roast marshmallows and read under the sway of the big willow tree on the banks of the lake, but they miss the excitement of the city. So far, their detective agency has recuperated a stolen bicycle, old Mrs. Graham’s lost cat, little Stevie’s lunch money, and Miss Parker’s missing math final exam – that one earned them some respect!
But here in the countryside, there are no mysteries to solve. Or so they think.
One cool morning, Alexandra wakes to the sound of scratching outside her tent. At first, she thinks it’s her cat, Milo, who always scratches at her bedroom door. Then she fully awakens and realizes that Milo stayed behind with Aunt Susan (and her two evil children, but now was not the time to think about that.)
Once outside her tent, Alexandra looks around but sees no one and no animal. Everyone is still asleep. It is eerily quiet. There isn’t even a breeze. She tiptoes around the camp and is about to return to her tent and back to sleep when she sees something. She gets closer and her eyes try to focus. She gets on her knees for a careful look. No doubt about it. Blood.
The drops lead from the woods, past the back of her tent and on towards the lake. She follows the trail until she finds a scrap of torn fabric hanging on a branch. She turns and runs back to the tents to retrieve her partners.
Alexandra’s heart is racing, but she’s not nervous – she’s thrilled! This will be their biggest case yet!
Tina’s Response
Jen has a wonderful knack for crafting exotic stories even when the prompts are straight forward. I love how a simple photo of a girl fishing turned into an archeological mystery. I think being a child in Jen’s household must be a ton of fun! Clearly, Jen’s imagination needs to run free so we can all benefit from her exciting stories. I can’t wait to see what she thinks up next month!
Jen’s Response
I love that Tina and I both imagined four children working on a case! Her set up is delightful, with a fearless hero and a track record of cases that I’d love to read. With the opportunity to add the rich upstate New York landscape to the story, this feels like it’s just up Tina’s alley. Bring on the 75th Street Detective Series, please!
Photo by Jess Zoerb on Unsplash