Where Do Story Ideas Come From?

At any one time, I usually have a couple of stories completed and ready to send to publishers and a number of others that I'm writing for children which are in various stages of being written, re-drafted, edited and polished. At present, there are five unfinished stories on my desk, and some non-fiction, with plenty of work to do on them all. It will take months, if not years to have them in a state I consider ready to send out into the publishing world. I do not need to start any more! Some stories have already been neglected for too long. And our house needs repainting and the garden rejuvenating. So I don't go hunting for ideas for new books - but some just seem to leap out and grab me.

Recently I was looking through boxes of old photos. I took this one of my grandfather way back in about 1965. One day, a wild owl swooped into his garden and struck up a friendship. We called it Ollie and 'he' stayed for months and would sit on the hand, shoulder or head of anyone who visited, and he roosted in a rickety shed in the orchard. Ollie would even enter the house through my grandfather's bedroom window and perch on the end of the bed.

This is Mrs Bishop, the next door neighbour with him. The local newspaper sent a reporter to meet Ollie and a photographer who took this picture. Ollie had become 'The Most Famous Owl That Ever Lived In Letchworth Town'. Hey, that could be adapted to be a book title!

Where did he come from? Why did he show so much friendship to humans? Maybe the story should be 'Ollie - The Loneliest Owl In The World' and about hunting for a friend...

The truth is that Ollie was missing from the shed when we looked inside one morning, and we never saw him again - but that's not how my picture book story ends. Stories based on fact are usually improved by creativity and not making them completely factual. After at least twenty draft versions, the text is getting closer to an end-point that I'm happy with - though whether it will ever be published is far from certain.

Another story was started after reading a newspaper article ...but I'll tell you more about that another day, in a new blog post.

Have you had story ideas find you when you weren't looking for them?

 Peter Taylor
http://www.writing-for-children.com

Celebrating Small Things - Badges

I've collected small things since early childhood. Whatever town we visited as a family, I'd always ask if we could go to the museum - and at the age of about seven I started creating my own in a shoebox.

All my relatives and my parents' friends were asked 'Do you have anything small that I can add to my museum, please?'. How presumptuous, but nearly all of them had something for me to take home. Many were family heirlooms, and though I remember the donors of most items, the actual family connections have unfortunately been lost for some items, but I can't remember ever being told what they were.

Now I'm starting to write and illustrate a new book that will feature many items from my collection - at least, I'm writing a sample chapter or two to start with to try to entice publication. The plan is to include small ancient items, some that are vintage and which will stir memories, others of today and projects to create miniatures yourself - small things of the future.

One chapter is planned to be on badges, and I'm hoping that someone will be able to tell me more about these:

 

Kings Royal Rifles cap badge - 1915

I do know a little about this first one. It's a cap badge that was worn by Grandmother's brother - Stanley Thomas Beaumont. He enlisted in the 17th Battalion of the Kings Royal Rifles in 1915 and was killed in action at Beaumont-Hamel on the Somme, 3rd September, 1916. He's buried in a marked grave, so until someone tells me otherwise, I'm believing that the badge was returned to the family.

But I don't know the family connections with any of the following badges:

 

WW1 Tank Corps 'Sweetheart Badge'

This WW1 'Tank Corps' badge is a 'sweetheart badge'  - one that would have been worn to show support for someone in the military.

I've searched Google Images for each of the following badges and found nothing identical. Were these next ones regimental uniform badges or sweetheart badges, too?

 

Coat of Arms for Yarmouth

The coat of arms belongs to Yarmouth, where the Norfolk Regiment was based at one time.

WW1 Army Service Corps

This one is for the Army Service Corps, again, WW1, I would think - but there is no sign of there having been a pin or anything else for attachment. The Service Corps were responsible for delivery of food, water and clothing to troops.

Rifle Brigade

The Rifle Brigade badge is made of solid silver. If I have interpreted it correctly, the hallmark is Birmingham, 1864.

 
CCC may not have any connection with the armed forces. This could easily be a badge for the Chertsey Cycle Club - my grandfather was a mad keen cyclist in about 1910 and had a light-weight bike specially made. I wonder how long it took him to travel the 42 miles to Brighton - a frequent destination?

High resolution images of all these badges are available for any expert or regiment that would like to include them on their site or in their archive.

I'll greatly appreciate any information anyone can share.

Peter Taylor
www.writing-for-children.com
www.ptcalligraphy.com