story prompt: Beanie Babies

This is one of my favorite prompts of all times. It’s worth revisiting.

Beanie Kangaroo Baby

Beanie Kangaroo Baby

At the border between United States and Canada, an irate father slugged a customs officer who was trying to pry excess Beanie Babies from his daughter.

The Economist 12/5/98

Is this the beginning of the story, or the end?

Is this guy a divorced father trying to win his daughter’s approval? Is his name George, Newman, Claude, Muhammed?

Is the customs officer an old girlfriend?

Is the kid manipulating her father or is she a pawn? Is her name Tiffany, Harriet, Meg, Susie?

20. May 2015 by writing prompts

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My name is Rosina Lippi. I'm a former academic and tenured university professor,  writing full time since 2000. Under the pen name Sara Donati I am the author of the Wilderness series, six historical novels that follow the fortunes of a group of families living in upstate New York from about 1792-1825. A new series based on later generations of the same families was launched September 1, 2015 with The Gilded Hour. The next volume in the new series,  Where the Light Enters, was  released in 2019.

 

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Wise Guys

If you are in difficulties with a book, try the element of surprise: attack it at an hour when it isn’t expecting it.

— H.G. Wells (attributed), Sir Osbert Sitwell
See the whole Wise Guys collection here.