Tiny Stories

Billy never learned to think before he spoke.

He said some silly things.

Many times he didn’t know why he said them.

Tommy never learned how to turn his bike.

He always went straight.

Running into things was the only way to change directions.

Charlie never learned how to use the potty.

He found some interesting places.

Others found an interesting boy.

Jonny never learned how to be hurt.

He couldn’t feel his owies.

Jonny really messed up.

Mary never learned how to dress.

Sometimes she put her shoes on the wrong feet.

Other times it was worse.

Brevity can have a big impact on the absorption of a story.  If a story is too long, many people in the will not be able to pay attention well enough to get the message unless it is repeated so many times it gets imprinted on their skull.  However, make it short and entertaining and the people should be able to carry the heart of the story with them wherever they go.  In the reading, the author mentioned that the images were meant to map different ways we connect to each other.  This idea was interesting to me so I tried to incorporate it into my stories.  Each character has some gap in their knowledge or some problem that leads to other problems.  This I find to be true with real life.  Everyone has a gap that widens when they experience other things.  I chose to show this in a humorous and light-hearted manner.

I thought of a little picture book for kids that would subtly teach them lessons in a humorous way.  Once I had this idea in mind, I had to then think of a source from which to draw inspiration.  This part was rather easy.  I was sitting in class and Benjamin said something about me getting mauled by a tiger from the story I told just a few short weeks ago.  When Benjamin said that I remembered all of the stories that my classmates had told.  I wrote down little notes about each story that I remembered so I could use them for reference later.  In thinking about the childhood stories I read, I remembered the Captain Underpants books that I loved.  I didn’t really model my characters after the characters in that series but rather I tried to use the idea of simple shapes and cartoon looks to draw my stories.

It was rather easy to come up with the stories to tell.  The toughest part about the writing was coming up with a problem each character had that brought about the outcome we see in the pictures.  Drawing is not one of my strong suits, as one can clearly see from the images I made, so this part of the assignment was the most difficult.  I was trying to really infuse a childish look into the pictures but I think what I actually did was create pictures that look like a child drew them.  I threw away many pictures because I just could not get what I wanted.  I’d have to say this was the most frustrating part because it’s hard to be a perfectionist with something for which you have no talent.