Wednesday writing prompt ~ a novel idea

A novel idea

Click this link to a true story, which would make an interesting plot for a novel.  Let's come up with a title for a book where a woman discovers her son's bride is her long lost daughter.  Wow!  So here are some things we should include in the "plot" of our novel:

The reunion occurred right at the would-be spouses' wedding in Suzhou, Jiangsu province on March 31, according to Sohu News.  The shocking discovery was made after the woman noticed a birthmark on the bride's hand, which looked strikingly similar to that of her long-lost child.  Determined to uncover the truth, the woman mustered the courage to ask the bride's parents whether she was adopted.  After explaining her story and the identical birthmark, the bride's parents eventually confirmed that their child had been adopted.  Details were quickly ironed out and the bride confirmed that she was, indeed, the woman's long-lost biological daughter.  It turns out she went missing as a child and was picked up by her adoptive parents on the roadside some 20 years ago.

The wedding could have been called off at this point, but the woman also revealed that her son — her now-daughter's groom — was also adopted.  The wedding proceeded as planned, but the shocking twist is one detour their guests will never forget.  In photos that went viral on Chinese social media, the bride can be seen breaking down and hugging her long-lost mother tightly.  It's unknown how exactly the daughter went missing, but some are raising the possibility of human traffickers being the culprit.  It's not clear whether the woman's adopted son — now her son-in-law — will be searching for his own parents.

There you have a rough idea of some of the plot twists.  In my version of this story, the location would have to be the United States because it's what I know.  But think of the possibilities!

Feature Images via Sina News

Wednesday writing prompt ~ for retirees

What are some of the best things about ________?  What do you miss?  What are some of the worst things about ________, the things you don't miss at all?

Fill in the blank with whatever your job was before you retired.  It's okay to just make a list (as in the example below), but feel free to go beyond that and throw in details about your former occupation as you lived it and loved it (or hated it).

A former English teacher's list

What are some of the best things about teaching?

• Seeing the growth of many of my students, seeing them gain confidence in their writing and willingness to experiment with their writing — those things that can't be "tested" properly.

What do you miss?

• Talking with those students who first come to class skeptical, but eventually become willing to open up.
• Interaction with the students in different ways.

What are some of the worst, the things you don't miss at all?

• Administrators.
• Parents who don't value education and take their children out for babysitting, vacations, shopping.
• Sports taking away from classroom work.
• Meaningless grading.

Alternate Prompts

As I was looking for an illustration for this post, I found two writing prompts that got my attention.

• Pretend you're 80 and complain about teens these days.
• You're taking a road trip in a car with five seats.  The other four seats are filled with versions of you at various points of your life.  One of you starts a conversation.

The first one made me laugh, since I turned 80 in April.  The second one made me start thinking of which ages those five of me should be.  One, of course, is 80.  Hmm, I'll choose these ages:

1. Age 5 ~ with a new baby sister, who caught the attention of my friend Susie, when I wanted her to come play with me.  I have a little brother and now this baby sister, but Susie is an only child.
2. Age 20 ~ with twin babies and no help, so I really, really cannot go on this trip, y'all.
3. Age 47 ~ I've just sold my house and am moving to Atlanta to attend graduate school, so I don't have time to take a road trip either, unless we're going to Atlanta.
4. Age 62 ~ Having just retired, I'm free to travel.  Let's do it!
5. Age 80 ~ wise old lady? grumpy old lady? know-it-all?  What would I tell these "Me" selves?

What I could tell "me"

I was thinking about my "baby" sister when I wrote this post.  She died four years ago on August 4th, and eight months later, our brother died, the one who was a toddler when she was born.  No, I won't tell "me" about their deaths.