All my prompts this month for Monday Sparks deal with characters. When I was looking at photos for this prompt, this one leaped out at me. The two figures inspire so many questions. So my prompt today is to write a backstory for these characters.
What is the relationship between the little girl and the robot? The obvious one is that the robot protects the little girl. But what if we flipped it? What if the robot protects the girl only until someone tries to rescue her. Then it is programmed to kill her before that happens, Why?
Or maybe the girl belongs to a family that is protecting the robot. It stores the last program to fix a computer virus. And certain governments are after it.
After four different votes this month, we have our YA comic mystery to inspire you to write a story based on the elements readers voted for. I have my inspiration for the first scene below the photos. You can write a scene or just tell how you think the story could take shape.
We have our protagonist and antagonist.
We have our genre, YA comic mystery. And now we have our main setting: an amusement park, which is a wonderful setting for a comedy.
Here’s my inspiration for an opening scene:
The heat and humidity rolled off the ocean wrapping all of us preparing to open the Happy Holiday Amusement Park in a coating thicker than the caramel Mrs. Novak used on the candy apples.
“Here she comes, Eden,” Jaydon muttered, hooking stuffed animals on the wall of the Ring Toss booth.
I plastered on a smile and sped up placing the rings on the counter.
Mrs. Malone, who could have been anywhere from thirty to fifty, marched toward us, iPad in hand, wearing one of her dozen power suits.
She stopped at the booth, towering over me. I wasn’t sure how tall she really was because she always wore heels and her hair piled on top of her head. She swept me, Jaydon, and the booth in one glance of her serious, dark eyes. She pointed a stylus at Jaydon. “You’re working the-the-the–” she scrolled on her tablet. “You’re working at admissions.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said. “But Mary Jane said she didn’t need me to help her get ready, so I’ve been helping other people.”
Mrs. Malone frowned. “Don’t goof off. Or you’re fired.” Without a word to me, she strode to the next booth.
I watched her as she snapped orders at Kurt at the Shooting Gallery. “Mrs. Malone just doesn’t make sense. She’s not local. She doesn’t seem to like anybody who works at the amusement park. She doesn’t look like she’s ever been amused since she was a toddler. Why would she buy a little, beach amusement park?”
Jaydon shrugged and wiped his forehead with his wrist. “She made an investment.”
“But she could have made an investment in something she liked. The amusement park was pretty cheap for an attraction. That’s what Mom said. But Mrs. Malone still could have invested in something else.” I turned to Jaydon. “And why has she hired the Vincent brothers to help her? I know she’s new to Holiday Beach, but she could have found out quick what those two are like.”
“Good morning, Eden.” Liam Vincent oozed up to the booth, nodding at Jaydon. “Everything all right here?” The skinny, college-age guy, who would never see the inside of a college, gave us his usual sleazy smile, as if he was about to tell you a joke he knew would make you squirm.
Last week, I asked to readers to choose a genre for the protagonist and antagonist they selected earlier. Many people fused different genres, and comic mystery won out. Now we need to choose a setting for our YA story that would be useful in a mystery and a comedy, set during current times.
Here’s our protagonist and antagonist.
Choose a setting for our story from these photos. This should be the main setting, the one in which our protagonist and antagonist can come into contact easily.
Last week, readers voted for the antagonist in the photo below. Now that we have a protagonist and an antagonist, we need to choose a genre for our YA story. I’m listing only the most general genres. Which genre do you think would best fit with our main characters? Please vote for the one you prefer in the comments. If you want to mash up a couple–like a comic mystery–go right ahead. Can’t wait to see what readers choose!
Last week, I asked readers to vote on a main character, or protagonist, for a YA story. I had to break a tie and chose the girl in the photo above. This week I’m asking you to choose an antagonist for our YA story, someone to face off with the girl. Choose from the four photos. And, remember, an antagonist doesn’t have to be a villain–although #4 certainly looks like one. An antagonist is someone stopping the protagonist from reaching his or her goal. So for a YA story, it could be a parent or someone else in authority, who doesn’t support the goal of the main character.
