by Robbi | Jan 20, 2015 | Writing Prompt |
Hello all. Because this month’s theme is ice cream, I asked Matthew to write a story about ice cream. And so he did. It is called, “The Invention of Ice Cream,” and like pretty much all of the stories Matthew writes, he did about 15 seconds of research on this one. Meaning, don’t believe a word of it. It is what we call FICTION. Which is totally made up. Or if not totally, then mostly. I like fiction because a lot of times interesting things happen in fiction that wouldn’t happen in real life. Matthew likes fiction because every other kind of writing requires more than 15 seconds of research.
And so, without further ado:
The Invention of Ice Cream
A long time ago, back before Go Go Squeez and iPads, the world was a sad and terrible place. People ate bran and cod and corn on the cob without butter, and when their dinner was done, they went straight to bed. Or perhaps they played a dull game like horseshoes for a while before going to bed. But the point is that they didn’t eat dessert. And so they scowled themselves to sleep and had no pleasant dreams.
One day, a man named Dan had an idea. He lived in Vermont, which was always covered in snow. Dan hated snow. He hated being cold. “What if we could do something useful with all this snow?” he said. But Dan couldn’t think of a single useful thing to do with the snow, and so he spent his days making lists of words that did not rhyme with “cucumber.”
Down in Barbados was a girl named Shirley, whose house was surrounded by sugar cane. She would sometime suck on the sugar cane, which made her happy. Everyone else she knew was constantly miserable. But she could not convince everyone else to suck on the sugar cane. “That is beneath our dignity,” they would say, repeatedly, while eating their bran and cod. Shirley grew weary of the negativity and took a vacation to Appalachia.
Of course, you know what happened next. Dan got bitten by a demented beaver and Shirley (who just happened to be hiking on the same trail on the same day) used her Wonder Scout wilderness first aid skills to clean the wound and apply a bandage. While waiting for Dan’s leg to turn from purple back to its normal color, the two discussed their dreams, their favorite books, and the surplus of snow and sugar cane that plagued them, respectively.
Perhaps you’re thinking that Dan and Shirley got together and invented ice cream using Dan’s snow and Shirley’s sugar cane, but that’s not the case. Dan and Shirley shared a nice veal cutlet at a hunting lodge and then went their separate ways. Ice cream was invented by the Chinese around 3000 BC. The people in the towns where Dan and Shirley lived were miserable because they chose to be.
THE END.
And there you have it! The story of Dan and Shirley and how they had nothing to do with inventing ice cream or improving their neighbors’ lot in life.
I decided to draw an illustration to go with it. Dan is thinking about cucumbers, because cucumbers are easier to draw than snow.
Do you have any stories about ice cream you’d like to share? Enter them in the comments below, or add them to the Bobbledy Facebook Page (HERE) or email them to us (HERE). If you don’t have any ice cream stories, maybe you could enlighten us on whatever happened to Dan and Shirley (I sure hope Dan’s leg is okay). Have at it. Go write some stories. Or just tell them to someone else who can write it down for you. No research required!
by Matthew | Apr 13, 2014 | Writing Prompt |
Hello, friends. If you haven’t yet read Robbi’s kickoff post for Robot week, here it is. It should help to get you in the robot mood. Though, really, isn’t everyone always in the robot mood? I always read Robbi’s posts before I write my story, to get myself inspired.
I read the post and got inspired and so…
Here’s my story about robots:
Once upon a time, there was a robot named Bingo. He had no head and no legs. In fact, he had no body. He was just a gigantic arm that was mounted to a wall and had limited range of motion.
Bingo had been designed to weld one piece of metal to another piece of metal on an assembly line. Bingo did his job all day, every day, and he was very good at it.
But Bingo was bored. He wanted to play baseball. He wanted to go hiking. He wanted to eat a banana cream pie. He heard the men in the factory talk all day long about all the things they did when they were not in the factory.
But Bingo didn’t get to leave the factory. At night, when all the men went home, he sat very still and did nothing. It was horrible.
One night, when Bingo was feeling sorry for himself, he heard someone crying. It was a robot named Jean Luc, who was basically a giant foot that came down from the ceiling and smashed a piece of flat metal into a very specific shape.
Long story short: Jean Luc was sad, too. “I want to skydive,” he said. “I want to stand beneath a waterfall.”
Bingo thought Jean Luc was delusional. But he was also glad to have found a friend.
Every night while the factory was quiet and still, the two robots talked about all the things that they would do if only they could leave the factory. One night, Bingo had a great idea.
“What if we weld ourselves together? You can hop around and I can grab things. Together, we’d be unstoppable.”
“You’re brilliant!” said Jean Luc. “Let’s not wait another second.”
And so they didn’t.
Bingo detached Jean Luc from the ceiling and himself from the wall. Then he welded them together.
“Now just hop to the door so that we can escape,” said Bingo.
It took some serious effort, but Jean Luc eventually hopped to the door. But the door was the size of a man, and Jean Luc with Bingo on his head was considerably larger.
“Darn,” said Jean Luc. “Darn,” said Bingo.
Just then, they heard more robots crying. Apparently Margaret, Hans, Esteban, and Wilma were unhappy, too.
In no time, Bingo had detached them and welded them to himself and Jean Luc. Together, they could do just about anything.
And so they did. They took apart the factory and used the parts to build a hovering spaceship. They got inside and flew around the world, going to all the places they wanted to go and doing all the things they had always wanted to do.
When they were done, they flew to the moon, where they built a factory that made knitting needles.
THE END
And there you have it. I do not know why the robots decided to start a factory that makes knitting needles. This was one of those cases where the words came out of my fingers without stopping to say hello to my brain.
Please share your stories about robots in the comments below. Remember that you story doesn’t have to be long. A story can happen in a single sentence. Also, if you are an adult reading this and you have something to say about robots, by all means say it. I’m not going to stop you.
by Matthew | Apr 7, 2014 | Writing Prompt |
Robbi and I spent all weekend surrounded by comic books. It was great. I was inspired! And so, this morning, I have written a story inspired by comic books.
When I say that the story is inspired by comic books, I mean that I wrote the story after spending time thinking about comic books. But since I’m a writer and not an illustrator, this story isn’t actually a comic book. Because even though it’s entirely possible to have a comic book with pictures and no words, a comic book with words and no pictures isn’t a comic book at all.
And so, here is my story about Superman, and what he might do if he were in a comic book trying to deal with some bad guys.
Superman Helps Out
By Matthew Swanson
Superman landed on the roof. He looked great in his cape and tights. “Powee!” he said
There was no one there but some pigeons.
“Why did that funny-looking man say that, Dad?” said the baby pigeon her pigeon father.
“I don’t know, Dear,” said her dad. “Eat your worm.”
Superman flew away.
Superman landed on a different roof. This roof was full of bad guys. “Powee!” he said.
The bad guys looked at Superman, wondering what was going on. “Are you going to capture us?” said one of the bad guys, “Or are you just going to say ‘Powee’?”
“I was just going to say ‘Powee,’” said Superman. “Isn’t that how it’s supposed to work?”
“Not at all,” said the other bad guy. “In addition to saying ‘Powee,’” you have to actually do something, such as grab us with your super arms or put us in an unbreakable cage.
“I had no idea,” said Superman. “Thank you both for helping me to understand.”
“No problem,” said one of the bad guys.
“But we’re leaving now,” said the other bad guy.
The two bad guys jumped into their invisible helicopter.
“Wait just a second,” said Superman.
“So long, Super Sucker,” said one of the bad guys.
Super Man was disappointed. Being a super hero was so hard.
Suddenly, he heard someone say ‘Powee,’
It was Spider Man! The bad guys were wrapped up in spider web. The invisible helicopter was still invisible.
“Hooray!” said Superman.
“Want to get some french fries?” said Spider Man.
“Yes!” said Superman. “I love being a super hero.”
It would be so fun to be a super hero, wouldn’t it? The great news is, you can say ‘Powee!’ whenever you want to, even if you’re just a kid. Even if you’re just a 39-year-old guy writing a story in his pajamas. I just said it very quietly. Robbi is still asleep, and I don’t think she’s ready to deal with any super heroes this early in the morning.
Please write us a story about comic books, or super heroes, or pigeons! Write a story about whatever you are INSPIRED to write a story about. And post it in the comments below.
POWEE!
by Matthew | Mar 30, 2014 | Writing Prompt |
Happy Monday, everyone. If you haven’t yet read it, check out Robbi’s post on our theme of the week. I won’t tell you what the theme is, because not knowing the theme is part of the fun.
A boy named Douglas could not tell a lie. He tried, but it simply did not work. When he said something that was not true, his skin turned red and his hair stood up and his nostrils pinched in a way that let everyone know that the words he was saying had nothing to do with the actual truth.
For this reason, Douglas never told a lie, even when he wanted to.
For this reason, everyone trusted everything Douglas said.
It was nice, being trusted. And, generally speaking, Douglas didn’t mind being honest, as it tended to keep him out of certain kinds of trouble. But one day each year, his inability to tell even the tiniest fib was most bothersome, and that day was April 1st, when the only thing he wanted to do was play great big fat tricks on everyone he knew.
Douglas tried to fool people on April Fool’s Day. He would wear a false mustache to the breakfast table and try to convince his mother that he was Abraham Lincoln. He would cover a rock with gold-colored paint and try to convince his friend Ben that it was a lump of gold worth seven million dollars. He would try to convince his English teacher that the principal had outlawed all spelling tests, forever.
But no one fell for Douglas’s April Fool’s jokes, year after year after year.
One year, when Douglas was 11, he decided to try a different approach.
He saved his allowance for a long time and used the money to hire an Abraham Lincoln impersonator to eat breakfast with his mom. She was amazed!
He used the rest of his money to buy a really tiny piece of gold to show his friend Ben. Even though the piece of gold was very, very small, Ben was extremely impressed!
And because Douglas had not missed a single day of school for five straight years, he convinced the principal to grant him one wish, which was to ban spelling tests for just one day. When Douglas informed his classmates, they stood up and cheered!
He hadn’t fooled a single person and he hadn’t told a single lie, but everyone was happy, and he didn’t have to take his spelling test.
And there you have it. My story about the theme of the week, which, if you haven’t figured it out yet, is April Fool’s day. If you haven’t yet realized it yet, April Fool’s Day is tomorrow. So you still have a little bit of time to come up with a good joke. Or, if you’re not good at playing tricks on people, maybe you can surprise them by saying something that sounds outrageous but is actually true.
If you have any good April Fool’s stories, whether they’re real or made up, please share them with us in the comments below.
by Matthew | Mar 24, 2014 | Writing Prompt |
Hello, everyone!
Welcome to Monday. Whether you are headed to school, drawing pictures at your dining room table, or rounding up sheep on the high hills, I am glad to spend a few minutes with you at the start of this brand new week. Let’s hope that it’s a good one.
Here’s a story I just wrote. I think you’ll notice that it doesn’t have a plot, which means it that not much really happens. So maybe you won’t like it. But maybe you will. This story is not about things happening as much as it’s about describing what it feels like to be a certain kind of person at a certain time in life. And that type of person is a kid who rides a bicycle.
Adam’s Bike
Adam had eyes he used to see kites in the sky and a nose he used to smell popcorn popping. He had ears to hear the sound of fireworks and fingers he used to notice the rough sides of barnacles when he stuck his hands in tidepools. He had a tongue he used to taste lemon candy.
Adam’s world was very large and very, very interesting.
He loved his ears and nose, his eyes and tongue and fingers, but he loved his arms and his legs even more. Because he used them to ride his bicycle.
Adam’s bike was red with a bright white stripe that he liked to see with his eyes and a soft black seat he liked to feel with his rump and a bright silver bell that he liked to squeeze with his fingers and hear with his ears.
He’d never thought to taste the bike, but he tasted the sweat that rolled down his lip and into his mouth when he rode very fast, which he always did, because when he rode very fast, and especially down a hill, he saw, smelled, heard, felt, and, yes, even tasted the best of the world in one great rush of good feeling.
It was good to have a bike with a bright white stripe. It was good to be a kid with eyes and ears and fingers and a tongue. It was good to have a great big world full of roads and hills and secret places to explore on a sunny afternoon with just a few clouds and still several hours until supper.
And that’s it! Whether or not you liked my story, I hope you’ll write one of your own and post it to the comments below.
by Matthew | Mar 17, 2014 | Writing Prompt |
Hello folks. I’m excited about this week’s theme because I’m excited for spring. When I was little, I loved snow and ice because it was fun to play in (and because I enjoyed missing school, of course). But now that I’m a grumpy old adult, I’m a little bit tired of snow. Or, if I am to be very, very honest, EXTREMELY tired of snow. AND of snow days.
This year, I am as excited about spring as I have ever been before.
But, for whatever reason, when I sat down to write a story about spring, what came out was a story about a little boy who doesn’t like spring AT ALL. His name is Bobby Blinton, and he’s pretty grouchy about warm weather, blue skies, etc. But perhaps I should stop talking about Bobby and just introduce
Little Bobby Blinton Hated Spring
Little Bobby Blinton loved the snow and ice.
He loved the cold and frost.
He loved the wind and the misery.
While everyone else trudged around with chapped cheeks and sad winter faces, Bobby grinned and sang cheerful songs and wished that nothing would ever change.
As fiercely Bobby loved the winter, he hated the springtime more.
When the snow melted, Bobby yelled.
When the flowers came up, Bobby cried.
When the trees burst forth with light green buds, Bobby shook his fists and demanded an explanation.
But no one would answer him. Everyone else was too busy planning picnics and trying on tee-shirts and taking enjoyable walks around the park.
Bobby tried to convince his parents to move to Antarctica, but his mom had a great job as the vice president of a local investment banking firm, and so relocation was out of the question.
Bobby got a big box and tried to mail himself to the top of Mount Everest, but the people at the post office got suspicious when they saw the air holes he’d poked into the box.
Bobby wrote a letter to Santa Claus wondering if he needed any extra elves, but apparently there was a three-year waiting list to even audition.
“Why don’t you focus on the positive?” said Bobby’s mom.
Bobby’s mom said this a lot. But Bobby was so miserable that he decided to give it a try.
He thought and he thought and he thought and he thought, but he couldn’t come up with even one good thing about spring.
But then it hit him.
At least it wasn’t summer.
And that’s the story of Bobby. Do you dislike spring, too? Or are you excited that it’s getting warmer (provided you live in the Northern Hemisphere)?
Write your story of the springtime and post it to the comments below.
