Wacky Ice Cream

It's summer, and that means...ice cream!


We may not be able to eat five scoops of ice cream at once, but how about naming five new ice cream flavors? Say good-bye to plain old vanilla and chocolate. Here's your chance to be creative.


Naming things is one of the funnest parts about writing. Let your imagination go crazy. Think about a hot, sizzling day, and come up with five exciting, over-the-top, wacky names for ice cream flavors. 


While you're imagining licking one of those deliciously goofy ice cream cones, try using your exciting new names in a story you're writing. 


Here are my wacky flavors. What are yours?


1. Star Light Strobe Light Strawberry
2. Polka-Dot Packs-a-Punch Pistachio 
3. Five-Alarm Fire Fantastically Fabulous Fudge  
4. Chill Out, Man Chillcolate
5. Razzie-Dazzie Rambunctious Raspberry 


Now excuse me. I think I hear the ice-cream truck outside.

The Importance of Names

When is a tree just a tree? And when is it a poplar, maple, birch, pine, cedar, or Douglas fir? 


Sometimes in a story, a tree serves as a background: "The trees swayed in the wind." "The branches creaked on the dead tree." 


At other times, a particular tree needs its particular name. "The bark on the birch tree peeled off like paper." "He climbed the tall maple in the backyard, hiding in its red leaves." It's the difference between someone calling you by name or saying, "Hey, you!" 


A couple of weeks ago I went for a hike in the Olympic National Forest and took the above photo. Those of us on the hike debated whether the trees with the whitish bark were birch trees or alders. (I still don't know.) 


If I were to put these trees into a story, I'd ask myself if it was important to know what kind of trees they were. If the name was important to the story, I'd head for the nearest computer, nature guide, or forest ranger.


Even if we don't use the tree name in our story, it's good for us writers to know the names of things that surround us. The more we master particular names, the more we understand our world. That way, the world becomes richer, and so do we. 


Find a tree whose name you don't know. Look up the name, and write a description of it in detail. Draw it if you'd like. What color and shape are the leaves? Is the bark black, brown, gray, white, or all of the above? What role could this tree play in a story you're writing? 


Now excuse me while I look up the name of "my" trees.  

Have Fun with Your Name

I was walking along the ship canal in Seattle the other day, and saw this red tugboat with my name: Margaret Ann. I rushed for my camera.

It's fun to find an object that has your name, and of course that leads to story ideas. I immediately wanted to write about a red tugboat named Margaret Ann. What kind of adventure would she go on as she pushed a barge down the canal?

If you don't see an object with your name (and we usual don't, do we?), look around for an object you like, and give it your name. Maybe it's a pencil you name Carson. Or a soccer ball you name Katie Grace.

Now imagine an adventure for your pencil or soccer ball. What kind of trouble can Carson or Katie Grace get into?

Have fun with your name and your story.

Naming Places and Things

It's fun to name characters in a story, but it's also fun to name things in your story.

In this exercise, name the following things and imagine the stories they might go in. When you come up with a story idea you love, write the story!

• a desert town
• a disease that's just been discovered
• a diner
• quadruplets
• a combination laundromat and beauty salon
• a new diet soda
• a summer cottage
• a rock band
• a circus
• a tree house
• a parking garage
• a shoe store

Here's my idea for a desert town named Crazy Rock: A girl who's lived near the ocean all her life moves to Crazy Rock, a town of 100 people in the Arizona desert. She misses the water so much, she decides to find a way to bring a bit of the ocean to her new home....

Excuse me while I go write the story. Try naming the things above and finding your own idea for a story!

What's In a Name?

Harry S. Truman, the 33rd President of the United States, had an unusual middle name. It was the letter "S." (Sometimes the "S" is written with a period after it, and sometimes it isn't.) The "S" stands for both his grandfathers' names: Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young.

What if a character in a story had only one letter for a name? What if a character's name was A, or Z, or X? Who is this character? What does she or he want more than anything in the world? Who or what is stopping this character from getting it?

Have some fun with a character with a one-letter name. Write a story about this character and let your imagination go wild. The character's name may be short, but the story doesn't have to be!