Telling Stories {Guest Post: Cat Patrick}

Guest Post by YA fiction writer Cat Patrick, author of FORGOTTEN

As a mother, there are few activities I value more than reading to my munchkins (as a tired mother, I’ll admit to occasionally skipping a few pages of that special book we’ve read four billion times already). But as an author, I love when my girls take the reins and tell the stories themselves.

I remember writing (and illustrating…be happy you don’t have to see my drawings) my first book around age seven or eight. It was about the adventures of a spotted dolphin. My mom helped me laminate and bind it and even 30 years later, creating that book is a memory I cherish.

I’m learning that it’s not always easy to get monkeys to spin a yarn. As with anything, when you want them to do it, they conveniently have other things on the brain. My kids are barely three so I’m no expert, but here are some activities and prompts that have worked for us recently. 

Writing captions. Some genius gave the girls blank board books for Christmas, and included dozens of colorful owl printouts that they could glue to the pages. After gluing, we went back through the books, with me and Hubby asking pointed questions like “What’s happening here?” “What’s this guy’s name?” and “What’s he doing right now?” to get them started. After the first two pages—after a bunch of that weird shy/silly toddler babble where they sound like they’re from another planet—the girls were in the swing of things and told two amazing (and very different) tales. Since then, we’ve often gone back and read “their” books, which they are always thrilled to do.  

Storytelling caught on tape. Kind of like adults hum while they work, I find that my kiddos tell stories (or are more open to doing so) while they’re coloring or doing other “handsy” work like Play-Doh or building with LEGO bricks. Sometimes the stories are about what they’re creating; other times, they’re just pleasant, stream-of-consciousness musings.

I like to get ‘em while they’re zen. I grab the video camera when the girls are coloring, and in a yoga teacher style soothing voice, I prompt them about what they’re drawing/thinking about. The videos are fun to watch later, but my favorite thing to do is to write the “title” of the artwork verbatim on the bottom of the page (even if it’s three sentences long) and read it back to them later like a mini story. For Play-Doh or LEGO creations, I take a snap and use the zen-versation as a caption in our family’s memory book.  

And then…A great way to get my small fries to speak up is to shut my own trap. I love getting halfway through a dramatic sentence and pausing long enough to see whether—and how—the girls will fill in the blanks.

Recently, we were looking at a memory book of when I was pregnant. I was reading the part about my baby shower and I said, “Mommy went to the shower and…” Pause. My C beamed, excited to fill in the blanks. “Then I jumped out of your tummy and ate all the presents! And the cupcakes, too!”

It’s pretty amazing how they choose to fill the air—or the page—with a little opportunity.

Happy storytelling!

If you want to hear more from Cat, visit her blog, and be sure to read these clever interviews. Oh, and don’t forget to pick up your copy of Forgotten! (Available NOW from my affiliate, Amazon, or in stores June 7.)

Thanks for celebrating your release week with us, Cat!  You are a fabulous writer, and an even more fabulous mom, and my sweet nieces are lucky to grow up in your print rich, literacy loving home!  

P.S. I especially like the part in this post where you refer to me as a genius.  I may remind you of this the next time I lose my keys or forget what day it is.