Reminiscence
Choose an incident from your childhood that has made a lasting impression on your life: perhaps a memorable incident with your best friend or your confused feelings on the fi rst day in a new school. Write a scene or story based on this incident. Do not write the story as you remember it, however. Rather, recreate the story for fiction—changing the looks, gender, personality and circumstances of the people involved.
While this writing prompt is a great idea-generator for any age group, it's adapted from the exercises in the online courses Writing the Picture Book and Writing the Middle Grade Book as a strategy for coming up with concepts and stories for children and middle grade readers.
Writing Prompt: Reminiscence
Choose an incident from your childhood that has made a lasting impression on your life: perhaps a memorable incident with your best friend or your confused feelings on the fi rst day in a new school. Write a scene or story based on this incident. Do not write the story as you remember it, however. Rather, recreate the story for fiction—changing the looks, gender, personality and circumstances of the people involved.
Post your response in the comments in 500 words or fewer.

Jess Zafarris is the Executive Director of Marketing & Communications for Gotham Ghostwriters and the former Digital Content Director for Writer’s Digest. Her eight years of experience in digital and print content direction include such roles as editor-in-chief of HOW Design magazine and online content director of HOW and PRINT magazine, as well as writing for the Denver Business Journal, ABC News, and the Memphis Commercial Appeal. She spends much of her spare time researching curious word histories and writing about them at UselessEtymology.com. Follow her at @jesszafarris or @uselessety on Twitter.