“Image Props for Stories #5: Love Bug, Dog/Cat, Love letter” by Joan Y. Edwards

Today I invite you to write about Valentine’s Day, the way you wish a Valentine’s Day had been for you or about the most heinous character you can think of who doesn’t want to be touched by love, but is forever changed by one Valentine’s Day experience.

Here are a few pictures to inspire you:
Love Bug
Dog with orange cat
Love Letter

Here’s a sample of the beginning paragraph of a story using these props. I enjoy writing stories to go along with the props.  It’s fun for me. See if you can add one or more of these props to your own manuscripts. You can give it emotional significance to a character. Then if it was lost, broken, or stolen, it would add inner conflict for your character.

Joan Y. Edwards wrote:

Hank Rupert came home from work. He sat down in the easy chair in the living room to catch the evening news.  His wife left him three weeks ago.  She took their collie, Rusty, with her. He missed that dog. He missed Stella, too. He sent her a long love letter to her office. It was his last chance to get her back.

What had happened to their love? He remembered when she would help him take the honey from the beehives on his dad’s farm. Now the bees had disappeared. And so had Stella’s love for him.

He heard a scratching and whimpering at the back door. When he opened the door, Rusty jumped up on him and started licking his face.  Stella walked up to the door. “Rusty missed you. So I brought him back.”

Hank said, “Would you come back, too? I miss you.”

Stella said, “We can talk about it.”

Hank stood up straight, “I would like that very much.”

Joan Y. Edwards

Copyright © 2012 Joan Y. Edwards