I’m back to my childhood again and we’re writing stories for English class.

I’m readily equipped with armfuls of inspiration and an endless supply of enthusiasm, but as a child who was still learning, how do I know what makes a good story?

Looking back at it now, my story had the makings of a classic:

• A simple set of loveable characters

• A great plot - the children get kidnapped by evil robots

• An imaginative set - a huge mechanical castle with fountains of oil

• And finally an ingenious escape plan

It was classic Enid Blyton⁽¹⁾ with a sophisticated (for a child) futuristic twist.

After the first few pages, as a reader you were enveloped in a sense of empathy for the children, but even more so, a sense of excitement. I still remember writing this scene where the children start to act like robots and pretend to enjoy drinking oil at the fountain and whenever the robots backs are turned they spit the oil into a cup and save it for later as fuel for their escape.

As a budding young engineer⁽²⁾ at the time (it’s in my asian blood) my ingenious escape plan involved carefully constructing an escape robot in the night. Whilst the evil robots were recharging, the children stole bits of scrap metal as they worked in the factory, biding their time till they could enact their revenge…

The scene was set.

[The story continues on the next post]

Lesson 2.1# If you can’t beat them, join them – then beat them!

⁽¹⁾ The Secret Island - Enid Blyton

My favourite childhood book and a must read for any intrepid youngster!

⁽²⁾ One reason why sometimes I wish I was still an engineer:

My earliest memory of my writings as a child was a novel (lets not get overzealous), - a story about Lego.

Agreeably the choice of topic was hardly unusual for a six year old boy, but in defence of my younger self, the quality of inspiration you can obtain from hiding under the dining table in the dark is somewhat limited - in spite of my vivid childish imagination.

Luckily for me however, my Lego police boat was helpfully equipped with search lights to rescue me from even the deepest of writers block - and thus the story began…

Lesson 1# Inspiration can be found anywhere