STORY IN THE ROUND PROMPTS
A tried-and-true vintage tradition to help you pass the time with family and friends.
A story in the round is very simple. Start with any of the prompts below then add. Take turns. Every member of the circle adds to the previous person's bit, responding to the storyline and creating more twists and turns for Itty Bitty Buddy and his friends.
Make it interesting by throwing challenges their way and seeing how you and the members of the story circle can find solutions. Give it a try. Don't be afraid to keep the story going....well, until the itty bitty bats fly home.
Check back again soon for more prompts.
FRUIT SALAD
Once upon a dark and stormy, there sat a kitty looking so forlornly. Itty Bitty Buddy sat in a straight back chair in the corner of the kitchen while Igor and Head Rat, the castle chef, removed every pot, pan, tray, utensil, bowl, plate, glass, fruit, vegetable, grain, bread, and random bits from storage bins. The entire castle was fretting over the preparations for the evening's ball. The problem at hand was the complete absence of oranges.
Igor was certain he had purchased oranges at the morning market. He recalled placing a dozen of them in his woven shopping basket, however, they seemed to have disappeared. The market was closed for the evening and soon, villagers would begin arriving for the celebration. This was not any old, boring celebration. This was the big one, the fancy one, the one that required the finest fruit salad in all the land. ...
SUDDENLY A BANJO
Once upon a dark and stormy, there sat a kitty looking so forlornly. For a banjo had suddenly appeared in the great lawn and Itty Bitty Buddy did not know how or why it happened. Of course, he knew to avoid fretting over strange and sudden events. They seemed to happen quite regularly in his magical corner of Transylvania and among his very unique circle of friends. Nonetheless, a banjo was more unusual than most things.
Igor was traveling to visit fellow Igors in the neighboring villages. He mentioned something about tea and yarn before he departed. There was no mention of a banjo or, for that matter, any musical instrument. It might not have been a significant issue if the banjo had simply appeared and sat still and alone in the lawn. However, this banjo stood upright and played tunes. Now that midnight had come and long gone, it was time for the castle to sleep. The banjo seemed to disagree as it played louder and louder with each passing hour.
ANGRY CANDLES
Once upon a dark and stormy, there sat a kitty looking so forlornly. For Itty Bitty Buddy was stuck. He had been working on a new dessert idea in his secret office, located in the lowest and farthest part of the castle basement. Now, he sat in complete darkness and could not find his way. He could not see a thing, not even the tip of his kitty nose. His vision was better than that of many others, though, it could not pierce through this darkness within the deep recess of the castle basement.
His office was a new secret and he had not memorized the route between it and the upper, common floors of the castle. He had been working by candle light with one candle near his work table and several others illuminating the edges of the room. Other candles had also illuminated the hallway outside the room. All of the candles had suddenly extinguished and Itty Bitty Buddy was unable to light any of their wicks. He tried several times and with several candles. However, no candle accepted a new flame. He had only one match remaining and his belly was grumbling for the evening meal.
Itty Bitty Buddy recalled several twists, turns, and stairways along the route to his office. He decided to save the match for a stairway farther along the route. With hope of tracing his steps through an inky, black darkness, he set off.
FOLLOWING SHADOW
Once upon a dark and stormy, there sat a kitty looking so forlornly. For a loud banging woke Itty Bitty Buddy during the early, morning hours. This was his favorite dreamtime, the time when his mind crafted the most exotic, unusual, and unimaginable vegetarian dishes. These were the dishes reserved for his special notebook that he and Head Rat, the castle chef, planned to publish in next 100 years or so.
The banging echoed through the castle and permeated Itty Bitty Buddy's sensitive vampire kitty ears, though they were now tucked under an oversized down pillow. A similarly loud call for help joined the banging. Then, the sound of a heavy wooden door slamming. Then, the sound of heavy boots rapidly stomping on the stone floor. And then, the crashing sound of the door to Itty Bitty Buddy's sleeping chamber as it struck the bedroom wall.
"You need to make it stop!" Brynhild yelled to Itty Bitty Buddy's form hiding under layers of thick bedding and plush pillows.
He slowly lifted the pillow off his head, poked one eye out from beneath the comforter, braced himself, and asked "Make what stop?"
"The shadow! It won't stop following me!" Brynhild yelled, pointing to a long globulous shadow that was clearly not her own. Her shadow was squat and pointy, emphasizing her short stature, ragged hair, and pointy witch hat.
LICHENIFICATION
Once upon a dark and stormy, there sat a kitty looking so forlornly. For a thick carpet of purple lichen had covered every inch of and every creature within the deep, dark forest at the edge of the castle grounds. It seemed to happen overnight because during the previous day, life and everything else seemed normal in the sense of Transylvania. Now, it did not and left Itty Bitty Buddy, Igor, and Brynhild scratching their heads. They stood in the castle lawn, struck with confusion, as the forest frogs hopped in their new lichen form from one bit of lichen mass to another. Martha, the forest bear, and her cubs moved stiffly, lifting and shaking their paws, as the lichen created rasping noises with their every movement.
Something of this nature would have been expected if Igor had been experimenting in his castle laboratory, or if Merlin was about. However, Igor was on hiatus from experimentation while he tended the castle's extensive summer garden and Merlin was still on his research mission to sample ancient volcanic mud on the island of Rapa Iti.
MERLIN RETURNS WITH A BLOOM
Once upon a dark and stormy, there sat a kitty looking not at all forlornly. For Merlin had finally returned. The magical, scientifically-minded wizard returned from his research that had taken him to many of the far reaches of the world. He had become lost in a New Zealand cave, entranced a bit too much by arachnocampa luminosa's glow. He then became lodged in a glacial crevasse when exploring Greenland's methane leaks. And, after the glacier deposited him into the Arctic ocean, Merlin's long, billowy robe became entangled in the tucks of a narwal pod. He used this as yet another opportunity for ecological research, deciding to swim with the pod as it migrated to northern waters for the summer months. He always tried to make the best of the situations in which he often found himself.
In fact, Merlin much preferred these harrowing, once-in-a-lifetime situations to the one in which he now found himself. The castle residents and Transylvania townsfolk were surrounding him, waiting for a long, detailed speech about his inadvertently extended adventures. This situation was the very worst of the worst situations in Merlin's mind. His response to these often led to even worse situations, much due to his magical foibles.
One after another, the crowd surrounding Merlin popped out of existence. In their previous space then floated their form as a fluffy, floaty, wispy ghost. Again and again, the popping and the floating occurred until every person and creature, including Itty Bitty Buddy and Igor, became a ghost.
While this new situation was much more pleasing to Merlin's senses, he now fretted over returning his friends to their rightful form. And, because everyone knows that ghosts can't speak, the howling soon emerged from this ghost bloom.
AUDIO BITS
Including a free audio sample of Episode One: An Itty Bitty Vampire Cat, Episode Two: Igor's Pond Scum, Episode Three: Pork Chop Castle, and author's Nov. 18, 2018 interview:
IT WAS OUR 2018 HOLIDAY GREETING
Listen below to our 2018, super silly, holiday story in the round. Just a bit of festive fun by the Itty Bitty Buddy family.
