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A dragon with the wrong job.
A complete sample issue. Free to read, try, and share.
A sample from Adam’s newsletter
Change one thing.
The changed detailThe dragon is afraid of heights.
10 minutes · No special supplies
One of the fun things about making up a story is that you can change your mind. You can spend an hour figuring out how a dragon guards a bridge, then decide he’s afraid of heights. Which, admittedly, makes him a questionable choice for the job.
But it does give us something to work with. Maybe he didn’t know it was a bridge when he applied. Maybe it’s the family business. Or maybe he really wants to do this and has no idea how.
Any one of those could become a story. You don’t have to figure out the whole thing before you start. Pick the one you want to know more about and see what happens.
And if your dragon finds a better job along the way, that’s fine too.
Try it in ten minutes
Explore how one change reshapes a story. No supplies needed unless you want to draw or write.
- Start with: “A dragon guards the only bridge into town. A traveler wants to cross.” Alone or in pairs, tell, draw, or write two or three events.
- Now give the dragon a fear of heights. Keep the bridge and traveler’s goal. What does the dragon do because of that fear? What does the traveler do next?
- Compare your versions. Which later event changed because of the dragon’s choice? Sharing with the whole group is optional.
Make it fit
Younger: Offer two choices: ask for help or block the bridge. Children can point, gesture, speak, or draw what follows.
Older: Keep the fear unnamed. Let a partner infer it from the dragon’s actions, then try a second response to the same fear.
At home: Take turns adding an event caused by the previous one. An adult can record or retell the story.
Worth exploring
Project Zero’s Creative Question Starts
If your group enjoys asking “what if,” this free routine offers question starters, a way to choose a question, and reflection prompts. Useful for classroom or library discussions about an object, artwork, or topic. The page adds facilitation notes, with optional English and Spanish PDFs. No login.
What did your dragon do? If you try this, I’d love to hear.
—Adam
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