The Gift of Story

by Steffani Raff

One year I started thinking about Christmas in October – a rare occurrence for me, thinking ahead. I was musing about the moment under the tree when our children would open the “especially from us” presents. I decided to create a bedtime story – a story that would unfold chapter after chapter throughout the whole year. I began working on the characters of the story – three rather extraordinary children who decided that regular life was just too ordinary for them, so they became pirates. I scribbled away at several chapters before Christmas, put them in a binder, and wrapped the binder up. I wrapped a long taper candle in one package and an old-fashioned chamber stick in the other. I had never been so excited to see our children's reactions – this was the best Christmas present I had ever come up with. That night, all four of my favorite people were snuggled on the same bed: my three children and my husband. My children were wiggling with excitement in the dark. I lit the tapered candle and walked in the room. The effect was instant. A quiet excitement crept in while the glow from the candle softened features and brightened eyes. When the first chapter was rounding the corner into the second I paused, then blew out the candle. My children protested, “It's not over! You can't stop there! We have to know what happens next.”

“No, it's not over. That's the best part about this present – it doesn't have to end today.” And it still hasn't ended, even after three years…

The vision behind Pirates in Pajamas is to give parents tools to create bedtime stories that fully represent their background and values, and unite families through the power of shared stories.

To start creating your own bedtime stories, go to this blog and follow these 6 simples steps.

1. Create your characters. I chose pirates. Fleshing out the personalities of the three characters in the story was easy – I simply borrowed from my children's personalities.

2. Create your setting. I knew they would have to have a pirate ship with every conceivable convenience on board, as they would leave their Mommy and Daddy in search of adventure. I worked on that first and let the other settings we have explored come with each chapter.

3. Imagination + Story Structure = Success. Instead of making up each chapter entirely on my own I began using the plot or story structure of lesser known folk tales. I replaced the characters with my own, and the setting with my own, and then played it like a movie in my mind.

4. Use a Story Map. I soon found that making a visual outline of the story was much faster than writing out the entire story. I used a combination of words and simple drawings to remind me of the order of the story just before I told it. The simpler the map, the easier it was to follow the directions.

5. Record as you tell. I got into the habit of recording each new story as I told it. A simple digital voice recorder makes this easy to do. Then it can be burned onto a CD for listening to later. I found my children love to listen to the CD we've made from previous chapters. And at some point I can transcribe the stories and have a written copy as well.

To see more articles by Steffani Raff in Meridian Magazine, click HERE.