The full framework for building your own inspired stories to fuel family storytelling adventures is covered in our book:

Creating Stories Worth Telling Your Kids

At The Legendary Connection, we define “inspired stories” as those that you create yourself, using your imagination.

We understand that this may seem daunting at first, but we are here to help make it as easy as possible.

Let’s start with how to find a spark of inspiration for your main character.

We’ve found that a great first step to building stories with our kids is to start by choosing a main character or protagonist. This is the character who, for most of your stories, will help move the action forward. For authors, we imagine that a plot idea often comes first. However, with kids, the main character and the constraints that they face in their world can often drive much of the narrative you want to create.

We have not yet met a kid who doesn’t love helping to create their own characters for stories. They end up feeling a sense of pride and ownership for those that they have a hand in bringing to life. As the adult storyteller, put yourself into the role of facilitator. Ask simple questions such as, “what is your favorite animal” or “who is your favorite superhero?”. Then step back and watch their imaginations go to work. By taking this approach, you’ll likely find that they quickly become enamored with the character, and the story.

If you are making up a unique character, which I highly recommend, start with WHAT they are. Ideas for different types of main characters (or evening supporting) are found below. 

Domestic animals are a great place to start because they can set a basis for stories with friendly human interactions. This is also a type of animal your child can probably identify well with since they have exposure in their own home or can easily go see these animals at a local farm, animal rescue, or friend’s home.

Here the possibilities are almost endless. Is your child fascinated by the woods around their house, so you choose a deer or an owl? Or do they love the jungle and you select a jaguar or a gorilla? Let their interests guide you. Using wild animals can be a great way to help your child learn about the natural world around them and far-away geographies.

Some kids love the idea of imaginary creatures. If using these, you may find yourself imparting more magical capabilities to your character than if you choose a subject that’s real. Magical powers can help resolve plot conflicts and ultimately save the day. But remember, magical powers don't need to be limited to mythical beings. Why not have a pig with super strength?

If you choose a human character, you can either make up a person or let your child be the main character. If your child is old enough, you can draw on character types they show interest in, either based on their favorite topics to talk about or their imaginative play. Do they love princesses? Use it. Are they obsessed with pirates? Use it. Do they love playing kitchen and pretending to be a chef? Use it.

Just one observation to offer here… if your child ends up as the main character, it may eventually be a constraint because they feel pressure to make the "right" choice for the character's actions and adventures.  While the main character can be heavily inspired by your child’s personality, you may want to choose an alternative name.

There is no shame in borrowing a character from your child's favorite show or book and then sending them on new, fictitious adventures. You aren't infringing on copyright because you aren't trying to make money off of this. Using their favorite existing characters can be a mental shortcut for both of you because you already have certain attributes like name, personality, and powers defined. Some of the first stories that we ever made up, way before more original stories emerged, used Disney characters having silly outings at our local state park and Marvel superheroes rescuing kittens from trees.

Character Names

We’ll close with a few thoughts on how to name your characters. We often struggle with this and therefore wanted to provide a few suggestions based on experience. After creating over 100 original characters, we realized we often use literary devices to name them. Feel free to use this trick in the spur of the moment when telling you’re stories.

• Symbolism with Associated Places or Things: This could include food the characters typically eat, locations you would find them, or items they commonly possess. We’ve told stories about a cat named Tuna, a seal named Harbor, and a dragon named Ruby.

•  Imagery with Descriptive Terms: Here you can use the color, patterning, or other physical attributes of the creature. Examples could be Slider the Otter, Fin the Shark, and Lightfoot the elf.

• Onomatopoeia with Sounds They Make: Onomatopoeia is a word formed from a sound associated with what it is named - Oxford Language Dictionary. You could have Baa the Sheep, Rory the Lion, or Crocus the Frog.

• Alliteration with Repeating First Letter Sounds: using another literary device for inspiration, think of the first letter of the type of creature and choose a similar-sounding name. In our homes, this is a popular method for naming stuffed animal friends like Chicco the Cheetah, Link the Linx, or Toby the Truck.

We hope that we’ve provided you with sparks of inspiration for the types of main characters that the child(ren) you love might find most engaging. Once you have chosen WHAT your character will be, you will need to move on to WHO they will be. For that, see post on character development.