My (or their) favourite things.


Welcome back to another blog hop, with #OpenBook. Here’s this week’s prompt.

Don’t forget to click the purple button to see what everyone else has to say.


Do any of your characters have a favourite toy from their childhood? Do you?


If the rugged space explorer types that populate my adventure stories have favourite toys from their childhood, they certainly don’t tell me about them.

Perhaps they’re worried about their credibility among their rugged space explorer friends?

I suspect that most of them will have lucky hats, soft toys or other mementoes. From their youth and from their years spent at evil genius and henchman school…, hang on, there’s another idea for a story. It can go with one that I have part-written called The Unfortunate Accident Squad.

Talking of which, this whole subject has made me start to wonder if I haven’t been missing a trick. A prop of some kind (like a favourite toy) could be a useful device in plotting.


Let’s consider these scenarios.

It can be a point of reference. Mention it once at the start and see if readers spot its significance when it has a pivotal part to play later

Its appearance can suggest an event (like the clock in Peter Pan), or even give you a clue as to the identity of a mystery man.

It can show a different side, a gentle soul inside a hard exterior or vice versa.

In some cases, it might be the manifestation of his conscience or inner voice that keeps our man on the straight and narrow. Or the voice in his head that makes him who he is and controls his life.


I seem to have managed to avoid the question, but then, simply saying NO would have made such a boring post.

Finally, in case you were wondering, I don’t have a favourite myself.

It’s a long story.

Perhaps that explains a lot.


Until next time.



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7 Responses

  1. Leon Stevens

    I think that introducing an object like a favorite toy or family heirloom is a clever way of adding to the character.

  2. P.J. MacLayne

    Even if a toy doesn’t end up in the plot, knowing it existed can give you an insight into your character’s personality.

  3. Marjorie Mallon

    I have a rather creepy looking rag doll I made! Lol. Signs of things to come… I still have it somewhere but I hide it away just in case.

Comments are closed.