The name of these types of stories is taken from a book of them by English writer Rudyard Kipling. They are fanciful etiological tales that explain the origin of strange animal characteristics. For example, that the camel got its hump when it was cursed by a magical spirit for refusing to work. Students will pick out an animal and write a similar story, using some supernatural action to explain an animal feature.
For this topic, students will write a short, descriptive narrative of the most exciting vacation or trip they ever took. This assignment could be a take-off on the familiar back-to-school essay assignment: "How I Spent My Summer Vacation." This narrative should include the places, people and things they saw and met; the activities they engaged in, and their thoughts and feelings in response to these. Encourage students to use literary devices such as simile and vivid imagery --- this will help them see the story as a first-person, non-fiction narrative, rather than as an extended journal entry.
Students will write a fictional, third-person account of what it would be like for someone similar to themselves to move away from home. The fictional nature of this story will enable students who have never had such an experience to explore different perspectives via their writing, and all students will be able to practice the third-person point-of-view, which is more removed and objective than the first person. The story should describe the character's feelings in response to his situation, as well as images of a moving day, such as boxes, bubble wrap or moving trucks.
Students often love books that let readers choose what happens to them by giving them a choice. These are known as 'choose your own ending' stories. Have the students write a story that describes an ordinary weekday afternoon, in which they (or a character like themselves), is suddenly drawn into an elaborate conspiracy to steal a huge diamond or to kidnap the president's (or the king's) daughter. The student must make choices to foil the villains. Students should start with one choice -- and then have that choice branch off into several other possible choices, to allow for three or four possible endings. Although this topic is a bit involved, you will find that many students will be enthusiastic about writing a more unconventional story of this type.