Creative Storytelling

I think it is great when creativity enters a story.  Embellishment, I call it.  All in the spirit of getting a laugh or making a funny story.  Never hurtful.

Exaggeration can be used in good writing, especially when told in a matter of fact way.  

When we passed by some cranes in Seattle's harbor used for loading ships, they loomed up pretty high over us, and I asked the grandchildren if they thought there was an elevator in them, or if the man who works in them had to climb up a ladder.

Hubby offered his opinion.  The crane simply picks up the operator in its teeth and lifts him to his station, like a giant friendly brontosaurus.

I'm glad he put in the "friendly" part, having learned his lesson from telling the previous generation that the Goat Tree (merely a boll-ridden gnarly specimen) came to life at night and ran through the forest where we were camping.  They still bring that up.

After a moment of silence while the children contemplated this, Ellie piped up, "I used to work on a crane."

Really?

Not "I want to work on a crane someday."

Not "It would be fun to work on a crane."

But "I USED to work on a crane."

She had it all worked out what it was like, what she did, and pictured it in her mind.  A storyteller, born and bred.  True to the breed, she is.  I suspect she's not going to grow up to operate a crane. President speechwriter, maybe?