Many fun technology tools are available to spark the creative spirit for writing. These programs are mostly designed for children, but parents and grandparents will also enjoy them, especially while watching the fun children have.

We are among those who had great fun using Storybird (www.storybird.com), which lets you build a story from a set of images or from sets of theme-related drawings.

Storybird lets you create a story by choosing a set of images you just drag and drop onto the page. Add text to go with the image or story ideas and develop the story as you go along or work from an outline or a general idea. The images are wonderful, drawn by professional artists and are mostly "open ended," suggesting multiple interpretations. For instance, a cartoon-like elephant with three birds on its back might suggest giving a friend a ride, sharing rides, or back seat drivers. You get the idea. Create as many pages as you want, rearrange or edit if necessary and save.

Storybird can be used by individuals, but the real value, according to a teacher friend of ours, is getting two or more children to collaborate on a project. They’ll brain storm, toss ideas back and forth, and have a ball doing it.

The finished product can be published on the Storybird website for others to share and comment on. The basic service is free, but the creations can only be viewed on the website, where you can invite family or friends to view the creation, comment or even add a page or two for additional fun. For a fee you can have your story printed as a keepsake.

Scratch (http://scratch.mit.edu) comes from the "Lifelong Kindergarten" group at MIT’s Media Lab and offers another approach. Scratch is designed to let you create interactive stories, games, fun animation and more, all while learning some principles of basic logic programming by snapping together color coded blocks that represent the various commands. This forms a programming stack that makes it easy to see program flow. Use commands to control the actions of on-screen figures called Sprites (people, animals), control sound, music or narration, take input from the keyboard or mouse and more. Put all this on one of the provided backgrounds, and you have the makings for a story. Children soon get beyond the nuts-and-bolts of programming commands to the fun and fulfilment of interactive story creation.

Another on-line story creation tool, Zooburst (www.zooburst.com) lets children write their own stories and illustrate them with provided images. These assemble into a 3-D pop-up page viewed on screen, and you can even create character chat balloons that appear when a character is clicked. For even more fun, children can record their own voices, speaking as a character when clicked or, using a webcam, even include themselves surrounded by the 3-D story characters.

Whether you’re helping children create stories this way or using them yourself, these are fun ways to write and create.