A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 10

This is the fourth year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Last week I provided a daily explanation about why you should make it a habit to be generating story ideas. This week, I’ll give you some tips on how to come up with stories.

Tip: Look at magazines.

I love magazines. Or at least I used to. Before at one point, I had over 30 subscriptions! [Now I’m down to 2: The New Yorker and the New York Review of Books].

The thing is if you’re trolling magazines for possible story ideas, you have to avoid the biggies like People, US, Time, Newsweek, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, GQ, Esquire, and so on. You can be sure that Hollywood studios and producers cover those regularly. Indeed more and more magazine writers tailor their stories as possible movie projects.

No, you need to dig deeper and go wider with your research into magazines. Fast Company, Smithsonian, New Scientist are some good ones.

Then think regional like Southern Living. Or foreign like Der Spiegel. Or really odd like Miniature Donkey Talk Magazine.

Again there are plenty of story ideas out there, especially in magazines. You just have to look for them.

Today’s story idea: My Stepson Is A Porn Star:

Dear Starshine,

I recently learned that my 24-year-old stepson “Alex,” whom I helped raise, is an actor in the porn industry. He’s been doing this for several years and there are numerous videos of him online engaging in sexual acts. When I found out I was sad and appalled. I called Alex and he said it was true. I haven’t spoken to him since; I just can’t bring myself to. The problem is I have two other sons, “Kurt,” 13, and “Kyle,” 14. Alex, who lives across the country, invited them to spend a week with him at his house. The boys have been out to see him several times in the past few years, but that was before I knew about his job. Kurt and Kyle claim they had no idea about Alex’s work, but I don’t know if that’s true. They say it doesn’t matter to them and they still want to visit their brother, whom they adore. Not only do I not want them visiting him, I don’t think they should have any contact with him at all. My husband, the father of all three boys, thinks I’m making too big a deal of the situation. Am I right to be disturbed by all this? What’s the best course of action?

Okay, then. In terms of brainstorming, I’m guessing this may be the single most popular story concept in this year’s series. I could be wrong, but it seems like a big fat slow pitch right over the middle of the plate. Care to take a whack at it?

Of course, my default mode is comedy and this one seems rife with comedic possibilities, especially if we zero in on this item in the above letter: Something about two brothers going to visit their porn star sibling. Not just brothers. But adolescents. Where every 5 seconds, the impulse for sex pulses through their testosterone injected psyches.

So what if Porn Star has sold a bill of goods to the folks back home, lying six ways to Sunday and claiming to be making money doing infomercials in LA. Sounds good to the parents, a conservative set living up in North Dakota. Porn Star knows Mom and Dad would never watch porn, so he feels pretty safe his lie can survive.

Porn Star living an all right life. Nice apartment in the San Fernando Valley, easy commute to shooting locations. Parties. Clubs. Working out. Being paid to have sex. Male porn stars typically don’t make as much money as females, but perhaps Porn Star has… ahem… prodigious talent. Therefore at least for now, he’s a player in the X-rated universe.

Meanwhile back in Minot, Mom and Dad think it would be good for the Brothers to visit their older sibling. See, the Brothers have been getting into trouble, minor stuff, but disquieting to their stolid Lutheran parents. Maybe the oldest son, who has found his way in the wonderful world of infomercials, can straighten out his younger brothers.

Ding-dong! Porn Star opens the door to find his 16 and 17 year-old brothers there for a week long visit.

Of course, once the Brothers discover what Porn Star really does for a living, they have that hanging over his head like the sword of Damocles. “You can’t tell Mom and Dad. Please, no!” “Sure, big brother, we won’t tell. As long as you…”

Hm. What would two teenage boys want? With a brother who has access to female porn stars. And liquor. And drugs. And parties. Literally minutes away every day and every night in the San Fernando Valley?

Throw in a criminal subplot (porn movie financiers perhaps), a missing briefcase full of cash, a desperate Queen of Porn who just happens to be the dream girl of the two Midwest Brothers, I’m thinking chase, I’m thinking action, I’m thinking nudity…

Target audience: Every single horny American [and International] teen male.

That’s my take. How would you approach this story? Drama? Action? Thriller?

Another idea for you. And it’s free!

Each day this month, I invite you to join me in comments to do some brainstorming. Gender bend, genre bend, what if. Take each day’s story idea and see what it can become when we play around with it. These are all valuable skills for a writer to develop.

See you in comments. And come back tomorrow for another Story Idea Each Day For A Month.

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