A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 12
This is the fith 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 Craigslist.
Dreamworks bought this pitch based on Craigslist ads.
There is this musical based on Craigslist ads.
There was this TV movie based on a Craigslist story.
Now something proactive you can do for your writing career while searching for a used barbell set.
Today: Louisiana man claims his biological father was Zodiac Killer.
A Louisiana man claims in a new book that his biological father was the notorious Zodiac Killer of northern California, who’s still sought by authorities, publisher HarperCollins said Tuesday.
The Zodiac serial killer is believed to have killed five people in 1968–69 and gained notoriety by writing several letters to police boasting of the slayings, with swatches of bloody clothing as proof of his claims. The serial killer claimed to have killed as many as 37 people and has never been caught.
Now Gary L. Stewart, a vice president at the cleaning company Delta Tech Service in Baton Rouge, is recounting his decade-long search for his biological father and has concluded that man — Earl Van Best, Jr., who’s now dead — was the Zodiac Killer, the publisher said.
So you’re an adult. You discover you had been raised by adoptive parents. Shock to the system. Your life is kind of a mess and over time you come to think that somehow, if you can locate your biological parents, that will be a key to figuring our your life.
You do some research. You discover that your mother is dead. But your father is alive. You set off to find him. You do. And it’s this guy:
Well, not really Hannibal Lecter, but as it turns out, a variation on the same theme: A psychopathic serial killer. In normal society, he is seemingly a decent dude. But the more you get to know him, father and son, suspicious behavior mounts up, including the mysterious nature of your own mother’s death.
What would you do? The initial glow of finding your father lost amidst your increasing conviction that your father is a serial killer.
Of course, you inherited some of his DNA. And what if some of the problems that have emerged in your life included a stint in jail for violent behavior.
And what if your father began to lure you to the Dark Side… and you liked it?
Like father… like son?
There you go: My twelfth story idea for the month. And it’s yours. Free! What would you do with it?
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 (hit Reply to join the conversation). And come back tomorrow for another Story Idea Each Day For A Month.
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