A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 12

Scott Myers
Go Into The Story
Published in
8 min readApr 12, 2021

--

This is the 12th year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Why a story idea each day for the month? Several reasons which I’ll work my through during this series of posts.

Initially, 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: Kenneth Felts, grandfather, came out as gay at age 90 — and he’s only just getting started.

Take a quick look at Kenneth Felts’ Facebook page and the first thing you’ll notice is the bright, rainbow-colored sweatshirt — and the smile — that he’s wearing in his profile picture.

But it wasn’t always this way.

Felts, at 90 years old, recently came out as gay to his family and friends. After pretending to be straight for nearly a century, he’s finally able to be himself.

Those who love Felts are thrilled to see him embracing his true identity after years of quiet pain and suffering.

“He’s just so brave and he doesn’t even realize that he is, but it’s extraordinary,” said his daughter, Rebecca Mayes.

Felts never planned to come out — he planned to take his secret to the grave. But while isolated during the coronavirus pandemic, Felts began working on his autobiography, which brought back a flood of memories.

Perhaps most important, writing down his life’s story caused him to reflect on his one true love, a man named Phillip. The two men fell in love in California in the late 1950s, but Felts ultimately decided to live as a straight man; it was just easier that way, he thought at the time.

While chatting with his daughter a few weeks ago, Felts let slip that he has always regretted leaving Phillip. It was the first time he’d mentioned being gay to Mayes.

Felts searched for Phillip, but has never been able to track him down. Mayes, Felts’ only child from a marriage that ended in divorce, tried her best to comfort her heartbroken father.

The moment was especially poignant for this father-daughter pair. More than 20 years earlier, the roles were reversed. Not long after graduating from college, Mayes came out as a lesbian to her father. And though it took some getting used to at first, Felts quickly accepted and supported his daughter and her wife, Tracie Mayes, despite his own internal struggles.

Kenneth Felts poses in his backyard in Arvada, Colorado. (Rachel Woolf, Special to The Denver Post)

What a wonderful human interest story. What’s the movie?

You could go drama. How our Protagonist’s (Howard) revelation creates conflict among his adult children, grandchildren, friends, and fellow retirees.

You could go comedy. Howard’s confession upends the people in his life, especially if they lead conservative lifestyles. What if other people share their secrets including sexual identity and sexual proclivities.

I guess I’d feel most comfortable doing a drama with humor. Something in the vein of Lars and the Real Girl. Small Midwestern town. Howard is a quiet, stalwart member of the community. One of those guys that if your car won’t start… or you need someone to clear the driveway of snow… there’s Howard, always showing up to do what needs to be done. A daily routine around town you can set your clock by.

He’s got two adult children, one of whom lives in town. Grandchildren. Maybe even great-grandchildren. There’s a “younger woman” (Beverly) who at eighty-six has had her eyes set on Howard for nearly a decade after her husband passed away. She and Howard play a weekly game of bridge with another senior couple, but no matter how “available” Beverly presents herself to Howard, he just doesn’t bite. Folks chalk it up to him being shy. Maybe even gun-shy seeing as his only marriage ended badly. But that was over a half-century ago. Surely, he must be over that by now?

My first question is this: What triggers Howard’s revelation that he’s gay? His 90th birthday celebration would be an obvious public event for him to finally share his hidden truth. Or maybe he has a health scare. The easy route would be he discovers he’s got some terminal condition. That seems too obvious.

I’m going to set that question off to the side because I just had an image. What if Howard, who is the very picture of stability, every so often goes off by himself? It’s a strange thing, too, because his mood changes. He becomes grumpy, even snippy with folks. Normally, a teetotaler, it’s the only time of year he enters the local liquor store and purchases a bottle of expensive Scotch. Then without another word, he takes off in his Ford-150 with his camping supplies and heads off into the woods. Gone overnight. Next day, drives back into town. Back to his old cordial, but quiet self.

His adult daughter (Naomi) — she’s the one who lives in town — is the one to figure it out: It’s the same day every year that Howard heads off on his odd little adventure. August 9th. Rain or shine, Howard goes camping on his own.

Except this year… Naomi follows him.

Ah, now THIS may be how the secret comes out.

What if she sneaks up on her father and watches him produce an old suitcase. And out of the suitcase, Howard produces a set of clothes: shirt, pants, belt, socks, shoes. Attire from an era decades ago. He lays out the clothes on the ground so they resemble the shape of a prone body. Produces two glasses. Pours scotch into both and “offers” one to the clothed figure.

Howard begins a conversation. To Naomi, it’s one-sided, all she can hear is Howard’s voice. But clearly, Howard is “hearing” the individual in the man’s clothes respond to him. Howard’s mood is lively, filled with laughter, there’s a lightness about him, his body even seems younger.

And then the strangest thing: Howard picks up the man’s shirt… presses it against his chest… and he begins to dance. It’s a fumbling, stumbling set of dance steps, but Howard is joyous, eyes closed, whispering things to the shirt.

He stops. His body slumps. He pulls the shirt up to his face. Takes a deep breath, inhaling the fragrance of the shirt. Without warning, Howard drops to his knees… and begins to wail. Loud sobs, tears flowing, deep howls into the night. Why? Why? Why didn’t I?

It’s an untimely moment for Naomi to shift her weight and snap a small branch on the ground, but that’s what causes Howard to spot her… and eventually the truth to come out.

August 9th is the night that Howard and Bernard became lovers, all the way back in 1949. He and Bernard were just eighteen. Of course at that time, gay love was considered not only risque, but immoral. Yet their passion was real, their connection exhilarating.

Bernard had a plan: Go to Europe where the gay lifestyle was more acceptable. He invited Howard to go with him. But Howard just could not bring himself to leave. The shift in his life too much, too unknown, too scary.

Then… Bernard was gone. Howard was alone. Over the years, he did his best to build a life which would distract him from his hidden sexuality, even to the point of getting married and fathering two children. But he became more and more distant from his wife until she finally left him for another man.

How all this backstory gets revealed? Maybe it’s doled out. Maybe it’s one big confession. I don’t know at this point. But one interesting thought would be this. Actually two.

First, now Naomi knows the secret. What if Howard makes her promise not to tell anyone? That’s an interesting tension, right? Talk about dramatic irony!

Second, the very fact that Naomi knows… and Howard knows that she knows… what if this shakes up Howard? A secret he had kept for over seventy years, now revealed. He can’t act toward his daughter in a normal way anymore. He becomes suspicious of her. He can’t restrain the anger he feels toward her sneaking up on him in the woods. He becomes morose. Eventually, he does nothing but sit in his room, not wanting to talk with anybody, secluding himself from everybody.

The townspeople all figure this out because there’s no Howard to fix this or that… no Howard tipping his cap to passersby… no Howard tending to the vegetable garden in the front yard. Something’s wrong. What is it?

A final thought before I leave this setup: What if Naomi — who feels guilty about her role in this whole mess with Howard — determines that she is going to locate Bernard? Indeed, what if she does find him. Still living in Europe! He’s actually delighted to hear from her. He has had many lovers, the most recent of which passed away. He often thinks of Howard.

She asks if he would possibly consider coming to town to see Howard? He could sure use a pick-me-up.

Yes, he says.

Now bring Bernard into the mix. At this point, the only people who know Howard’s secret are Howard and Naomi. Here comes this obviously gay guy swishing about town dressed in a decidedly Euro-style. Takes up at the local bed-and-breakfast. Spending time at Howard’s house… or trying to get Howard to see him.

Perhaps the folks in the town begin to put two-and-two together. And what if a bunch of townspeople decide to help Bernard woo Howard once again? To encourage Howard to get to the point where he will emerge from hiding and see that he is accepted?

Well, not by everybody. Beverly is pissed and jealous of Bernard. And sure, the local minister is appalled about this “gay breakout” in the town, supported by a few staunch right-wing Christians.

They would be especially upset to see how Bernard livens up the town. Dances. Brings some European flair to a meal he prepares for folks at the local diner, complete with champagne he orders through the liquor store.

There will be a big reversal. Probably after Bernard and Howard have reconciled, perhaps they decide to date and see where that leads things. The big weeping plot twist could be that Bernard is himself dying. Or maybe there’s a reveal that Bernard is married to another man back in Europe.

I don’t know, I’ll let someone else figure it out. After all, it’s YOUR story if you want it!

There you go, my 12th story idea of the month. And it’s yours. Free! What would YOU do with it?

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11

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

--

--