A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 16
This is the fourth year in a row I’ve run this series in April.
Today’s story: Val Patterson’s Obituary:
I was Born in Salt Lake City, March 27th 1953. I died of Throat Cancer on July 10th 2012. I went to six different grade schools, then to Churchill, Skyline and the U of U. I loved school, Salt Lake City, the mountains, Utah. I was a true Scientist. Electronics, chemistry, physics, auto mechanic, wood worker, artist, inventor, business man, ribald comedian, husband, brother, son, cat lover, cynic. I had a lot of fun. It was an honor for me to be friends with some truly great people. I thank you. I’ve had great joy living and playing with my dog, my cats and my parrot. But, the one special thing that made my spirit whole, is my long love and friendship with my remarkable wife, my beloved Mary Jane. I loved her more than I have words to express. Every moment spent with my Mary Jane was time spent wisely. Over time, I became one with her, inseparable, happy, fulfilled. I enjoyed one good life. Traveled to every place on earth that I ever wanted to go. Had every job that I wanted to have. Learned all that I wanted to learn. Fixed everything I wanted to fix. Eaten everything I wanted to eat. My life motto was: “Anything for a Laugh”. Other mottos were “If you can break it, I can fix it”, “Don’t apply for a job, create one”. I had three requirements for seeking a great job; 1 — All glory, 2 — Top pay, 3 — No work.
Okay, so far we’ve learned that Val was a pretty colorful guy. I mean who can’t love: All glory, Top Pay, No Work? Advice to live by. But then his obituary continues with this:
Now that I have gone to my reward, I have confessions and things I should now say. As it turns out, I AM the guy who stole the safe from the Motor View Drive Inn back in June, 1971. I could have left that unsaid, but I wanted to get it off my chest. Also, I really am NOT a PhD. What happened was that the day I went to pay off my college student loan at the U of U, the girl working there put my receipt into the wrong stack, and two weeks later, a PhD diploma came in the mail. I didn’t even graduate, I only had about 3 years of college credit. In fact, I never did even learn what the letters “PhD” even stood for. For all of the Electronic Engineers I have worked with, I’m sorry, but you have to admit my designs always worked very well, and were well engineered, and I always made you laugh at work. Now to that really mean Park Ranger; after all, it was me that rolled those rocks into your geyser and ruined it. I did notice a few years later that you did get Old Faithful working again. To Disneyland — you can now throw away that “Banned for Life” file you have on me, I’m not a problem anymore — and SeaWorld San Diego, too, if you read this.
The idea of a character’s confessions after their deaths strikes me an interesting story conceit. First off, it could completely undo one’s perception of the deceased individual. Other characters through s/he was one type of person only to discover quite the opposite.
That could lead to a second level: Characters going through something akin to the 5 stages of grief, moving from Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance. And I suppose you could just go the drama or comedy route with how those confessional revelations turns a family, even a small community on its head.
But what if one or more of the confessions puts us into action territory? For instance, what if what the dead guy/gal stole was a lot of money and in their confession they provide some cryptic clues where it is. Or what if the confession reveals a secret that somehow upsets some Bad Guys, information they had thought was dead and buried, but not brought into the light of day compels them to whack the people who learned that hidden information?
I don’t know what it is, but if it can put the folks who learn the truth in danger, you do all the family turned on its head stuff in the midst of car chases and shootouts.
How about you? What would you do with this story conceit?
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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