A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 2
This is the seventh 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.
Here’s another one: The only way to find a great story idea is to work your way through a bunch of crap ideas.
Ira Glass (“This American Life”), arguably one of the most knowledgeable people around today re storytelling, said this:
“You have to record and get rid of a lot of crap before you find something special.”
Same thing with screenwriting: You have to generate a bunch of crappy ideas before you find something special. Still don’t believe me? How about the wisdom of Linus Pauling:
“The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.”
And Linus Pauling should know, one of the few people to win multiple Nobel Prizes.
So why focus on generating a bunch of story ideas? Because most of the ones you come up with will be crap. However somewhere along the line, you’ll find some that a pure gold.
Today’s story idea: 14-year-old Muslim girl dreams to be the first hijabi ballet dancer.
A young Muslim ballerina wants other girls like her to know they can make a change — no matter their beliefs or the clothes they choose to wear.
Stephanie Kurlow, 14, converted to Islam with her Australian father, Russian-born mother and two brothers in 2010. Sadly, her conversion led to her feeling the need to give up ballet. She wanted to wear her hijab to dance classes in the southwest suburbs of Sydney, Australia, where she lives with her family, but she couldn’t find a school who would accept her.
“The hijab is so important to me because it’s a part of who I am and represents the beautiful religion that I love,” Kurlow told Mashable Australia. “If people have the right to dress down then I have the right to dress up and my hijab is my expression of love to my creator and I believe it covers my body but not my mind, heart and talent.”
Stephanie Kurlow posing in her hijab
Kurlow has been dancing since she was 2 years old, and desperately wanted to be a professional ballerina. She started a crowd-funding campaign to try to make her dream a reality — and to help other young people who feel like they can’t pursue their endeavors without discrimination.
“In this day and age there is a lack of facilitation for youth who are disengaged or of a different religion or race,” Kurlow wrote in the campaign description. “I plan on bringing the world together by becoming the very first Muslim ballerina so that I can inspire so many other people to believe in themselves and pursue their dreams.”
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“My mum has been extraordinary in helping me achieve my dreams. When there was no where for me to study ballet due to my outfit, she opened a performing arts academy … where no one questions children why they dress or look a certain way,” Kurlow said.
No matter if she achieves her goal, Kurlow is happy to add her voice to the discussion. “I don’t want people to be seen for the clothes they wear, I want them to be seen as the person they are and how they want to change the world,” she said.
Stephanie’s story itself feels like a wonderful movie, but it also reminds us to be on the lookout for ideas we generate or angles we see in the news of an individual who moves to the beat of a different drum and persists on their chosen path in the face of resistance. People resonate with these kind of tales in part because they speak to those parts of our Self with which we truly identify, yet feel ‘different’ compared to societal norms. These stories can inspires us not to hide our talents under a bushel, but let our light shine into the world.
In any event, someone should contact Stephanie Kurlow and see about writing her story.
There you go: My second story idea for the month. And it’s yours. 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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