A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 2
Another reason for you to generate story ideas: 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.
There are many ways to generate story ideas. This month, I focus on one: Looking for ideas in news sources. Each of the items I’ll be posting for the next 30 days comes from a news item.
Today’s story idea: Mobile phone number suspended after three users die in 10 years:
The first owner Vladimir Grashnov — the former CEO of Bulgarian mobile phone company Mobitel which issued the number — died of cancer in 2001 aged just 48.
Despite a spotless business record there were persistent rumours that his cancer had been caused by a business rival using radioactive poisoning.
The number then passed to Bulgarian mafia boss, Konstantin Dimitrov, who was gunned down in 2003 by a lone assassin in the Netherlands during a trip to inspect his £500 million drug smuggling empire.
Dimitrov, who died aged 31, had the mobile with him when he was shot while eating out with a model.
Russian mafia bosses — jealous of his drug smuggling operation — were said to have been behind the killing.
The phone number then passed to Konstantin Dishliev, a crooked businessman, who was gunned down outside an Indian restaurant in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia after taking over the jinxed line.
Dishliev, an estate agent, had secretly been running a massive cocaine trafficking operation before his assassination in 2005.
He died after £130 million of the drug was intercepted by police on its way into the country from Colombia.
I smell a killer low-budget horror-thriller! Oh, what fun to come up with the backstory on why the phone number is cursed. The actual phone number in the article was 0888 888 888. Creepy, huh?
What would you do with this idea as a move premise?