A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 2
This is the fourth 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: “Real ‘Beautiful Mind’: College Dropout Becomes Mathematical Genius After Mugging”:
Working behind the counter at a futon store in Tacoma, Wash., is not the place you would expect to find a man some call a mathematical genius of unprecedented proportions.
Jason Padgett, 41, sees complex mathematical formulas everywhere he looks and turns them into stunning, intricate diagrams he can draw by hand. He’s the only person in the world known to have this incredible skill, which he obtained by sheer accident just a decade ago.
“I’m obsessed with numbers, geometry specifically,” Padgett said. “I literally dream about it. There’s not a moment that I can’t see it, and it just doesn’t turn off.”
Padgett doesn’t have a PhD, a college degree or even a background in math. His talent was born out of a true medical mystery that scientists around the world are still trying to unravel.
Ten years ago, Padgett was only interested in two things: working out and partying. One night he was walking out of a karaoke club in Tacoma when he was brutally attacked by muggers who beat and kicked him in the head repeatedly. Padgett said they were after his $99 leather jacket.
“All I saw was a bright flash of light and the next thing I knew I was on my knees on the ground and I thought, ‘I’m gonna get killed,’” he said.
At the time, doctors said he had a concussion, but within a day or two, Padgett began to notice something remarkable. This college dropout who couldn’t draw became obsessed with drawing intricate diagrams, but didn’t know what they were.
“I see bits and pieces of the Pythagorean theorem everywhere,” he said. “Every single little curve, every single spiral, every tree is part of that equation.”
— —
A scan of Padgett’s brain showed damage that was forcing his brain to overcompensate in certain areas that most people don’t have access to. The result was Padgett was now an acquired savant, meaning brilliant in a specific area.
— —
“Sometimes I would really like to turn it off, and it won’t,” he said. “But the good far outweigh the bad. I would not give it up for anything.”
Here is a TV news feature on Padgett:
We’ve seen A Beautiful Mind and Good Will Hunting, both dramas. There has been Phenomenon — “An ordinary man sees a bright light descend from the sky, and discovers he now has super-intelligence and telekinesis” — also a drama.
Have we seen a comedy with this premise?
Mr. John Doe, a totally normal guy, gets attacked. Suddenly he’s a genius. Maybe his genius enables him to be an incredible poker player. Or he’s a wiz at anything related to gambling. Do he and his buddies take on Las Vegas. Overnight they’re all millionaires. We are talking major wish fulfillment.
Of course, this could piss off some Bad Guys. Perhaps they want to gain revenges on the guys. Or what if they kidnap John Doe to do their gambling?
It’s 21 meets The Hangover.
Did you ever see The President’s Analyst: Shrink becomes the President of the United States’ analyst. Then Russia, China, England, and other countries send their spies to try and kidnap the shrink. Why? Because of what he knows.
Therefore maybe this becomes an action-comedy: Because of John Doe’s knowledge, he is a wanted man by various powerful players on the world stage.
Of course, you could drop the comedy angle and do what Good Will Hunting started out to be. Via Wikipedia:
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon originally wrote the screenplay as a thriller: Young man in the rough-and-tumble streets of South Boston who possesses a superior intelligence is targeted by the FBI to become a G-Man. Castle Rock Entertainment president Rob Reiner later urged them to drop the thriller aspect of the story and to focus the relationship between Will Hunting (Damon) and his psychiatrist (Williams).
Do what Affleck and Damon started out to do: A spy thriller.
From a character point-of-view, you have the whole issue of self-identity. John Doe was this kind of guy, but after the accident he became that kind of guy. Everyone is interested in him due to this freak act of nature. But who is he? Imagine the disconnect John Doe would feel with his past, how he acts and thinks currently, and being used by other people. There’s a lot of room there for exploring emotional and psychological dynamics.
Okay, it’s your turn. What would you do with The Sudden Genius?
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.
Comment Archive