A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 25

This is the eighth year in a row I’ve run this series in April.

Today’s story: Driver of stolen big rig carrying hazardous material surrenders after three-hour pursuit.

A man suspected of stealing a big rig filled with low-grade hazardous material led authorities on a three-hour pursuit before ultimately surrendering at a truck stop in Whitewater on Tuesday afternoon.

The pursuit had began at about 10:30 a.m. between Barstow and Victorville, according to the California Highway Patrol. It ended in Whitewater at about 1:30 p.m.

The renegade trucker kept television news viewers riveted to the screen for hours as he refused to pull over for the CHP and sped south on the 15 Freeway to the 60 Freeway. As police and news aircraft hovered overhead, the big rig traveled east through the Badlands and onto the 10 Freeway in Beaumont and then north on Highway 62, toward Joshua Tree National Park, before making a U-turn.

The driver spoke with CHP officials on the phone and said he “didn’t want to go back to jail,” authorities said.

This takes me back to one of the earliest pitches I made in Hollywood: A down on his luck truck driver lands a gig only to discover the load he’s carrying is explosive and the object of pursuit for a variety of interested parties, both legal and illegal.

Riffing off the real life story, it’s a huge coincidence for a guy to steal a truck only to discover the payload is illegal / dangerous. So is there a way to ‘steer’ this character so that the theft turns out to be a case of the Bad Guys manipulating the driver — who is in desperate economic straits (perhaps brought on by the Nemesis?) — and once he’s driving, he’s screwed.

Straight-ahead action movie with some surprising revelations as to who did what and why. Also what exactly is in the truck?

It’s Duel meets Speed.

There you go: My twenty fifth story idea for the month. And it’s yours. Free!

Each day this month, I invite you to click on RESPONSES and join me to do some further brainstorming. Take each day’s story idea and see what it can become when you 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.

For other posts in my A Story Idea Each Day for a Month (2017) series, go here.