A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 5

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:

Thinking up new story ideas keeps you on your creative toes.

If a part of your consciousness is attuned at all times to an instinct to look, hear and listen to everything as a possible story idea, you keep your general level of creativity engaged.

It’s the difference between being in your car and letting whatever is on the radio drift in and out of your brain barely processing it versus actively connected to the images and feelings the stimulus evokes.

This is not to say you shouldn’t have some QVT: Quality Veg Time. Sometimes you just need to shut it down. But if you elevate your awareness about generating story ideas, one thing you will discover is how much time you spend doing — essentially — nothing.

Even if you spend just a bit of that time actively engaged in the story-generation process, you enliven your creativity.

Today’s story idea: Israeli Man Divorces Wife Over Her 550 Cats:

Talk about one crazy cat lady.

A man from southern Israel is divorcing his wife because she adopted 550 pet cats, the Times of Israel reported Wednesday.

According to the paper, the unnamed man complained in his divorce docs that the hundreds of kitties hindered his home life at every turn: they blocked the entrance to the bathroom, swarmed the kitchen, and stalked him at mealtime by stealing his food off the table.

Okay, my mind goes to two stories. First there was this spec script “My Owner’s Wedding” that sold last year:

A romantic comedy about two eligible young women, the man both of them want, and his dog. The latter will go to any length to make sure his owner ends up with the right girl.

Fun concept, right? But what if we spin it the other way?

Man. Woman. Married couple. Unhappily so. Loudly and vigorously and unhappily so. They live with two cats. His cat. Her cat. The cats get along great, except they can’t stand the ongoing battle between their owners.

So they enlist the aid of neighborhood cats who alight on the house, one after another after another after another, all with a goal of getting these damn humans out of there.

And so the second story association, this one the 1997 movie Mousehunt:

Two stumblebum inheritors are determined to rid their antique house of a mouse who is equally determined to stay where he is.

But wait, there’s a twist: In the battle between cats and humans, the husband and wife have to unite to survive, and in so doing they resolve their issues. And now their two cats are happy that the couple has reunited.

And yet another twist: The other cats? They don’t want to leave! They have become empowered and enjoy their new found feeling of strength. So now it’s Husband, Wife, His Cat and Her Cat vs. Danger Cats in a knockdown drag-out…

Wait a sec. Upon further review, I think it’s safe to say that is a really stupid take.

First of all, it flunks The Very First Question You Have To Ask About A Story Concept test: Who is your audience? Well, it’s got to be a family movie, right? But what studio is going to green light a dark, mean-spirited story like this?

Second we’re talking about cats. Not cats per se, but animals. So either during production, you’re working with actual cats or you’ve got a ton of computer generated imaging to do, and there goes your budget.

Finally how do the cats communicate? I mean are we in full-on Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey mode where we hear their thoughts:

Only with a bunch of angry cats?

So let’s face it, I took a swing and whiffed. But a valuable exercise nonetheless because I flexed my story development muscles. And who knows? I might genre-switch to a horror story. We’ve had Cujo. What if we were talking… Cats From Hell!

This has led me to a new addition to the ASIEDFAM series: Dumb Idea Friday! Every week, I will post a cruddy concept. Why? Because we have to have the freedom to come up with a bunch of crappy ideas to find great ones. This is brainstorming, people! Set your Internal Editor (“That idea sucks!”) on neutral. Remember the mantra: The best way to find a good idea is come up with a lot of ideas… even crappy ones!

How about you? What might you do with a premise involving a couple and 550 cats?

Dumb idea and all, it’s yours. And it’s 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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