A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 9

This is the fifth year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Last week I provided a daily explanation about why you should make it a habit to be generating story ideas. This week, I’ll give you some tips on how to come up with stories.

Tip #1: Look at news sites.

I’ve been demonstrating that in this series, every idea from a news article. While you can surely keep an eye out when reading the NY Times or LA Times, you’d better believe there are plenty of writers already eyeballing those pages. So troll smaller newspapers. Offbeat news sites. Have you ever checked out Weekly World News? I used to subscribe to the print version way back when and actually wrote a spec based on one of their articles: “Couple Adopts the Child From Hell.” Unfortunately the spec script “Problem Child” beat us by 2 weeks: same premise.

Today’s story: Man fakes his own kidnapping to avoid angry girlfriend.

A Brooklyn man faked his own kidnapping because he was terrified of his lover’s wrath.

Rahmell Pettway, 36, told cops he spent two weeks away from his Bedford-Stuyvesant home — and then staged the crime to explain his absence to his girlfriend.

But his poorly executed plan unraveled when the cops who found him hog-tied in the street noticed the roll of duct tape still dangling from his wrists.

He eventually came clean, and was arrested for filing a false report.

“He’s a total moron,” said one law-enforcement source. “It was a pathetic attempt to pull the wool [over] her eyes.”

— —

He initially “couldn’t recall” what had happened, but later told police two men in a light-blue minivan abducted him on Feb. 19 near Bainbridge Street and Reid Avenue.

He claimed his captors covered his eyes and hauled him to parts unknown before dumping him on Macon Street near Malcolm X Boulevard weeks later.

But authorities grew suspicious of his account, and Pettway soon confessed to the hoax, saying he had gone AWOL for a couple of weeks and was terrified of facing his significant other.

When I read this story, this movie association came to mind:

Ah, the kidnapping scheme in the Coen brothers’ movie Fargo.

Jerry works in his father-in-law’s car dealership and has gotten himself in financial problems. He tries various schemes to come up with money needed for a reason that is never really explained. It has to be assumed that his huge embezzlement of money from the dealership is about to be discovered by father-in-law. When all else falls through, plans he set in motion earlier for two men to kidnap his wife for ransom to be paid by her wealthy father (who doesn’t seem to have the time of day for son-in-law). From the moment of the kidnapping, things go wrong and what was supposed to be a non-violent affair turns bloody with more blood added by the minute.

So a twist: What if someone sets their own kidnapping into motion? Meet Phoebe, a 19 year-old young woman, heir to a family fortune, but only when she turns 25. Six years is far too long for this high-strung, impulsive girl who parties night after night almost entirely to avoid dealing with the emotional pain she feels, but does not understand resulting from the early death of her mother and a tyrannical, distant Type A father.

Due to her dissipating behavior, her father cuts off her monthly allowance. Desperate for funds to support her habits and under the influence of her last bit of grade A pot, Phoebe hatches a plan: Stage her own kidnapping, demand a huge ransom, say $10M, split the money with the kidnapper, problem solved.

You can see where this goes: After doing some research with her stoned college dropout friends and locating an appropriate criminal, the ‘kidnapping’ takes place. But everything goes to Hell when dearest Daddy refuses to pay the ransom. This not only breaks Phoebe’s heart a bit more than it already is, it also causes the criminal to really kidnap Phoebe.

Hijinks and mayhem ensue.

I’m thinking comedy. But we could genre-bend it into a thriller quite easily.

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

Now it’s your turn. What would you do with this story setup?

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 (hit Reply to join the conversation). And come back tomorrow for another Story Idea Each Day For A Month.

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