A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 10

This is the 12th 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.

Initially, 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: Look at magazines.

I love magazines. Or at least I used to. Before at one point, I had over 30 subscriptions! [Now I’m down to 2: The New Yorker and the New York Review of Books].

The thing is if you’re trolling magazines for possible story ideas, you have to avoid the biggies like People, US, Time, Newsweek, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, GQ, Esquire, and so on. You can be sure that Hollywood studios and producers cover those regularly. Indeed more and more magazine writers tailor their stories as possible movie projects.

No, you need to dig deeper and go wider with your research into magazines. Fast Company, Smithsonian, New Scientist are some good ones.

Then think regional like Southern Living. Or foreign like Der Spiegel. Or really odd like Miniature Donkey Talk Magazine.

Again there are plenty of story ideas out there, especially in magazines. You just have to look for them.

Today’s story idea: Actually, I’m going to conflate two stories. The first one is this: Russian Scientists Bore Into Ancient Antarctic Lake.

In the coldest spot on the earth’s coldest continent, Russian scientists have reached a freshwater lake the size of Lake Ontario after spending a decade drilling through more than two miles of solid ice, the scientists said Wednesday.

A statement by the chief of the Vostok Research Station, A. M. Yelagin, released by the director of the Russian Antarctic Expedition, Valery Lukin, said the drill made contact with the lake water at a depth of 12,366 feet. As planned, lake water under pressure rushed up the bore hole 100 to 130 feet pushing drilling fluid up and away from the pristine water, Mr. Yelagin said, and forming a frozen plug that will prevent contamination. Next Antarctic season, the scientists will return to take samples of the water.

The first hint of contact with the lake was on Saturday, but it was not until Sunday that pressure sensors showed that the drill had fully entered the lake. Lake Vostok, named after the Russian research station above it, is the largest of more than 280 lakes under the miles-thick ice that covers most of the Antarctic continent, and the first one to have a drill bit break through to liquid water from the ice that has kept it sealed off from light and air for somewhere between 15 million and 34 million years.

There have been much-disputed hints that life might still exist there. If so, that would give a great boost to hopes of finding life in similar conditions in icy water on one of the moons of Jupiter.

The second one is this: Why did Antarctic expedition ship get stranded in ice?

The ship’s entrapment at Christmas time led to an Australian icebreaker being diverted from its own operations hundreds of kilometres along the coast and a Chinese icebreaker also coming to the rescue.

That vessel ended up stuck in the ice itself for many days. A smaller French icebreaker ship was also summoned to the scene. It retreated when it became clear that the ice was much too thick for it to help.

The 52 members of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition were trapped until 2 January when a helicopter team from the Chinese vessel airlifted the scientists, tourists and operational staff to the Aurora Australis.

The expedition leaders could have some tough questions to face about logistical shortcomings that may have put the vessel at increased risk of becoming trapped. These were operational errors and mishaps during a visit by scientists and tourists to a location close to the Antarctic shore on 23 December.

In Hollywood, there is a saying about making a movie based upon actual events: “Never let the facts get in the way of the story.”

Let’s embrace that spirit and have some fun with both history and science.

A Russian ship has been located for weeks docked next to a huge sheet of Antarctic ice. It is equipped with a drill which has been burrowing deeper and deeper into the solid ice below. The goal: to reach a massive lake a mile under the surface. What will they discover in the liquid water which has been shielded from any sunlight for millions of years? Is it possible there could be some unknown form of life in that lake?

The problem is as they get closer to breaking through the ice and reach the lake waters, they are racing against a ticking clock in the form of the weather. Wintertime is approaching and huge sheets of ice are floating in and around their location. Some crunch against where the ship is docked, then get lodged there. At present, there is a narrow channel by which the ship could escape, but at any minute, another ice block could plant itself and close that exit… in which case, the people aboard the ship would be stranded.

There is considerable conflict among the crew. The ship’s captain (Kuzmin) is adamant. They must leave now. But the chief scientist (Drozdov) is equally insistent that they must stay, they are so close to breaking through to the underwater lake, they may never have this chance again.

Guess what happens? The crew watches a huge floating ice sheet as it passes into view. They hold their collective breaths and it appears to clear the channel entrance. Everyone heaves a sigh, but the mysteriously, the ice flow changes directions and smashes into the channel mouth. The escape route is now closed. They are stuck.

There is a sudden jolt aboard the ship. The drill has broken through to the lake! A gusher of water spews up like a geyser spraying one of the young attending scientists (Bortnik). The subterranean water instantly freezes across his face, cutting off his airways. The others haul Bortnik — arms flailing unable to breathe — inside to melt the frozen face shield, but it’s too late. By the time the ice is chipped away, Bortnik has suffocated to death, his face turned a ghastly shade of gray, his skin strangely wrinkled and dessicated.

Later in the ship’s conference room, the crew members fling recriminations toward both Kuzmin and Drozdov, frustration at their situation and the demise of one of their own. Via the ship’s radio, they have sent out an emergency message, but have not heard back anything as yet.

The surliest crew member (Golubev) kicks back his chair. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m going to get good and drunk.”

Minutes later as Golubev knocks back a bottle of vodka, he hears an odd sound coming from the medical lab. He edges closer and is shocked to see… Bortnik’s body is not there! Half-drunk, Golubev shakes his head. It’s impossible. He was dead, no signs of life.

A shadow appears over Golubev’s shoulder. He turns around… eyes wide in horror…

The rest of the crew hear a terrible ruckus down the hall. A man’s screams accompanied an inhuman ear-piercing screech. They charge out of the conference room only to discover…

That is for YOU to decide!

Is it like Alien in which one crew member has become a monster?

Is it like The Thing or The Hidden in which some sort of parasite gets passed from one person to the next, turning each of them into a killing machine?

Is it a zombie-like outbreak?

One thing is for sure, the change over the crew member (or members) derives from what was released from the frozen lake below, perhaps some sort of ancient microbe… maybe even extra-terrestrial in nature from tens of thousands of years ago, landing in the ocean, then locked into its frozen prison… but now unleashed upon humanity.

Oh yeah, a huge storm is brewing, so there’s no possibility for outside help.

Obviously, this set-up plays into some common horror tropes, so one big challenge: How to make this feel fresh… different… surprising?

There you go, my 10th story idea of the month. And it’s yours. Free! What would YOU do with it?

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9

Each day in April, I invite you to join me in comments to do some brainstorming. Take each day’s story idea and see what it can become when we play around with it. These are valuable skills for a writer to develop.

See you in RESPONSES to hear YOUR take on this story idea. And come back tomorrow for another Story Idea Each Day For A Month.