A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 12

This is the 10th 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: Look at Craigslist.

Dreamworks bought this pitch based on Craigslist ads.

There is this musical based on Craigslist ads.

There was this TV movie based on a Craigslist story.

Now something proactive you can do for your writing career while searching for a used barbell set.

Today: Dutch church holds 24/7 service to shield asylum-seekers.

For more than a month, a rotating roster of preachers has been leading a non-stop, round-the-clock service at a small Protestant chapel in The Hague in an attempt to shield a family of Armenian asylum-seekers from deportation.

Under a centuries-old tradition, authorities in the Netherlands don’t enter a church while a service is underway. That means that for now the Tamrazyan family — parents, their two daughters and son — are safe from Dutch immigration authorities who want to send them back to Armenia.

“There was only one thing you could do and that was starting a church service to save the life of this family, but also call attention for the fate of so many children in similar circumstances,” Theo Hettema, chair of the General Council of the Protestant Church of The Hague, said Friday. “It’s heartbreaking. We had compassion and we had good reasons and we thought it was the mission of our church to act like this.”

The church service shines a light on a problem facing authorities in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe: what to do with families who have been fighting legal battles for asylum for so long that their children have become deeply integrated into society, going to school, learning the language and making friends.

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Goeman said she hopes the government will allow the children to stay.

“This is not going to blow over,” she said. “The opposition in society is only getting stronger.”

Hettema said that after initially using local preachers to deliver the service, the church has now reached out to others and has received offers of help from some 500 people from different churches as far away as Belgium.

That support gives the locals strength to carry on, hoping that they can open talks with lawmakers and the government about the family’s plight.

“As long as it’s useful to contribute to the dialogue, we will continue with the church service,” Hettema said.

Given the contentious nature of the current government here in the United States toward immigrants and those seeking asylum, a story set here with a similar setup could prove timely: A family seeks sanctuary in a church. The authorities demand church officials hand over the family. However, they are here having escaped danger in their home country for political reasons. A legal fight ensues. A court rules officials cannot enter the church as long it holds a worship service.

I am reminded of the filibuster sequence in the movie Mr. Smith Goes to Washington:

A question to consider for this story: Who is the Protagonist? A logical choice would be the minster of the church. It would be interesting for the ACLU to provide legal services for the church, so what if the lead lawyer is an atheist? Then there are the representatives of the U.S. government. Of course, the family seeking asylum. A reporter who helps create a media storm around the situation.

An intriguing choice: What if the minister is a conservative Protestant and a supporter of the current political regime’s immigration policies? However, his religious beliefs which include a firm stance on the church’s embrace of sanctuary compels them to act against their own personal political attitudes?

Being put in close proximity to the asylum-seeking family could cause the minister to change on that front, too, having a personal intersection with the immigrant experience a catalyst for their transformation.

There you go: My twelfth story idea for the month. And it’s yours. Free! Here are links for all the previous posts in this year’s series:

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11

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.