A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 14

This is the 11th 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.

Tip: Go random.

This is going to sound really stupid. Well, it is really stupid. But all it takes is one time to pay off, then it becomes clever because as we know, there’s a fine line between clever and stupid.

Anyway, the very first screenwriting class I taught nearly 20 years ago was at UCLA. One night, I took two caps and some 3x5 inch index cards. I handed out 10 cards to each student, then instructed them on 5 cards to write a job [e.g., plumber, lawyer, dog catcher] and on the other 5 cards to write a location [e.g., shopping mall, swimming pool, church]. I collected the cards, jobs in one hat, locations in the other.

Then we went around the room, each student pulling a card from each hat, an exercise in generating totally random story conceits.

Someone pulls out “Doctor” and “Cruise Ship.” Nothing much there.

Then another person pulls out “Jockey” and “Restaurant.” Again nothing.

Then someone pulls outs “Cop” and “Kindergarten.”

I. Kid. You. Not. “Kindergarten Cop,” totally random, right there in that Westwood classroom. Okay, so the moment of inspiration was 12 years after the movie, but still it proved — sorta — that sometimes totally random, stupid ideas have the potential to generate story concepts… and even be a little clever.

Today’s story: Woman quits job to ‘spoil husband’ like a 1950s housewife.

Katrina Holte is not a modern woman.

After three years of happy marriage, and getting stressed out by her job in a busy payroll department, she decided in 2018 to turn back time — and live like a 1950s housewife.

That’s when Holte, 30, transformed her Hillsboro, Oregon, home into a suburban shrine to the pre-ERA era, busying herself cleaning, making dresses using vintage patterns — and getting dinner on the table by the time her husband, Lars, 28, gets home from his job as an engineering manager.

“I feel like I’m living how I always wanted to. It’s my dream life and my husband shares my vision,” she says as a vinyl Doris Day soundtrack plays in the background. “It is a lot of work. I do tons of dishes, laundry and ironing, but I love it and it’s helping to take care of my husband and that makes me really happy.”

Yes, her closet is full of “flattering” frocks she sewed herself, and the home’s decor is retro as all get-out, but it’s not “like it’s a museum,” Holte tells PA Real Life.

“When I look at everything that is happening in the world now, I feel like I belong in a nicer, more old-fashioned time,” she says. “I agree with old-fashioned values, like being a housewife, taking care of your family, nurturing the people in it and keeping your house in excellent condition, so everyone feels relaxed.”

But of course the part-time seamstress of 10 years, who sells her handmade garments online, asked for Lars’ permission before leaving the workforce.

“I spoke to my husband and told him I want to be a housewife and he said that was fine with him,” Holte says. “It was a fantastic feeling when I quit. I can do what I want to now and run my house as I want to run it. Now I’m a full-time homemaker.”

There have been some movies which have explored this thematic terrain. For example, Pleasantville:

The time travel movie Peggy Sue Got Married:

Then there is the 1975 thriller The Stepford Wives:

Is there a movie around the central conceit: A woman starts acting like a 1950s housewife?

Stepford probably rules out thriller, although there may be a horror version of the story: A psychopath kidnaps a woman and subjugates her through mental and physical torture to transform into a 1950s housewife. Her goal: To escape or better yet kill the bastard.

Comedy feels like it could work, but how to get into it? Does she willingly choose that lifestyle and if so, where’s the humor? Is there some sort of bet or challenge, but why would she agree to that? Does she get bonked on the head and emerge from a brief coma as a 50s housewife, a completechange in her personality? Again, where’s the humor? Reactions of her friends and family watching her turn?

The problem is why does she do it and if she takes on that lifestyle willingly, what is compelling about that?

Which leads me this movie: Lars and the Real Girl.

Plot summary: In this comedy, Lars Lindstrom is an awkwardly shy young man in a small northern town who finally brings home the girl of his dreams to his brother and sister-in-law’s home. The only problem is that she’s not real — she’s a sex doll Lars ordered off the Internet. But sex is not what Lars has in mind, but rather a deep, meaningful relationship.

What if we make the problem — why would a modern woman choose to live like a 50’s housewife — the solution: She does it because she wants to do it. It’s not a problem for her, it’s a problem for everybody else.

The idea that this young woman — let’s call her Alyssa — who has an MBA and upper level management job at a successful company chooses to walk away from that career and opt for being a housewife unsettles the lives of her neighbors, her friends, and her extended family. The fact she would opt for a lifestyle which represents what women have been fighting against for decades proves to be a real challenge for people.

Do those around her try to change her, do an intervention, some sort of radical therapy? Does her behavior and very presence create anxiety and tension with her female friends as her choices call into question their life choices? Does she spring this change on her husband (Grant), so he’s not only shocked by it, but also resists her behavior, and yet… over time, does he begin to act like a 1950s husband? Does the threat of the couple’s lifestyle ‘infecting’ other couples in the neighborhood stir up secret meetings where they debate how to handle the problem?

As to tone, this story may go dark with neighbors and friends so riled up about Alyssa and Grant’s influence, they determine to do something drastic.

Hmm, there may be something there…

There you go, my 14th 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
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13

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.