A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 20

This is the 12th year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Why a story idea each day for the month? Because the best way to come up with a great story idea is to come up with a lot of ideas. And the best way to come up with a lot of ideas is to be proactive in sourcing story ideas.

Today’s story: Squatters issue death threats to archaeologist who discovered oldest city in the Americas.

Illegal squatters have invaded the ruins of the oldest city in the Americas, and made death threats against Ruth Shady, the celebrated Peruvian archaeologist who discovered the 5,000-year-old civilization.

The threats came via telephone calls and messages to various workers at the archeological site at the height of Peru’s Covid-19 pandemic. They followed reports to the police and prosecutors about the invasions of the ancient ruins of Caral.

“They called the site’s lawyer and said if he continued to protect me they would kill him, along with me, and bury us five metres below the ground,” said Shady, 73.

“Then they killed our dog as a warning. They poisoned her, as if to say, look at what will happen to you,” she said.

It is not the first time Shady has been threatened or attacked. In 2003, she was shot in the chest during an assault on the 626-hectare (1,546-acre) archaeological complex which was declared a Unesco world heritage site in 2009.

After nine invasions of the sacred city during the pandemic period, Shady and her team repeatedly asked the authorities to intervene.

“There is a feeling that there is no authority dedicated to the protection and defence of our heritage. It’s a huge worry,” she said.

In the actual story, the archeologists are being threatened by a group of locals who are attempting to make a profit off the land by claiming ownership of it.

What if we reversed the dynamic? Instead of perceiving archeologists as heroes, what if a group of locals look at them as grave robbers, exploiting the land’s ancient cultural heritage for their own glory and financial benefit?

What if the people threatening the archeologists are the good guys seeking to maintain the status quo of the land? That is they, not these foreign interlopers, who are protecting a legacy stretching back thousands of years?

In other words, what if Indiana Jones is not the story’s hero?

Think about it. He steals artifacts which the ancients have gone to great lengths to protect.

Two narrative frameworks come to mind. The first is the leader of the locals is the Protagonist. But the more interesting angle might be to make the Bad Guy the Protagonist. Why? Because at first, if we present them as a brazen, brave character in the spirit of Indiana Jones, the audience is likely to root for them. However over time, we could learn both of this figure’s selfish desires and ambitions as well as the world view of the locals.

In any event, this could make for a solid action with a significant body count involving rifles and machine guns on one side, and weapons reflecting their indigenous culture and history on the other side.

Toss in a long-rumored artifact supposedly worth an untold fortune if it is every located and transported to a wealthy buyer, and that ups the story’s stakes.

But the hook to my pitch would probably be: What if Indiana Jones is the Bad Guy?

There you have it, my 20th story idea of the month. 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
Day 14
Day 15
Day 16
Day 17
Day 18
Day 19

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.