A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 24

This is the 15th year in a row I’ve run this series in April.

Today’s story idea: “An Ex-Friend Had an Affair With My Husband. Doesn’t She Owe Me a Sit-Down?”

A few months ago, I learned that my husband had an affair with one of his colleagues, with whom we were also friends. This coupling happened before and during the pandemic. The friendship fizzled out as lockdowns ended — and long before I was told about their relationship.

She and I texted a little after I learned of the affair. I told her I knew and that she had done a terrible thing. She offered to meet me, then stood me up, suggesting that I would be better prepared in a few weeks’ time. This annoyed me. Who is she to decide when I am “ready”? But I gave it six weeks and emailed her asking to talk. I made it clear that I didn’t want to yell at her or to tell her what a horrible person she is, but that I wanted to talk about how she betrayed our friendship. It has been over a month, and she hasn’t replied.

If the circumstances were different, I wouldn’t pursue “the other woman,” but I had a separate friendship with this person. As my husband and I go through the process of mending our marriage, I feel as if I’m struggling to get closure with this hanging over me. The fact that I was betrayed by both a partner and a friend has made it very difficult for me to feel as if I can trust anyone.

Would knocking on her door be a step too far? I know she’ll ignore me as long as she can, but we live in the same area and running into each other someday is inevitable. I don’t want to be caught off guard when that happens. I don’t expect a meaningful apology, but at the very least I feel she owes it to me to look me in the eye.

A lover scorned. Who can forget the 1987 hit movie Fatal Attraction.

Logline: A married man’s one-night stand comes back to haunt him when that lover begins to stalk him and his family.

What if we took the letter to the NYT’s “The Ethicist” and switched points of attack: Instead of going after the unfaithful husband … the aggrieved divorcee targets the woman whose affair caused the marriage to crumble.

All the better if the target is a friend of the revenge-seeking woman.

Watch every revenge movie based on crushed love. Aggregate all the tropes. Then play with and subvert expectations for them in your screenplay.

There’s my 24th story idea this month.

Previous articles 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
Day 12
Day 13
Day 14
Day 15
Day 16
Day 17
Day 18
Day 19
Day 20
Day 21
Day 22
Day 23

Here are links to previous series:

A Story Idea Each Day for a Month (2017)

A Story Idea Each Day for a Month (2018)

A Story Idea Each Day for a Month (2019)

A Story Idea Each Day for a Month (2020)

A Story Idea Each Day for a Month (2021)

A Story Idea Each Day for a Month (2022)

A Story Idea Each Day for a Month (2023)

A Story Idea Each Day for a Month (2024)

Note: The articles from 2010–2016 have corrupted URLs. I am in the process of cleaning those up.

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.