A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 27
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: Afghan interpreters rejected for resettlement fear death after UK exit.
AJ has been scared to leave his home in Kabul for months — he fears the Taliban want him and his family dead.
Now in his early 30s, he is one of hundreds of Afghans who worked with British forces as interpreters and support staff, and who may now be targeted by the militants as a result. They fear the risk will only increase when foreign forces pull out this year.
But AJ (who cannot reveal his name for fear of being attacked) has been repeatedly rejected for resettlement under UK government schemes to help interpreters such as himself and their families resettle in the UK.
British officials say he was dismissed for smoking in his accommodation. Interpreters who were fired are not eligible for resettlement.
AJ says that he was not told that he was being dismissed when he stopped working with the army, and is incredulous at the justification for blocking his move to the UK.
“It cannot be that serious that it can cost me my life,” he says. “I know that I am in real danger. I can’t even take up a job. I don’t go to public spaces.”
But retired Colonel Simon Diggins, formerly the British attaché in Kabul and now a campaigner for Afghan interpreters, says many of those dismissals were for trivial reasons.
“Whilst some of those who were dismissed did things that were disgraceful, there were a very large number of people who were dismissed for very minor or administrative issues,” he told the BBC.
I can see two paths to a story in the action genre. The first: AJ is left behind by the U.S. Army, then has to engage in stealth and violence to survive a hit on him ordered by the Taliban. That takes place entirely in Afghanistan.
Putting on my producer’s hat, I’m wondering: Is there a way to bring this story into the United States? Probably a bigger audience for that.
How about this? AJ has a wife and three children. While he manages to escape being killed, his family is murdered. Entering the bloody scene as blood drips from the attacker’s swords, AJ uses an AK-47 to wipe out every last bastard who killed his family.
But his revenge is not done.
There is U.S. captain: Miller. AJ was assigned to Miller for two years as an interpreter. They developed a friendship, a bond… or so AJ thought. But he discovered it was Miller who trumped up some bogus issue which resulted in AJ not only being fired, but also unable to relocate he and his family to America, this after he given his all to the U.S. troops.
Now they are gone as is AJ’s family. With blood still on his hands after burying his wife and three children, he produces a photo from his pocket: A shot of he and Miller. Smiling, arms around each other… brothers.
Cut to Fort Hood Army Base in Killeen, Texas. Miller, now a Major, has landed a cushy promotion based upon the good work he had done in Afghanistan. It’s a great life for he, his wife, and two adolescent children.
Until weird stuff starts to happen. Threatening noises. Strange symbols drawn in the sidewalk in front of their house. Could that be blood?
Miller’s family members think it odd, but the Major knows better. Those symbols are from the Pashto alphabet. And what little Miller knows of the language having been taught by AJ himself, he has enough to figure out the message scrawled on cement:
Dead man, motherfucker.
There’s my 27th 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
Day 20
Day 21
Day 22
Day 23
Day 24
Day 25
Day 26
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.