A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 28

This is the 13th 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: Quiet Bronx neighborhood held hostage by alleged drug-dealing squatters.

An alleged drug dealer and his cronies have hijacked a Bronx home and the squatters are now terrorizing a once-quiet area with dope deals, prostitution, loud music and harassment of anyone who walks past their front porch, neighbors claim.

“I don’t go to that corner. I’m scared,” said one terrified resident who didn’t want to be named. “They do everything over there. They sell drugs, they do prostitution.”

The run-down, shingled, two-story colonial at 3059 Valentine Ave. in Bedford Park near the NY Botanical Garden, was vacant until October, when the squatters allegedly broke in and settled in, even re-starting Con Ed service before the property manager noticed, sources and court records say.

Life in the once peaceful community has been hell ever since, residents told The Post.

The half dozen or so squatters set up shop on the trash-strewn porch at all hours, smoking, cat-calling and insulting pedestrians, blasting music from a large amplifier, and drag-racing motorcycles up and down the streets all night, sources said.

Prostitutes, apparently strung out on drugs, hang around in front, and one neighbor claims to have seen a drug deal going down at dawn.

“They’ve created a lot of havoc on our block since they got here,” said the frightened resident. “I suspect they’re dealing drugs. I know they throw parties. They harass people. I’ve been harassed. I’ve been threatened.”

If this were a Western, the local citizens could call in The Man With No Name.

The mysterious outsider would ride into town, kick some ass, whack some hombres, and clear out the bad guys.

But let’s go with something different. Something contemporary. With a female lead.

This is Caprice. Trained as a Green Beret in the United States Marine Corps. She returns home from assignments overseas to discover that her old neighborhood and family members are being terrorized by drug dealers squatting in an abandoned house.

Caprice tries legal means to get rid of the scourge. They are bought off and threatened into inaction by the bad guys.

She tries reasoning with them. No luck.

When a family members is grievously injured during a confrontation, it’s time to take the law into her own hands.

It’s time to declare war!

And if this sounds like an homage to the Death Wish franchise, it is.

There you go, my 28th story in this month’s series. What would YOU do with it? Other stories in this year’s A Story Idea Each Day for a Month:

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
Day 27

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.