A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 29
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: Italian hospital employee accused of skipping work for 15 years.
A hospital employee in Italy has been accused of skipping work on full pay for 15 years, local media report.
The man is alleged to have stopped turning up to work at the Ciaccio hospital in the southern city of Catanzaro in 2005.
He is now being investigated for fraud, extortion and abuse of office, Italian news agency Ansa reports.
He was reportedly paid €538,000 (£464,000) in total over the years he is thought not to have been working.
One of my favorite novels is A Confederacy of Dunces. It features Ignatius J. Reilly, one of the most memorable and hysterically funny Protagonists like… ever. He is thirty years old, intelligent, but a complete slacker. His journey through the underbelly of New Orleans as he vaguely attempts to find employment is written like a fugue and… it’s just a fantastic book.
I saw this article and I immediately thought of Ignatius as this seems like the perfect scam for a character like him. Thus, the inspiration here is to do an homage to Ignatius. Craft a figure in the spirit of his character and see where the plot goes.
My first instinct is this: Spend Act One detailing Ignacio’s life in San Sebastián, Spain. Why San Sebastián? Because I want to live in Spain for twelve weeks while they make my movie!
Actually, there’s another reason, but more on that in a few moments.
Ignacio has successfully scammed the system for a decade whereby he is technically employed as a low-level governmental figure, but never shows up. Through a quirk of fate, his position was officially terminated years ago, but due to Ignacio’s intervention, he messed with some computer data and he has continued to get paid on the 1st and 15th of each month ever since.
He spends his mornings lounging on the beach, trying to woo lovely women with zero success, his afternoons drinking wine and smoking cigarettes at outdoor cafes, and his evenings at the cinema (he’s a fan of big American action movies like Fast & Furious), followed by a late dinner and more wine, then to his rent-controlled apartment to sleep off his state of drunkenness.
Not a bad life for a man whose spirit animal is the sloth.
Unbeknownst to Ignacio, his life is about to change in a drastic way. You see, the other reason I chose San Sebastián is that it is located in the Basque region of Spain. And the Basque National Liberation Movement has recently revived in their vainglorious attempt to separate both from Spain and France, creating their own unique nation. They have tried for years to make this happen with no luck. But now they have a wealthy benefactor Akil Inchausti. Think Spain’s bastard version of Elon Musk, the same kind of bizarre world view. He wants Basque to secede and in his fantasies, since he will lead the revolution, the people will crown him Amado líder (Beloved Leader).
Where does Ignacio come into all this? Remember, he technically has this obscure governmental position. The BNLM intends to use him as a front to infiltrate the computer system and…
Well, I don’t really know. What I do know is I want this to be an action comedy. And since Ignacio’s favorite actor of all time is Vin Diesel, I want Ignacio to become the “star” — albeit unwitting and unwilling — of his own action movie. Not a real movie, but real life. With real bullets, bombs, car chases, sexy men and women, plot twists and turns, all the while Ignacio trying to do what he does best: game the system.
There you go! My 29th story this month. What would YOU do with this setup?
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
Day 28
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.