A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 4
This is the 15th year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Why a story idea each day for the month? Several reasons which I’ll work my…
This is the 15th year in a row I’ve run this series in April. Why a story idea each day for the month? Several reasons which I’ll work my through during this series of posts. Here’s another one:
You can evolve into being a writer-producer.
Let’s face it, you can only write so much. But sitting on your side of the table, all those story meetings you’ve had to endure, you’ve probably developed a pretty good sense of what it takes to be a producer at least on a creative level.
Why not don that hat, too?
A quick way to jump start you producing career: Come up with story ideas.
Today’s story idea: “Florida police extradite teenage ‘swatter-for-hire’ who allegedly charged $75 to call in hoax bomb threats.”
A California teenager has allegedly been unmasked as a prolific “swatter-for-hire” who charged $75 to target high schools, places of worship, US Senators and the Supreme Court with bogus bomb threats and mass shooting calls, according to law enforcement officials.
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Prosecutors allege that the teenager is responsible for “hundreds of swatting and bomb threat incidents throughout the United States” under the pseudonym Torswats.
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According to a probable cause affidavit, Mr Filion advertised his swatting services on the “Torswats” channel on the encrypted messaging app Telegram.
The Telegram channel charged $40 for a “EMS/Fire/gas leak” callout, $50 for a “major police response” and $75 for a “bomb threat/mass shooting threat”, according to investigators.
“All swats will be done ASAP or present time”, the channel claimed, and offered returning customers a discount, according to the court documents.
Dozens of recordings of previous “swats” were posted to the channel where the caller gleefully took credit for threatening schools in Texas, Iowa, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, authorities say.
This one is tricky because my initial instinct was to tell the story from the perspective of a “swatter” as the Protagonist. Since what they are engaged in doing is a crime and potentially putting people in harm’s way, that character would definitely bump up against Hollywood’s obsession with sympathetic Protagonists.
The obvious solution: Make the swatter a Nemesis character. But is their criminal activity big enough to work as a movie?
What if we raise the stakes? Perhaps the swatter is part of a robbery gang and they use swats as a way of diverting police attention which enables the thieves to do their crime unimpeded.
But does that diminish the swatter’s role, merely a member of a gang?
How about a slight spin on this setup. What if the Protagonist is an ace swatter, but he has a moral code. He only agrees to swat someone if it is involved in a fairly innocuous end result.
For example: When students contact him to create a swat during final exams? They use our Protagonist as a way to avoid educational blowback.
But one day, the Protagonist (let’s call him Seth) is contacted to do a seemingly innocent swat, but it leads to unintended consequences.
Maybe Seth unknowingly swats a Mafia don and now Seth is on the run as he’s chased by some bad guys.
Or Seth’s swat unwittingly involves him in a much larger crime.
In any event, the swat Seth pulls off creates havoc and puts him on the run.
I’m reminded of Three Days of the Condor.
Plot summary: A bookish CIA researcher in Manhattan finds all his co-workers dead, and must outwit those responsible until he figures out who he can really trust.
What if our amateur swatter gets pulled into a much larger criminal scheme and now being chased by cops and assorted bad guys. At some point, Seth begins to use what he knows about clandestine internet message boards, AI technology, and his ability to craft swat stories to turn the tide against those who would have him killed?
That’s enough. I’ll let you figure out the rest. My take on the 4th story of the month.
Previous articles in this year’s series:
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.