A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 5
This is the 10th 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 10th 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:
Thinking up new story ideas keeps you on your creative toes.
If a part of your consciousness is attuned at all times to an instinct to look, hear and listen to everything as a possible story idea, you keep your general level of creativity engaged.
It’s the difference between being in your car and letting whatever is on the radio drift in and out of your brain barely processing it versus actively connected to the images and feelings the stimulus evokes.
This is not to say you shouldn’t have some QVT: Quality Veg Time. Sometimes you just need to shut it down. But if you elevate your awareness about generating story ideas, one thing you will discover is how much time you spend doing — essentially — nothing.
Even if you spend just a bit of that time actively engaged in the story-generation process, you enliven your creativity.
Today’s story idea: This Amateur Metal Detectorist Is Fighting Pirates On The Beaches Of Santa Monica.
Would you wake up in the middle of the night if someone said there was buried treasure on the beaches of Los Angeles? Steve Smith does and he’s found a lot of loot — but it’s not for himself. Smith is something of a treasure-hunting do-gooder, one who doesn’t officially charge for his services.
On a recent Thursday evening, Smith stood on the cliffs overlooking Santa Monica’s beaches geared up with a backpack strapped taut across his chest, a metal detector in one hand and a sifter in the other. He’s got a thick, gray mustache and laser focus. And he looks like he’s going to war.
“Sometimes it feels that way,” Smith says.
On this night, he’s answering a call about a lost wedding band.
It’s a tame request by Smith’s standards. He’s been on five-hour hunts that started after midnight. If he’s in Los Angeles, he’ll always respond to a call. He says it’s because he’s racing against the pirates AKA other metal detectorists who keep what they find.
“Those are the guys I’m trying to beat,” he says.
I could two ways with this. The first is a comedy: Rival metal detector dudes. The second take is a thriller: The Protagonist locates something in their beach combing process which is enormously valuable to the Bad Guys. They come after the Protagonist and the local beach denizens hep to protect the Protagonist… for a while… then shit hits the fan.
There you go: My fifth story idea for the month. And it’s yours. Free!
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.