A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 6
This is the 14th 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 14th 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:
Around 1990, writer Stephen Brill came up with this idea: “A self-centered lawyer is sentenced to community service coaching a rag tag youth hockey team.” That eventually became the movie The Mighty Ducks. That seemingly innocuous family comedy grossed $51M, not bad for a movie with a reported $10M budget.
Then came D2: The Mighty Ducks. Then D3: The Mighty Ducks. Then “Mighty Ducks”, a TV series. Then Mighty Ducks the Movie: The First Face-Off, a DTV animated movie. And then came this:
The Anaheim Ducks [formerly the Anaheim Mighty Ducks]. An NHL franchise. A professional franchise worth an estimated $188M.
All based on the fact that one day, a writer was walking around and came up with a story idea about a youth hockey team named the Mighty Ducks.
As I said… in Hollywood, story ideas are worth gold.
Today’s story idea: The Man Who Bought a Tropical Island and What He Did With It.
In 1962, Brendon Grimshaw did something many of us only dream of: He bought a tropical island. Moyenne Island lays 4.5km off the north coast of Mahé, the largest of the 115-island Seychelle archipelago. Uninhabited, overgrown, and with legends of pirate treasure, Grimshaw fell in love with the tiny island the moment he set foot on it. It is just 400m long by 300m wide.
Originally from the UK, Grimshaw was working as a newspaper editor in Kenya. Tanzania had just declared independence and Kenya was about to follow. He figured that his job would pass to someone local. At 37, he began considering what to do next. He wanted a life closer to nature and dreamed of owning land in the Seychelles.
Under the guise of a holiday, Grimshaw went to Seychelles to see if there was any way his dream could become reality. After a few weeks, he started to wonder if he had to rethink his plans. Even in the early 1960s, the prices of the few islands for sale were not for the faint of wallet.
Then just before he left for home, a young man in the street providentially asked if he was interested in buying an island. Later that day, they visited Moyenne Island. “It was totally different,” he said many years later. “It was a special feeling. This is the place I’d been looking for.”
So for about $10,000, Moyenne Island became his. If he thought buying an island was difficult, it was nothing compared with what came next.
Moyenne Island harbored a tiny rainforest so dense that falling coconuts didn’t hit the ground. it was impossible to walk across. The island had suffered from neglect. Weeds choked the native plants, and rats scampering through the undergrowth were about the only wildlife.
Grimshaw enlisted the help of a local man, Rene Antoine Lafortune. Together, in a lifelong project, the pair set out to restore the island to be what Seychelles had been before tourism and development. They cut paths through the forest, cleared scrub, and began to plant native trees and plants. Planting became an obsession. Today, Moyenne has over 16,000 trees.
Grimshaw then turned to the next problem: the lack of native fauna. There were no birds, so he brought 10 over from a neighboring island, to which they swiftly flew back. He did the same thing again and thought he got the same result. But then a few birds returned.
Grimshaw and Lafortune began feeding those first avian residents. Slowly, more settled on the island. As the new trees grew and produced fruit, more birds came. Now 2,000 birds live on this little slice of paradise.
Of course, this movie comes to mind:
Cast Away was a drama about a man who was unwillingly held captive by an island surrounded by endless miles of water. This story conceit is about someone who willingly seeks to live alone on an island.
I’m also reminded of this:
And the remake:
The original was a drama. The remake is more of a thriller.
So what do we do with this story conceit?
Horror? By trying to reclaim the land, the Protagonist awakens violent creatures … or maybe hidden indigenous spirits?
Comedy? Maybe there is a battle between a white man and indigenous folks from neighboring islands. Stupidity rules as each increasing tactic escalates into insane levels of assault.
Tragedy? The best laid plans of a person (female?) to live off the land leads to physical and psychological degradation and eventual death.
Action? So no one mentioned to the Protagonist that the island has been used by drug-running South Pacific gangsters to stash their goods.
There’s something interesting about an individual separating themselves from the contemporary world and living in some sort of paradise.
But then problems arise.
There you go, my 6th story idea of the month. And it’s yours. Free! What would YOU do with it?
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.