Stealing a Story
October 11th, 2006 | Published in Writing | 4 Comments
Every year in November, thousands of writers set out to finish a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. These are all participants in the National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo). Many try and succeed, even more fail and some who want to never even get started. From the latter group, those that I have spoken to said that they had a hard time coming up with a story. Fear not. Your good friend Rasmus is here to show you it’s done.
Did you hear about the small airplane, that crashed into a New York apartment building, killing a New York Yankee pitcher? I bet you did. A news story like that is the perfect off-set for any number of plots. Some might think this is a harsh and selfish way to find something to write about, but before you jump to conclusions, remember that artists have done this exact thing for centuries. Inspiration almost always has its roots in the real world. That said, it is very important to make any story you choose as a starting point your own; find the elements from it that speak to you and turn them into something related but different. Here are four examples of possible plotlines, drawn from facts from the aforementioned story.
Falling Star
Fact: A sports star is killed in a crash.
Story: This is a murder mystery, where a veteran sports star is killed in what appears to be an accident (let’s change it to a car crash, to make it less obvious where we got the idea). Another person, the driver, was also killed. What if it wasn’t an accident at all? Let us assume that this man had some dark secret that could affect a lot of powerful people in the sports world, perhaps his entire team. Everyone’s a suspect! And for the twist, we find out that in spite of everything, the real reason behind the murder was the other man in the car.
Trial by Fire
Fact: A woman was in the apartment hit by the plane - and survived!
Story: We take a woman who have been stuck in a bad place. Her husband and only child died in a fiery train wreck a few years ago, and she is still living in the past, crying herself to sleep every night, a picture of her lost family under her pillow. Suddenly a freak fire almost kills her and destroys everything she has. With no home, and even her beloved photograph gone, there is nothing to remind her of what once was, and she is forced to find herself again and move on - or perish forever. Could be a drama or even a romance novel.
Closing Ranks
Fact: The plane disappeared from radar before crashing.
Story: Shortly before a private jet crashes in a small town (again, change it up to make it your own), it disappears from the radar of a nearby army base. Aboard was a celebrity who had just made an appearance for the troops at the base. However, one investigator soon gets a suspicion that the plane was shot down and that the celebrity might have been carrying some kind of secret. Perhaps something learned whilst on the base itself. And maybe someone there had something to do with the crash. A thriller is born.
Scarred Forever
Fact: The small airplane crashes in a city that has some seriously bad memories, when it comes to airplanes and skyscrapers.
Story: A firefighter has to struggle with a call that is too close, to what he experienced a few years earlier, when the WTC got hit on 9/11. This call could serve as a setting in which to tell this man’s story, how his life was changed that day in September 2001, and how that horrible experience has left both his city and his mind scarred forever. This could easily be based on the actual events, only the main character should of course be imagined and remember that any story sticking close to actual events, is a potential minefield of hurt feelings and law suits.
Practically any story in the news, can be turned into an original plot. The technique is simple: Start with a story which interests you, pick bits and pieces out of context and start asking questions in your mind. Why did this happen? How does it affect those involved?
With this, I hope you’ll join me in November when Nanowrimo begins. My novel is more or less ready for the writing to begin. And yes, it is inspired by several news stories that caught my eye during the last twelve months. I have mixed them up, twisted them and changed them, but they are there.
October 12th, 2006at 2:04 am(#)
I really liked this entry. Very inspiring!
October 12th, 2006at 8:39 am(#)
This reminds me of something that happened years ago off the coast of Southern California. A twin engine plane went down in the water and both of the people inside were killed. The odd part was that the plane was a two seater and neither of the people in it had pilot licenses or had any knowledge of flying. There was no room in the plane for a third person, and they were several miles out to sea before they went down. I’ve always wondered who, what, where, when, and the why of that incident. It would make a great mystery story.
Picasso said that good artists borrow from each other, but that great artists steal. I guess the same could be said about writers and true life events.
October 14th, 2006at 2:52 am(#)
off topic: i met a guy last week at a bar in myconos, greece - that looked (99%) like you. and he was a photographer too. funny. we laughed and had some drinks together.
i love coincidences like that…
October 15th, 2006at 9:20 pm(#)
we ought to have something like ‘the internet plot database for burnt-out writers’, maybe we allready have..?