My second story idea involves a man that saves a child's life...and how the local media embraces the story. The saving the life won't be as titillating enough, nor the kid cute enough, for the national media to embrace it. This takes place in a decent size area (like a Saginaw-size place) where there is not enough real news to report. The type of place, like here, where they interview people at gas stations for opinions on why gas prices are high, and call it news. So, it is a great opportunity for a "feel-good" piece for the local news.
The main conflict, or problem, is that the guy is not a likeable guy. He has done bad things in the past, and even now lives his life in a way that is unheroic. He is trying to find a way to spin the public attention for his gain, but also has to make sure that they don't find out who he truly is, and what his past is like. He knows that the news and a large portion of the general public likes to build up heros and tear them down...and he is not a good guy to begin with.
So, this sets off a string of events why he tries to play up his moment of good public opinion, while trying to hide who he is from reporters and the public.
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Ha, would be interesting to see where you'd take this. I can't think of any examples of this sort of thing that was once national or local news in which the 'hero' of the story was really a not-so-likeable guy, and how the news handled that, but I'm sure there's got to be a bunch of past examples of this sort of scenario. They probably yielded some interesting results, too. Might make for good inspiration if you find any!
ReplyDeleteI like this story idea its quite interesting. Having an anti-hero do something heroic then trying to use that to twist the media. Good luck with your paper.
ReplyDeleteTwo very intriguing ideas, Michael. The down-and-out superhero is a terrific starting point for the "turn the genre on its head" kind of story -- the financial difficulties seem like a terrific starting point from which to humanize this character. One think I like about the idea is your current uncertainty about how it should end -- it might be interesting to begin with the character -- his superpower, what he needs the money for (I'm trying to imagine Batman building the bat cave on a budget...), and see where it takes you. That said, for the story itself you would still need to introduce a conflict -- this struggle is his state, his life when we enter the story. So what changes to make the specific moment you share with readers stand out from the flow of his existence?
ReplyDeleteThe anti-hero/hero idea is also interesting -- though it might be too much plot for a short story. The key will be finding the right moment at which to enter this story -- which means deciding what exactly you want readers to take away from it. Keep in mind that you'll want to find a segment of the story in which a character undergoes some sort of change -- even a subtle one (and subtle is probably the way to go here -- a complete conversion from anti-hero to hero might be hard to sell in a short story).
There's a Dustin Hoffman movie with a similar premise -- I think it was actually called Hero -- a complete jerk saves people from a burning airliner -- but the media doesn't know what to do with him after the fact, because he's hardly heroic.
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ReplyDelete***corrected response***
ReplyDeleteHmmm...if the premise has already done, I am not sure I want to tackle it. I would assume my story would vary greatly - especially because it is on a lower scale. I was worried about the plot fitting in the short story...though I was not concerned with a complete conversion from anti-hero to hero - that always bothers me in others' works, so it wasn't going to happen in mine.
For the first idea...I never thought about "So what changes to make the specific moment you share with readers stand out from the flow of his existence?" Hmmm....I think I am going to go with the hero story, though I think someone else had a similar thought. I need to really be able to answer that above question. Thank you.