Episode 2 I have an idea what now?

Part two of my writing excuses podcast homework. Part one is here

Writing Prompt: Using last week's five story ideas (or five new ones):

Take two of them and combine them into one story.
Take one and change the genre underneath it.
Take one and change the ages and genders of everybody you had in mind for it
Take the last one and have a character make the opposite choice.

Okay… let me think… what were my ideas?

Tassie tiger shape shifters, murdered rich conman with Seasonal Affected Disorder leaves widow, woman having existential moment in car, location centric time traveller and guy journeys to find what he had at home.

Take two of them and combine them into one story.

I am going to combine the murdered rich conman with Seasonal Affected Disorder who leaves his widow to investigate, and the location centric time traveller.

The reason why he had this odd light loving disorder is that it is a side effect of time travel. The underwater ballroom hides a secret. It is now underwater because land levels have changed since the time-pinned item was put there. It cannot move obviously. Now the item might be larger; a stone or a statue - or something ON the stone or statue. Roman statues were painted and decorated in their time. If the widow is forced to sell, she loses access to the item. That gives her more reason to keep the insurance money and the house.

Ooh… what if, his murderer came through time??? The police will never be able to solve this mystery in the present (story present is actual past for us). Does the widow take the detective back in time to show him even though he can’t tell the truth in his present? She needs him to falsify the records for her.

It has to be back in time now, because I assume that forward in time would have easier ways to murder people OR we hit the old can’t travel forward in time rule.

Take one and change the genre underneath it.

Existential crisis isn’t about her husband trying to kill her… She’s in a car, so I can’t change it to a western, for example. It’s about… hmmm… thriller? She has discovered some information at work and needs to run; to protect her husband and family. But she doesn’t have the first clue how. She met a spy at the opera years ago and he gave her his card. She never called him, but now she needs help.

Or horror… she has found bodies buried in the back yard when she went to bury her dead chicken. Human bodies. And they have teeth marks on the bones. Is it a matter for paleo or police? Could still use old friend idea… she/he is an archaeologist, not a spy. Her house is built on a sacrificial site. (Too poltergeist-y?). And the spirits are angry at being disturbed.

Now she needs a priest or an exorcist.

Take one and change the ages and genders of everybody you had in mind for it

Young person journeying to find what he had at home is now old. Fits with the song; god’s ears might be listening harder if you are older. What if he is gay/bisexual but has hidden it his entire life? He goes on the holiday and has a revelation. Once out of his own little suburb, he sees things differently and he sees the rainbow flag fly everywhere.

The search for meaning becomes a search for his own truth. The deep down truth of the song is the one he has hidden inside himself. He goes home determined to change more than just himself. He needs to work on his community.

Take the last one and have a character make the opposite choice

The woman who found the Tassie tiger shape shifters isn’t going to help them fight environmental change; she just wants to hunt them. And she plays up the romance angle on a young male to gain his trust. Betrayal. Heartbreak. Death.