When I’m feeling short of story ideas I often turn to headlines for inspiration. For example, consider the following:
“Father jailed for four months after punching Asian man at protest”
Evening Standard News – 15/10/2024
Despite not reading the story I can guess, because I live in the UK and news coverage of the topic has been everywhere, that it concerns the recent extremist riots and the ensuing legal consequences for the perpetrators. If I read the story I would no doubt become once again mentally embroiled in the rights and wrongs of the protests, its political repercussions, and the important question of what the Government should do about it. But the headline on its own contains plenty of scope for some great ideas.
To start with, why is the parental status of the perpetrator relevant. Except in the case of minors (of the child rather than digging variety), an offenders name is in the public domain. So why didn’t they use it? Of course it’s possible that he was a minor, already a father, a far right activist, and now a convict too. There lies the basis of an interesting character if ever I heard one.
Or maybe, if I click on the article, I will find that the man in question is actually of the priesthood. Imagine being on your night off, having left your dog collar at home, getting caught up in a riot and, through a series of bizarre happenings, ending up leaving court with a conviction that was absolutely a result of circumstance.
Meanwhile, Was the unnamed asian man, the victim in this tragedy, not a father himself? If he was then why wasn’t the headline
“Father punches father”?
While his parental status isn’t important either, it just goes to show how, as readers, we are continually making inferences based on the actual words we read. As writers, we forget that at our peril.
And was he there as part of the riot, or just passing by? Was this a man on the street defending his home, or just a young lad making his way home who ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time? Whichever it was, he unfortunately ended up as a victim, and nobody likes being a victim. Many stories start with victims, and are built around their journeys of recovery or destruction that follow.
To finish on a lighter note, let me return to my suggested headline of
“Father punches father”.
It works not only if one, but if both of the participants are men of the cloth. If that were the case then that would be an interesting story indeed, and definitely one I would read.
