One Image, Two Story Ideas: I See You
Jen and Tina love writing prompts. Sometimes they turn into stories, sometimes they just get our creative juices flowing. Either way, they’re a lot of fun.
Jen’s Idea
This photo is different from our usual prompt. My first thought was some sort of super secure facility that needed breaking into. My next was a housebound genius who uses gadgets to overcome his mobility issues. But I threw those ideas out, because I’ve seen and read them before.
I settled, instead, on something completely innocuous: a bland building in a bland office park, and the security guard whose job it is to watch those cameras day in and day out. I’m excited about where that guard took me.
Tina’s Idea
The image of a surveillance camera never ceases to give me the shivers. It reminds me too much of the dystopian stories of my youth like 1984 and Fahrenheit 451. Those books left a lasting impression. I didn’t go quite that far, but I thought a story about idealistic revolutionaries would be exciting to write.
Jen’s Back Cover
Tuli Mathews is at the end of her rope. Her start-up reselling decorative dresser knobs went belly up when a garage fire destroyed her inventory. Her ex-business partner is in Mexico on a trip paid for with the money Tuli thought was being set aside for taxes. (And Tuli’s ex-husband is drinking frozen daiquiris on the beach alongside her.) Tuli’s cousin has stopped making payments on the loan Tuli co-signed, and the bank is threatening to foreclose if Tuli doesn’t start making payments immediately. Oh, and Tuli still hasn’t paid off the RV her parents are driving around the country as their new home.
Tuli needs some cash. Now.
You’d think at forty-seven she’d be qualified for something that would cover her bank-required minimum payments (or more), but even the local shoe store says she doesn’t have the experience to work a register, let alone a commission job.
So Tuli signs up with a temp firm and gets assigned to work the security desk at a company in one of the office parks outside of town. They don’t seem concerned that she doesn’t know the first thing about security. And no one asked her if she’d be willing to put her life on the line to stop an intruder. (She’s not.)
“You’ve got the right build for the job,” the manager said as he handed her the address. “People don’t mess with big ladies.” It was the first time her large bones served her well in life.
For two uneventful weeks, Tuli worked the graveyard shift, knitting fingerless gloves to sell online and doing exercise videos to stay awake. It wasn’t good, but it also wasn’t bad. And if she could start selling her gloves to rich folks, she might make enough to buy milk again.
Then came Tuesday night. She returned from her hourly rounds to find five men in ski masks arguing in front of the elevator bank. They hadn’t realized the elevators don’t run after hours without the security guard’s badge. Tuli’s badge.
They weren’t carrying guns. They didn’t threaten her. They didn’t even notice her. All she had to do was slip out the back, get in her car and call the police. Except her keys and phone were at the security desk.
She could run. Hide outside until the early birds come to work. Start the long walk to town and hope to flag down some help. She didn’t have to get involved.
But Tuli’s pissed off and fed up. She doesn’t want to wait in the cold, and she doesn’t want to walk in her only pair of good shoes. Tuli walks up and offers to help. For a cut of the action, of course.
Tina’s Back Cover
On the surface, the newly married Martìn and Olivia have a trouble-free life. They both love to garden and bake. They grow their own vegetables, keep a few chickens for fresh eggs and bake fresh whole-grain bread twice a week. One is a journalist, the other a professor. They love their work and are planning a family.
But the reality is far grimmer. They are under house arrest for their activism and their dissenting voices after the military coup that placed the latest dictator at the helm of their small country. These two activists find themselves under constant surveillance. Despite the appearance of normalcy as they live their lives at home, an intricate network of cameras scrutinizes their every move.
Martìn and Olivia have not given up hope. They know their work as the leaders of the rebellion has made a difference, and they refuse to be silenced. As soul mates, they can read the meaning behind each other’s gazes and gestures. Every small expression holds importance. Through these subtle interactions and encrypted messages, they devise a plan that allows them to subvert the watchful gaze of their captors and get their directives out to a waiting network of activists.
The nascent movement builds enough momentum and strength to spark a revolution, but can they free Martìn and Olivia before the kangaroo court sends them to their executions? Will the revolutionaries gain enough traction to save the country from the oppressive grip of yet another dictator?
Tina’s Response
What a great concept Jen has come up with here! Most stories along these lines are about the heist, not about the after effects, and I always enjoy reading about someone who is testing himself and evolving. Jen, I don’t think this story’s been told! It’s wildly original and I would love to see you follow it through to the end.
Jen’s Response
I have chills reading Tina’s story. She’s a master at world building, and this normal-not-normal household has so much promise. I’m rooting for Martin and Olivia and can’t wait to see how their ability to hide in plain sight plays out.
Photo by Алексей Сабулевский on Unsplash