One Image, Two Story Ideas: Illuminated Street
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
A giant photo of art detective Arthur Brand holding a recovered masterpiece with the headline “Stolen Van Gogh Painting Returned in Blue IKEA Bag” dominated The Wall Street Journal the day I sat down to write this piece. My imagination was officially captured.
I went down a rabbit hole and learned that art is rarely stolen for the mysterious collector who wants to puff a cigar and admire it in the privacy of some secret storeroom. Instead, it’s mafia-types who hold it ransom hoping for a payout from the museum or insurance company. If that fails, the piece usually sells on the black market and becomes currency used as collateral for drug dealers and arms traders needing loans. In the case of the Van Gogh, the piece moved around the criminal world like a hot potato until the last man holding it wanted to be free from the threat the picture held if discovered.
This felt like the start of an interesting story.
Tina’s Idea
When I saw the neon Christmas decorations and the open truck, I recognized the potential for a Christmas caper. The man in the foreground is Nick, my protagonist. He’s on a Christmas mission.
Jen’s Back Cover
Niels De Smet was born with a quick mind and silver tongue. He can talk his way into any room and close most any deal. He sailed through university and is the youngest executive at his company. He bounces from one beautiful girlfriend to the next and his friends can’t get enough of him. Even his curmudgeon of an upstairs neighbor adores him.
He should be the happiest man in Brussels, but there’s a sameness to his success, a too-easy-ness about it, that leaves him restless. He’s not reckless. He’s not throwing himself off the edge of mountains or partying with heavy drugs. He’s just waiting for something really hard to come his way so he can test himself and come out on top.
Then he gets word his estranged father is dead. Niels hasn’t seen the man since he walked out on the family when Niels was three. He’s not sad. Not really. His father was a criminal who slipped through the justice system so many times Niels’ mother stopped counting.
But when Niels goes to his father’s house, he discovers a trove of stolen artwork. Returning it should be easy, but Niels also meets his father’s family, who inform him doing so would link both of Niels’ parents to a twenty-year-old murder and a past involving drug smuggling and money laundering. They tell Niels to burn the pictures and let everyone move on with their lives.
He must decide between destroying the past and continuing with his breezy existence or returning the pictures and risk implicating his mother. Niels chooses neither, and instead delves into the criminal underworld his parents inhabited as he tries to unravel the truth about the past and juggle the hot potatoes that the pictures now represent.
Tina’s Back Cover
Nick comes from a long line of famous Santa impersonators. His grandfather had been one and his father before him and so on and so on, as far back as anyone can remember. These men have a special calling. The Kringle family levels the playing field so every child has something to look forward to.
Before Nick was born, his father broke the tradition and opted out. He is a selfish man and he doesn’t believe in the cause. Nick’s grandfather was broken-hearted that his legacy would end, but there was nothing he could do. Before he died, he donated his legendary suit to the Christmas Museum located on the top floor of the Acme Toy Emporium in the center of the city. It is locked up and only available for public viewing once a year on Christmas Day.
When Nick was born, he grew up to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps, but he doesn’t have his grandfather’s suit. It’s imbued with special powers and he needs it in order to fulfill his Santa obligations. Without it, he is a fraud. All season, he listens to the children and their wishes, but he knows there is nothing he can do for them. They ask for the usual things like trains, dolls and video games, but sometimes he gets special requests. Mary Lou is eight and asked for her first bike since her parents can’t afford one. Juan Carlo asked for a puppy to keep his old grandpa company while everyone is at work and school. Janet asked for her dad to move back in. But Nick is no one special. He is just a man in a regular red suit.
It’s December 22nd and Nick is running out of time. He needs to get his hands on his grandfather’s suit. Desperate, Nick goes for a late-night walk to clear his head and to formulate a plan. When he passes the Acme Toy warehouse and spots a truck being loaded with new toys, he knows it must be headed to the Emporium. When it is left unattended, Nick smuggles himself onboard. But before he reaches the museum he realizes that the truck is heading south and it is full of the children’s toys – the toys he needs to deliver. This is a heist and he’s smack in the middle of it.
Nick has twenty-four hours to save Christmas. He needs to get his hands on the magical Santa suit, deliver everyone’s Christmas wishes, and bring the bandits to justice all without divulging the mystery behind the Kringle suit.
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
What a delightful story! Once again, Tina has come up with an idea that’s original and totally engaging. Nick’s righteous theft, plus the need to foil the Christmas thieves, is a story I want to read this holiday season!
Photo by Winston Tjia on Unsplash