Not every great story idea starts with a conflict or an inciting incident or even a character. Some story ideas start with settings. And some settings have more potential than others to spark story ideas—usually if they are places with more people.
I’m in a setting right now (so are you…all the time). I wonder if I can find a story here…
It’s a Tuesday night. I am currently at a Panera Bread in a college town. The other tables are filled with students on laptops, a couple friends chatting over soup, a family with three girls who look to be between ages nine and thirteen, an employee on his dinner break. Any one of these tables could represent the start of a story. But across the restaurant, there’s something with far more potential…
There’s a man I used to see here all the time when I came to read or write or edit while my son is at his martial arts classes, but whom I haven’t seen in months.
This guy is interesting. He is probably around my age or a little older (he strikes me as a Gen Xer, he’s balding, and he has gray in his facial hair). He is a BIG dude—the kind of guy who might be cast as the heavy that the smaller guy brings along with him to intimidate others just in case there’s trouble. He never has food. Just a fountain drink.
He is always alone and always on a laptop with wireless earbuds in. Tonight he is moving his head around in such a way that I imagine he’s watching music videos or a concert. He has his hands on the keyboard but doesn’t seem to be typing. Maybe he’s mixing music like my son is always doing once his homework is done?
This guy used to always sit up at the high top counter just opposite the kitchen counter where you pick up your food, but tonight he’s at a table facing the wall. I’m watching him nod his head. Then pause. Then nod again. He knocks his knuckles against the table in a rhythm. Yeah, he’s definitely listening to music.
I wonder if, like me, he’s only here killing time while his kid is doing an activity nearby. Maybe his months-long absence was because his kid took a break from that activity. Or is here because he lives alone and works at home and just wants to be amongst people in the evening? Though he’s always alone, he also always looks up when people walk by him.
Okay, is that enough information to start a story about this guy? Maybe.
What about if I told you that the last time I saw him here, months ago, he winked at me as I walked out the door?
Ah, now there’s some story potential. Let’s tease it out below…
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