Last year, I was a regular contributor to a publication on Medium, now sadly defunct.
There used to be a daily Drabble prompt, a random single word intended to inspire a 100-word story. It was always fun to see what ideas the word produced.
I found that the prompts were a way of taking my mind off my current novel-in-progress, especially when things were getting stuck.
Sometimes the word didn’t resonate and I had nothing to say. On other occasions, I’d get several ideas and pick the best one for submission.
I never guessed, when the day’s prompt was the word IMPLICATION, that it would lead to a whole story.
While thinking of ideas, in my head I saw a seedy bar and a private eye who looked remarkably like Humphrey Bogart, complete with a world-weary expression. Naturally, there was a femme fatale involved.
Here’s what I came up with,
I was minding my own business, nursing a whisky at the bar, when she sat beside me.
“Buy me a drink,” she said, “then take me outside.”
I looked; she was pretty, the implication was clear. But…
“Sorry, sugar,” I said. I showed her my left hand. “I’m already spoken for.”
“You don’t understand,” she hissed. Now, there was panic in her voice. “There’s a man over there, blue tie. If I leave on my own, he’s going to follow me and kill me.”
That was different; I guess I’d been mistaken.
It looked like I had a new case.
When I thought about it, I could see that there was a lot of potential in that short piece. There was certainly enough to expand the narrative into a short story. If not more.
I’d already written one noir-style Sci-fi novel (Ribbonworld), why not try a second?
Another Rainy night in Helcon City was the title I came up with, as I followed the couple out of the bar and into the streets of my futuristic world.
A world which I was about to create.
And that, dear reader, is my favourite part of the process.
I wanted a 1940s American vibe with an extra helping of far future technology. Think sharp suits, elegantly dressed and coiffured ladies in a grimy industrial landscape. Add a sense of fading hope and oppressive surveillance, as well as the ever-present rain, a product of the city itself.
As it developed, I found that Helcon City was a place with space travel, wearable water-repellent technology, induction cars and plenty of mysterious things going on.
There was a dead cop, corruption and cynicism. My private eye hero, Rex Reyder, was down on his luck and in need of a reason to get his life out of the bottle and back on track.
The quest to find the truth would be long and involve red herrings and twists, but as Rex and Delores Kovac (the femme fatale) joined forces, I could see that it was going to be a fun journey.
I currently have about 20k words of the story written. There are no signs that I’m running out of ideas.
The body count is rising, yet our heroes are no closer to getting the answers they need.
Neither am I.
I’m making it up as I go.
I can’t wait to find out where it all ends.
All of that came from a single word.
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Darlene Foster
It’s amazing how one word can spur an entire story. We do this at our writer’s group about once a month. I love the different takes people have on one word. Good luck with this story, sounds great!
Richard Dee
Thanks, I get a buzz from having to create (usually under time pressure) in response to a word.