Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

I stumble upon yet another source of story ideas.

I like to write short stories. I have more ideas than time and energy to write them. A few weeks ago I stumbled upon yet another source of story ideas.

1. Go to a McDonald’s somewhere where you never go
2. Observe people
3. Make up stories

For example, a few weeks ago I was in a McDonald’s at a crossroad, not a town just a crossroad, called Opal, Virginia. I observed:

1. Two men in the 50s sitting with a ten-year-old girl
2. Three women in their 70s (two white, one black)
3. Three men in their 40s wearing t-shirts, shorts, and flip flops (we were no where near a beach or any other water)

Now, start the stories:

Ed and Mel entered McDonald’s with Lisa. They were both 40 years older than Lisa and neither was related by blood to her. Still, they were compelled to escort her because…

Mabel, Jean, and Misty stopped at a McDonald’s. It was that limbo time at McDonald’s when they almost stopped serving breakfast and almost started serving lunch. They tried to order breakfast, but were denied. Mabel and Jean, conditioned by 60 years of their lives, turned to Misty and …

Billy, Bobby, and Cal fell out of their Chrysler mini van and stumbled across the parking lot into the McDonald’s. They rubbed their eyes, squinted, and tried to find let alone read the menu board. Billy looked at the other two and asked, “Why…?”

Or start them some other way. Writer’s block? Doesn’t exist for me.