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Date Posted: 04:57:44 05/05/24 Sun
Author: Curious
Author Host/IP: 49.196.21.9
Subject: Re: Story Inspiration Sources (Eighteen Ideas)
In reply to: Curious 's message, "Story Inspiration Sources (Second Relaunch)" on 05:12:26 05/02/24 Thu
Here are eighteen ideas (Minus number 13) that I posted in the old thread bought together to mark the creation of the new thread.
Idea One: Of Two (or More) Minds About The Habit
A couple of variations on the old 'split personality idea'.
Variation One: This is derived from Mary Higgins Clark's 'All Around The Houses', the character has five personalities including the 'Primary' personality. One of the four alters smokes and seems to be the only one that suffers from nicotine fits (She always asks for a cigarette when she appears.), she's also described by one of the other characters in the story as a 'sex kitten'...
In this variation there is fairly regular switching between personalities, although the primary is dominant during daylight hours, the Primary does not know about the Alters, but all the Alters know about the Primary.
Variation Two: This one comes from an old film I found on YouTube, the character has two personalities, 'Primary' and 'Alter' and switching takes place at long intervals triggered by extreme personal stress. After one switch the Alter was in charge for a year, an earlier switch had lasted six months with an interval of several years between each switch, neither has any knowledge of the other. In the film the length of time between the last switch and the one the story focuses on is implied to be between 1 - 2 years.
The Primary is a (non-smoking) happily married wife and mother in an upper class family. The Alter has a fiery, passionate and possessive personality. She is a thief and smokes, she also 'lives' (e.g. Crashes with a boyfriend picked up during the last time she was in charge...) some distance away from where the primary lives now, but is a place the primaries family lived in the past.
Idea Two: Ending A Hot Persuit
Not a story idea, but something that might be worth throwing into an action related smoking fetish story...
From a 'James Bond' rip-off dating from 1966:
The Good characters are in a car chase with goons of the principle Bad character, they throw a box from which smoke is emanating out the car window. The goons think it's a bomb and in swerving to avoid it crash into a tree.
As they emerge from their car another vehicle comes up and the driver gets out and picks up the box which is opened to reveal... lit cigarettes... one of which the driver who's just picked up the box smokes with relish...
Idea Three: The Bear Blew First
The idea outlined below has been used by two authors previously, An02 in 'Boston Uncommon' and MsSmoker in 'Marlboro Country: Rachel'
Someone is looking after an older person who smokes and is either persuaded to start smoking, as the protagonist in 'Boston Uncommon' is or decides to restart as a character in 'Marlboro Country: Rachel' does.
My own variation on that, which is what I thought was the idea used in 'Marlboro Country: Rachel', takes the form of a failed stop smoking intervention that ends with the non-smoker persuaded to smoke.
Idea Four: The Noble Resistance...
I wrote in my review of SStoryman's 'Smoke Police' that the dystopian setting created had more potential than the author appears to have realized.
A story or series of stories could be built around a 'grassroots resistance' movement to the Anti-Smoking juggernaut depicted in that story, An4s 'Old Friends' could also be mined for ideas in that regard.
Idea Five: Smoking Family Convention
Something spotted in An4s twentieth story, 'The Circle' which dates from the year 1997. The author didn't do anything with the idea, although I think HagnMrk did write a story set at a 'smokers convention' for teenage girls held in St Louis. Missouri. An4s 'Smoking Family Convention", was to be held in Corpus Christi, Texas. Here is how it's described:
"There's a convention for families who smoke, and we thought we'd check it out. There's supposed to be something for everyone - if you're a smoker, that is. One of the most exciting things - as far as I’m concerned - is that they'll be teaching newbies how to smoke. Michelle's been dragging her feet…”
"She is only thirteen.” Lori said, trying to sound as neutral as possible.
"Exactly. With all the anti-smoking campaigning going on, well, in ten years tobacco could be a prescription only drug. We want to make sure that Michelle gets a chance to know what it's really like to be a smoker in a normal environment."
To provide context, the main speaker is Karen Appleton, smoking friend of the stories protagonists, Maureen and Lori and mother of two girls, Melissa a 16 year old smoker and Michelle a 13 year old non-smoker. Maureen is a former smoker who plans to restart smoking when Lori, her younger sister starts.
Idea Six: Metamorphosis Redux
In the 1990s an anonymous author took the main characters from An02's 'The Deal' and used them as background characters in a story they entitled 'Metamorphosis'.
I think something like this might be possible with Nic's second story 'Sandra'. The main character has three smoking friends who appear in the story, in order of detail provided they are Nicole, Korean-American, a person Sandra persuaded to start smoking, Amy, a newly started smoker whose mother had quit at some point in the past, but the circumstances for just why she started smoking are unknown and Jessica about whom nothing is known save what brand of cigarette she smokes. Any of these three could be used as the focal character of new story with Sandra as the background character.
The two with the best possibilities are Nicole with her gang connections and Amy who has a former smoker for a mother.
Another story where this might be possible is Compressor's 'Jenny's Thanksgiving' where the title characters non-smoking friend Amy and her smoking sister Marie seem open to a similar re-purposing.
In AZ-Mans 'The Elusive California Dream', one of the major secondary characters in the 1990s set story is Tina. She's the person who introduces Jenni, one of the two major protagonists to smoking and offers advice when Jenni decides to persue a relationship with John, the stories major male character.
Her first name is actually Kristina, but she prefers to be called Tina. She's a 31 year old stewardess with Delta Airlines and started smoking at age 16. Her motivation for introducing Jenni to smoking is loneliness, the 1990s being a time when smoking is becoming rarer. When Jenni talks about seeing John, Tina is the one who brings up the smoking fetish, and gives out some advice in the spirit of fun. Later when she sees just where things are going she warns Jenni of the dangers and tries to get her to break it off without success.
Also revealed during the story is the reason why she has just such a good understanding of the smoking fetish, when she was 19 she entered into a married relationship with a man who had the smoking fetish. The relationship resulted in a son, Charlie, but ended in divorce when she caught her husband teaching Charlie's babysitter to smoke, a discovery that made it quite clear that he was in love with Tina's smoking and not Tina herself. The last reference to her name is in the stories 17th chapter 'Last Stop California' where it is stated that she'd advised Jenni to forget the whole affair and get on with her life, advice Jenni has no plans on following.
However the stories epilogue while clearing up just what happens to most of the characters in the story completly ignores Tina, is she still friends with Jenni, did she find another husband, all of these questions and others are left unanswered. This opens up possibilities that could be exploited by writers looking for inspiration.
Idea Seven: Inspiring Dialog
Spotted in a story where nothing is done with it. Context: Someone sneaks up on a female smoker drinking straight from a bottle in a park...
"Well, you're not! I was drinking here! You can't just sneak up on someone when they're getting their buzz on!"
Idea Eight: SStoryman's Unused Plots
Over the course of their career as a Smoking Fetish Fiction author SStoryman wrote a number of tales that ended with hints of future stories that never appeared. What follows is a list of some of the undeveloped plotlines I've noticed over the course of reading/reviewing their fiction. The format is story title followed by a summary of the undeveloped plotline.
'The Affair' - Towards the end of the story the author closes off the character Hope's part of the plot by staging a scene in which she goes off to a friends house to smoke while her mother who's returned home worries about how she's going to confess to a daughter she believes does not smoke that she's restarted smoking. This plot thread was left unresolved when the author wrote the sequel 'Conflict of Interest'.
'Turkish Delight' - At the end of the story the character Leah contemplates introducing the next pair of girl's she's going to be babysitting to the smoking habit. It's presented in a way that implies this will be the subject of a future story.
'Surrounded' - At the end of the story Janine and her mother discuss just what Janine's going to do at college now she's become a smoker. The discussion is carried out in a way that implies that this was going to be the subject of one of the next stories the author wrote.
'Ellie' - At the end of the story the narrator states that she had not related just how she got her ex-husband to accept his daughters smoking and that this is 'another story'. Again the implication is that this was going to be a story the author was going to write in the near future.
Idea Nine: A Transitional Moment
This is a summary of a scene from one of those 'teen drunk' novels that used to be popular a few years ago, but it should work equally well with a young smoker.
What has occurred is that several people have got on the protagonists case about the drug they are consuming. Needing a distraction they go to a friends house and hang out.
In the story I am taking this from, the protagonist ends up drinking cans of beer at a 3:1 ratio to everyone else in the house. (e.g. They drink 6 cans while everyone else drinks 2 cans.) They are alerted to what they've done by an awed comment from one of the other people in the house.(1)(2)
This could easily be re-applied to a smoker moving from 'experimenting' to 'devoted' and would make a good prequel to a scene in which the protagonist at last accepts they are a smoker.(3)
Notes:
1. To paraphrase, 'Wow, you sure can put them away'. I would recommend authors using this scene come up with their own words.
2. This could be delivered by a male or a female character, probably another smoker in the 'experimenting' stage of the habit.
3. In the original story, the discussion of the protagonists drinking prowess makes them even more uneasy than when they arrived and they leave the house hastily.
Idea Ten: A Particular Relationship
What I am describing here is a particular 'Co-Dependent' relationship. I remembered this while I was reviewing Frieda Theant's 'Cigarette Break'.
The basic relationship has two participants, one's concern for the other sees them moderate their consumption when the two are together.
This is what happens between the two sisters in SStoryman's 'How Could She Say No', the smoking sister moderates her consumption while the other sister is a non-smoker and the two are together.
I've also seen a version of this in one 'Teen Drunk' novel. In that story you have two underage teens who like to go out drinking together, one is clearly more adventurous in this regard than the other. However she moderates her drinking so that she can keep an eye on the other girl.
It's a simple, effective way to show how much someone cares for another if they are willing to forego pleasure on another's behalf. This is why Marcus in his story 'Pam' has the character Monnie cut down her smoking while visiting Pam when that character is trying to quit smoking.
Of course, this is an unstable relationship, if circumstances change, as they do in 'How Could She Say No?' removing the cause for concern, then consumption rises to a new, higher level as can be seen in both 'How Could She Say No?' and 'Miss Vicki'.
Idea Eleven: Two Quotes
Two quotes from fiction that may prove inspiring...
From 'Nevermore' by Flavius Aetius (aka Richard Ralls)
A character description
"She adored cigarettes and pitied nonsmokers. ... No one who knows her keeps his or her lungs pink for long."
From an anti-smoking 'Choose Your Own Adventure' story:
One of the 'failed to quit' endings which has a surprisingly lyrical feel to it:
"Sarah hesitated for a moment in front of the Mini Market. Then she firmly pushed the door open. She hoped the clerk wouldn't ask for I.D. They usually didn't. If they did it could be a hassle trying to find someone older to buy cigarettes for her.
She bought the cigarettes without a problem. She smoked one on the way home and another when she arrived. She sat on the front steps and blew smoke rings at the winter sky. (The End)"
Idea Twelve: Misc Ideas
These were all culled from various threads on the now defunct Cigreviews board. The name of the original poster, if preserved, is noted after the title I've given it.
1. Vaping To Smoking Transition (Smoker Liam)
"I have two younger brothers who are 16 year old twins. Both of them started vaping last year, and I was shocked because they were always so anti about me and my dad smoking. Back in March, California went on lockdown due to the pandemic and I stayed with my family until July. Since my dad doesn’t vape, he stocked up on cigarettes for the family during lockdown. My brothers, being the nicotine fiends they had become, had no choice but to join my dad and I whenever we went out to smoke. Eventually, they ditched the vape and switched completely to cigarettes. Now, they both smoke at least a pack a day, which is more than me!"
2. Dealing With Heartbreak (MarlboroReds4Life)
"My younger sister started at 15, just like me. Unlike me though, she didn’t get addicted right away. She could take it or leave it until she was about 18. Then a boy broke up with her and well, she lost all control. She has been a 30 a day gal ever since."
3. Starting For The Significant Other
"Man (apparently without the fetish) discovers girlfriend smokes, rather than rejecting her he tolerates her habit and in the course of time starts smoking himself."
4. Letting The Non-Smoker Take The Initative (RitaR)
"Four years ago an out of town friend staying the weekend who had never smoked before said it looked like fun and would I give her some smoking lessons. I did and she took to it easily and continues to smoke. I acted on her suggestion - I have not and will not push smoking on someone who does not smoke. I’ll be glad to help if asked; and I’m honest attesting to the pleasure of smoking if a non smoker asks, but I don’t push."
Idea Fourteen: Metamorphosis, Part Two
One of the 'Twelve Ideas' I posted when I posted the earlier relaunch of this thread was pointing out that in the past writers in this genre had been willing to complete authors stories, write effective sequels to them or simply reuse characters. The classic example being 'Metamorphosis' an anonymous tale that acts as a follow on to An02's 'The Deal' in which the original characters from 'The Deal' appear in .
'Mika Becomes A Smoker'/'Mika's Journey Begins' is a likely never to be finished series by an author who used the nym 'beacon821' before being removed from Reddit. The two stories follow the smoking journey of an 18 year old girl. The first story is a very effective 'start smoking' story. The sequel starts off well, with as I noted in my review the heroine encountering "...the problems of being an 18 year old smoker in a 'Smoking 21' world."
Nick, the Noble Leaf Librarian, commented that he expected the story to have the central character learn some life lesson, such as the one mentioned by Karen Saunders in one of her web articles, to quote her, "I would never
allow myself to be without cigarettes."
Instead the author chose to have her run into someone who ruthlessly exploits her love for M'lady Nicotine to force her to have sex with him. And instead of having the character receive a life lesson from this event, simply has her enjoy it so much that she wants to repeat the experience at a later date.
It's likely this that got the author removed from Reddit, either by their own choice or through being banned.
One possible way for an author to continue the story from the point left by the original author would be to take advantage of the hints thrown out in the second story about her friends, at least two of whom have the "...smoking bug as badly (or joyfully?) as she did."
Having Mika's friends realize she's fallen victim to what is to all intents and purposes a blackmailing rapist and take whatever steps they can to get her out of this relationship could generate a nicely dramatic plotline and an effective life lesson for the title character.
What follows are some additional 'metamorphoses' that could be used to extract a more effective dramatic arc from the material presented (IMHO the first story is too good to go to waste.)
The first additional 'Metamorphosis' would be to take the first two stories as written but have Mika have 'second thoughts' about her experience and try to find some way out of the mess she's gotten into, perhaps with the help of her friends.
The second, additional possible 'Metamorphosis' ditches the conclusion of the second story and would focus on Mika's relationship with her friends at the coffee shop and have one of them be the person victimised, leading to Mika taking steps to ensure the man involved gets punished.
There are other possibilities with this storyline, but I'll leave them to active authors to find out.
Idea Fifteen: Plot summaries
Here are some plot summaries that could be useful for authors. Generic titles are used.
Inkspot
A smoker joins a group of non-smokers and gets one or more of them to take up the habit.
Surrounded
This is the inverse of the previous plot idea, a non-smoker joins a group of smokers and eventually takes up the habit.
Intervention (Type One)
This is the idea I've floated a few times earlier and is included for completeness, an anti-smoking intervention that results in the non-smoker taking up the habit.
Intervention (Type Two)
An intervention to prevent someone from abandoning the habit.
Intervention (Type Three)
After someone has failed to abandon the habit, a friend or friends dissuade them from ever trying again.
Idea Sixteen: 'How Could She Say No?' + 5 years
When SStoryman's 1996 story 'How Could She Say No?' ends not simply the heroines triump but with two girls, Helen and Megan, both at the time of the story 13, and both starting their journey as smokers, Helen has already passed the 'experimenting/devoted' threshold, Megan is on her way there.
At the time the story was written the legal age to smoke was 18, and the two girls mentioned would have reached that age in the year 2001.
It popped into my head that it might be worth writing a story covering one or both characters 18th birthday and have them thinking of their life since 1996. How has smoking helped them. Do they have boyfriends? Did the boyfriends smoke, or did the girls ask them to start? What are their relationships with their parents? And so on.
I'm posting this here because I know I cannot write fiction. If anyone wants to make something of this please feel free.
Idea Seventeen: AZ-Man's Loose Threads
'The Elusive California Dream'
1. The character of Tina simply 'disappears' from the plot, with no idea given as to just what happened to her after her last scene.
2. There's a classic story in this quote "Jill continued to smoke her Virginia Slims Menthol Lights at a rate of a pack a day while Brittany stayed with her Salems just like her friend Gail. All three were hopelessly hooked and loved it. Jill was still working on Kyle…"
The last named character is Jill's youngest daughter who would be 14 at this point in the story, having her resist until closer to 18 would probably be the best way to make use of this one.
'Pygmalion'
Deborah Weigand is a character the plot does not make effective use of, there's a whiff of 'smoking evangelist' in her makeup and a possible connection with a character from the earlier 'The Elusive California Dream' to explore.
Idea Eighteen: An inversion of a classic plotline
An unexplored idea (to my knowledge) culled from the notes to one of my reviews...
"A guy learning to smoke to win the heart of a female smoker, an inversion of a classic smoking fetish trope."
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Replies:
- Re: Story Inspiration Sources (The Ninteenth Idea) -- Curious, 05:09:56 05/05/24 Sun
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