The Story of the Shoes

 

You take a walk in the spring along a dried-up river bed in a hot country.  You see hundreds of abandoned shoes, sometimes in pairs sometimes not.  What’s the explanation? How do you find out? Who do you meet in the process?

Article ideas

Find out why people abandon shoes. Can you explore the benefits and dangers of walking without shoes? Or discuss the type of shoes for walking along a dry river bed?

Poetry ideas

Find a picture of some abandoned shoes and write an ode to them. Write verses to the people who abandoned the shoes. Write about the shoes themselves. Think of the colours, textures, and shapes.

Script ideas

Perhaps a two-hander of two people walking a river-bed (radio play?). One of your characters abandons their shoes. Why?  What is the relationship between the two people? Are they changed by the end?

Story ideas

Your characters come across the shoes and form their own ideas about what’s happened.  They ask various other people and get many different explanations. They finally find out the truth which is surprising. How does this change them?  How do they grow?             

Urban disaster

 

Something major goes wrong where you live that makes you have to leave home in the middle of the night. Perhaps there is a flood, an explosion or a major fire. What is the evacuation like? Who do you meet? When and how are you allowed back to your homes?  What happens in the aftermath?

Article ideas

Start off  the most significant issue and report it with a bit of colour – use the senses, perhaps capture the drama, talk about the people

Now report any verifiable facts.

Add some quotes from experts.

Discuss any moral dilemma.

Come back with some more colour.

Poetry ideas

Work with the senses, describe the physical event,  can you capture the emotions?

Script ideas

Perhaps write a script from a rescuer’s point of view. Is there a sub plot? Is this incident part of something bigger and does the incident uncover this.

Fiction ideas

What does your protagonist learn through the incident? Do they grow? Could you consider writing this story form the point of view of a child? Or would you consider a dramatic monologue?