SPECIAL FEATURE–The Artist’s Revenge

The following is an idea searching for an author. It came to me as a dream, a “story dream.” When these occur to me, I recognize the possibilities for a novel, but it is a novel I do not want to write. I am thrilled to have this opportunity to offer the idea to any writer who wants to develop it.

THE BASICS

1. Setting. A countryside appealing to landscape artists.
2. Heroine: a young woman fairly content with her life who receives a surprise inheritance from a deceased (how?) painter: his studio and the paintings within it.
3. Possible Villain: a local art gallery owner with his eye on the “big sale” wants one painting for his gala show which he hangs, removing the work of another artist to move room.
4. The Catalyst: There is a fire in the gallery before the gala show. Arson is suspected.
5. Possible Suspects: the bumped artist, the heroine, the gallery owner, or someone else?

Note: in the dream, the heroine discovers that the dead artist’s painting was the source of the fire—it self-combusted.

Feel free to use/change any of the above if you decide to accept this challenge. If, by chance my subconscious gave me the story of an existing novel, I bow to that author. But no plot is unique, so there is still room for a new vision using these basics.

There will be more of these “story dream” ideas in the future, keep watching.

Meanwhile, happy writing—

K. Roxby