Schenectady Writers Service 8/1/1957
Ideas: Pens and pencils are common to the point of being unnoticed, but they make a good prop to turn into an interesting plot line.
- A murderer poisons the lead in a pencil to kill someone who has the habit of placing the tip of the pencil on his lips while thinking. Who dies and how?
- When someone uses the eraser of a particular pencil to remove a name on a list the person disappears. What happens when the person’s own name is erased by an assistant trying to be helpful?
- The lead of a pencil turns red when a murderer tries to write the name of a victim. How does this bring the murderer to justice?
- A stubby old pencil is dropped and then picked up by a series of people who then lose the pencil only to picked up by another. The path of the pencil tells a tale. Is there are secret to the pencil?
- A man starts his day at the office by sharpening all of his pencils. He discovers one morning that his pencils are all missing. He frantically begins searching for them and this sets of a series of events, until at the end he is looking for scraps of food in the garbage where he finds his missing pencils. What happens when he is reunited with his pencils?
- An artist uses a pencil that changes colors as he scribbles on a page, making wonderful art. Does this make him an artist, or are the pencils themselves the artist?
- A man signs contracts in disappearing ink and then his signature disappears breaking the contracts. He is then taken to court, where he manages to win, but the judge signs the decree using the criminal’s pencil, so he cannot collect his damages. Who gave the judge the pen?
- A man doodles on a page and accidentally draws the face of a beautiful woman, who he then meets. He falls in love, but they become separated and he cannot find her. He tries to draw her face again, but he is a bad artist and keeps meeting people with the ugly faces he draws. How does he find the woman again?
- A woman loans a man a pencil on the subway which he uses to write down a wonderful idea. He wants to find the woman and repay her for her kindness so he stands in front of the subway stop in dark glasses and jar of pencils in order to find her. If he finds her, what does he do, and how does she respond?
- A man uses a quill from a duck to make a pen and uses it to write poetry, but when he shows the poems to his girl friend all she sees are the words quack quack quack. Is she really reading the words or does she have a motive in fooling the man?
- A man buys a pen that was used for many years to sign the death warrants of murderers at a prison. He signs his own name with the pen on a bill of sale, and begins to experience accidents. He is nearly shot and then is nearly electrocuted and then accidentally hangs himself, but is rescued at the last minute. What does he do with the pen?
- A man buys the pen of a famous poet and writes a wonderful poem. He tries to sell it, but it is recognized immediately as plagiarism. Does the pen only transcribe poems written by its original owner?
- A man uses an old pencil to write down numbers in a ledger, but the numbers always come out wrong. What do the wrong numbers mean? How might he use the old pencil to his gain?
- A boy is given a fine pen for his birthday. He puts it away and never uses it. Years later, as an old man, he finds the pen. What happens when he uses it?
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