STORY PROMPT #13: Sideshow Freak

[nolan]

Since it's the 13th Post, I thought it would be cool to think of something a bit offbeat and maybe a little morbid.

Bearded women, strong men, sword swallowers, tattooed men, pickled punks and half men/half women, the sideshow has long been a source for colourful characters with strong images who existed on the fringe of society.

For this prompt, look at all of the different types of sideshow performers and write a story around one of them. It does not necessarily need to be based on any actual sideshow performer.

www.showhistory.com/
www.sideshowworld.com/home1.html

[jayvee]

This is beautiful. Reminds me of an X-FILES episode.

This could be flipped so many ways, too; lots of potential for character driven drama. Inter-"office" romance? Going out for a cheeseburger and getting reemed by the backwards townies? Is there a reality where everybody's a sideshow performer and the people who are normal by our standards are the freaks? Remember that TWILIGHT ZONE episode and the lady got plastic surgery to look beautiful, but was ugly by her society's standards?

Anybody interested in this should use the history and performers of THE CHARLIE ROSE CIRCUS SIDESHOW as one of their resources. And CIRQUE DU SOLEIL.

[nolan]

I've seen that X Files episode, it was pretty cool.

There's a TLC documentary about it too.

I just figure the colourful characters, ridiculous backstories (which may or may not always be real) and huge visuals were a good match for comics.