The 'threat' from next door...

[Magineer]

The scene: mature, suburban housing estate. A quiet, tree-lined road with family houses. In one of which, a marriage goes wrong and either the husband or wife leaves, taking kids with... or maybe, strangely, one of these large houses is bought by a single adult.

Whatever, there's suddenly a tension in the street which wasn't there before - now there's an attractive 30s/40s singleton in the neighbourhood, maybe 'available'/on the look-out?

It's only a general, background feeling which is usually ignorable. What I'm looking for is suggestions as to a possible development which would ratchet that tension up a notch... take it to the next level. Not something which would cause total consternation or scandal... just an upward push to that feeling. For the moment I'm not stipulating whether the singleton is male or female or which direction the plot might take.

Any ideas? Feel free to give your own plot idea.

 

[NewOldGuy77]

This actually happened in an old neighborhood of mine outside of Chicago. A hot divorcee - full figured, a walking blonde wet dream named Angie - moved into our cul-de-sac and began flirting with all the husbands. She put most of her efforts into one husband in particular -Mitch - whose wife had a figure like Olive Oyl, just a nice lady but very meek and mild.

I don’t know how far it went, but not long afterwards Mitch’s wife got pregnant. After the baby came, he forgot about Angie.

From a story standpoint I could envision one where the neighborhood wives band together and teach an Angie-like character a lesson during a block party, enlisting several of their bachelor brother-in-laws to humiliate and blackmail her.

 

[Carnevil9]

I would make the singleton a voluptuous bisexual woman - one who flirts with both the husbands and the wives.

As for a "ratchet up the tension" idea, how about cabs and Ubers start arriving at her house every evening, dropping off and picking up customers. Maybe one every couple hours most evenings. That's bound to get the neighborhood tongues wagging.

 

[LiverpoolMaster]

I would have the "ratchet" as something more subtle.

I'm imagining this would be a single guy rather than a woman. Maybe a strange lamp would appear in his front window... a red glow all night. Noticeable by all the neighbours. Suggestive of something - interesting. The local husbands would shrug it off but the wives couldn't help but mention it to each other during bouts of gossip... perhaps it occurs to more than one of them to investigate further... without telling anyone else, it goes without saying.

Not sure where it would go from there but there are certainly possibilities.

 

[sirhugs]

and then, the annual BLOCK PARTY!!!!!!

 

[LupusDei]

If it's a woman, she's divorced, perhaps quite loudly, perhaps from an much older man accused of violence while he call her whore -- with sounds ridiculous to anyone at that point.

Now alone in the big house, she feels vulnerable to everyone around. What if the old mean ex decides to come back for more or even send thugs or something? Meanwhile our Angie, well she's not so much flirting with anyone, but she engage in risky and risque behavior, say starts sunbathing nude in the backyard. Maybe one or more of the neighborhood wifes join her, to keep her company, so to say, for safety. And/or, the other unsolicited, but still warmly welcomed visits of *concerned* neighbors may slowly transform the house into sort of neighborhood clubhouse.

Maybe instead or on top of that, she's in some, ostensibly temporary, financial trouble. Not too much, not too serious, just in need to defer some bills until the divorce process gets settled financially, with takes much longer than it should for some reason, maybe directly linked to it talking about sums with seven figures, but right now, she may even lose the house. Again it's not like she would walk around begging or offering, it's the concerned neighbors who actively learn about her troubles and actively decide she needs help. And she, well, she may feel gratitude she expresses a bit awkwardly...

 

[LupusDei]

If it's a man, I would go with a loner who buys The House, the largest, richest home in the end of the cul-de-sac. Previous owner (who probably reluctantly moved out because of moving their business elsewhere) was the focus of neighborhood community and the hosts of most BBQ parties and what not (nothing too naughty, perhaps, but who knows). So, the newcomer's arrival on itself is significant disruption, even if it was a more traditional couple. But this guy, he's mysterious and borderline asocial.

People can't figure him out, obviously he's into money, but there's discrepancies. Like, he drives a pair of super expensive cars but apparently doing a limited renovation in the house himself. He comes and goes without any obvious schedule, including in the middle of the night, but is home a lot and there's no signs he ever had guests, etc.

The truth is likely as boring, as the guy being crypto speculator or whatever. But it's the disturbed community itself who builds him up into some kind of batman.

 

[Magineer]

I would have the "ratchet" as something more subtle.

I'm imagining this would be a single guy rather than a woman. Maybe a strange lamp would appear in his front window... a red glow all night. Noticeable by all the neighbours. Suggestive of something - interesting. The local husbands would shrug it off but the wives couldn't help but mention it to each other during bouts of gossip... perhaps it occurs to more than one of them to investigate further... without telling anyone else, it goes without saying.

Not sure where it would go from there but there are certainly possibilities.

Yes, something which raises the profile just that bit. I was vaguely thinking of a showy car as a first step but then there are enough sick petrolheads around with egos big (and dicks small) enough to fill the Albert Hall that could easily explain that kind of move. A series of small jumps in what you might call the 'tension level' was what I had in mind. I think your suggestion is better and less boring. What I want to end up with is a series of local wives/husbands taking the sexual plunge with the singleton.

Certainly, I have a way to go to figure out the exact sequence of the plot, agreed!

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I have one in the que where there is a single guy in his 30s on a cul-de-sac full of middle age MILFs. For some reason they all adore him and their husbands can't understand why. He is after all only ten years younger than they are and they are all healthy, trim, male specimens themselves.

Haven't quit got it completely worked out, but the title may give you a hint... The Neighborhood Adonis.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I have also started a story based on this idea... it just wouldn't leave me alone, so I started writing. Don't know when I'll finish it but I'm four word pages into it, but I have another story I want to finish that I'm 15,000 words into right now with about another 15,000 words to go.

 

[Montresarr]

What about a guy that becomes the talk of all the women in the neighborhood because of how he looks, acts, sounds, and just is. One neighbor, perhaps in her 40's-50's, has some qualms with him and is anxious to show she is not addicted to his so called charm. So she confronts him about their difficulty- however, from that moment on, she cannot get him out of her thoughts, fantasies, and (erotic) dreams-which she NEVER had until now. To make matters worse, they are called on to work closely together on some neighborhood project. She remains anxious to show everyone else she will not lose her head over him-yet a series of missteps and faux pas bring her closer to his conquest.

 

[Magineer]

Yes, good, and what you've described is the basis of a real story, based on reluctance and seduction. Welcome to the Less Than Ten Per Cent (of writers on Lit. who know the meaning of the word 'plot') Club...

I was thinking, as mentioned, of it being a series of wives rather than 'one woman's story', but what the hell.

Someone should write up your idea. Why not you?

 

[sirhugs]

Yes, good, and what you've described is the basis of a real story, based on reluctance and seduction. Welcome to the Less Than Ten Per Cent (of writers on Lit. who know the meaning of the word 'plot') Club...

I was thinking, as mentioned, of it being a series of wives rather than 'one woman's story', but what the hell.

Someone should write up your idea. Why not you?

The other 90% are just fine for the 99% of Lit readers that read one-handed though.

 

[Magineer]

The other 90% are just fine for the 99% of Lit readers that read one-handed though.

... which tends to show how much value should be attached to their opinions of a story.

This is why I never post anything here and would encourage anyone with even a small degree of self respect to do likewise. Erotic story telling is one thing. Wank bait/fodder is another.

 

[PattieD]

Young couple takes advantage of a quick sell opportunity presented by the estranged husband and wife. Quick sell due to the wife with kids unable to to keep current with the mortgage. Loss of her soon to be ex-husband's income along with the high retainer lawyers forces her to sell outside of the minimum age restrictions of the neighborhood.
The young couple is not married which is also a deal breaker but the two women manage the paperwork necessary to appease the gated community board.
The couple manages to accentuate the paperwork by emulating all the behaviors of a married couple in their late 20s. The ruse is easily handled as they both have backgrounds in theater. He a playwright and she a newly hired performance studies professor at the local arts college.
They both sketched out their roles that led to an initial and mutual enjoyment. But, soon the playwright lost his muse and embraced his wanderlust by moving back to the city.
The professor suspected that this would be an eventuality which is why the house was only in her name.
The community embraced this newly divorced woman with great empathy while the college community, both male and female, took note of this newly hot divorcee.
An undercurrent of sexual pursuit soon took root in both communities that found this woman's appeal to be overtly magnetic due to her passion for expression and tendency to dress somewhere between evocative and erotic.

 

[Magineer]

Sometimes I wish that people would read through their post to see whether it actually makes sense to them... because, if not, it's going to make no sense at all to anyone else. I'm not even talking here about almost total lack of relevance to the original posting...