Do You Remember That Feeling?

You spot somebody, sometimes only from the back, and you’re certain it’s a person who is far away, or dead, or who looks like … It couldn’t be. Could it?

You shake your head. You look again. No, it’s just a stranger.

Or is it?

Let’s investigate the possibilities.

This is the second in a series of story prompts: not just a couple of sentences but a comprehensive outline you could use for subplots or entire novels.

If you create a story or poem based on something you read in this post, I’d love to hear from you.

What Might Cause the Misidentification?

Possibilities:

#1. A yearning to see the person

• a long-lost love
• someone who needs an apology from the character
• someone who owes the character money
• a favorite [actor, author, politician, billionaire]

#2. A traumatic event that causes nightmares

• an accident
• a murder
• a social media scam
• infidelity
• betrayal

#3. Perhaps a ghost has unfinished business.

Maybe it temporarily takes over the character by superimposing its ethereal form. Reasons could include the possibilities in the first point or:

• The ghost wants to reveal where to find its Last Will and Testament.
• The ghost announces that its death due to “natural causes” was really a murder (overdone, but perhaps you could add an unexpected twist).
• The ghost seeks revenge for [bullying, a coup, infidelity].
• The ghost imparts a warning about [the character’s health, impending war, an approaching asteroid].

#4. An alternate reality becomes visible for just a moment.

• Why does the alternate reality become visible? (Fantasy will require a different reason than sci-fi.)
• Is there a way to prevent it from happening?
• Can everyone see the alternate reality?

#5. A physical or mental condition

• prosopagnosia (face blindness): a neurological condition that is characterized by the inability to recognize faces
• schizophrenia: a mental disorder that causes abnormal interpretation of reality and may trigger hallucinations
• synesthesia: a neurological condition that causes one sense to be interpreted as another

#6. A fraternal or an identical twin

• Fraternal twins can look alike, but they are genetically distinct and may be different sexes.
• Why aren’t the twins raised in the same family?
• Are they the result of a fertility clinic fraud or mistake?

#7. A supernatural being

• a shapeshifter
• an angel
• a demon
• a jinn
• a made-up being

#8. An alien that can’t maintain its form because

• it’s too young
• it’s an apprentice
• it’s too far from a power source
• it’s not on its home planet

#9 Coincidence

But just because it’s a coincidence doesn’t mean your character will forget about the doppelganger. The sighting of a lookalike could result in:

• nightmares
• flashbacks
• the character suspecting that someone is following, bugging, or stalking them
• fleeing to another town or country
• avoidance of places the doppelganger used to frequent