story ideas

Depaysement | [2016]

dépaysement - when someone is taken out of their own familiar world and placed into an unfamiliar one

For fourteen year old fraternal twins Nolan and Emalyn Lovato-Valderrama, their entire lives have been in a constant state of dépaysement. For as long as they can remember, their parents have never been able to get along. At best, their parents act more like acquaintances than lovers. So when Demi Lovato and Wilmer Valderrama shocked the world with news of a divorce, their kids were thrilled. Nolan and Emalyn both thought that the divorce would act as a reset button for their parents' relationship; they thought all their parents needed was time apart and separate living arrangements to restrengthen the bond that they must have had to build a marriage and raise two children. However, it didn't take long for disappointment, annoyance, and bitter, hostile attitudes to settle deep within the twins' bones.

Now, a little over a year since the divorce of their parents was finalized, Nolan and Emalyn are now more than ever sick of being bounced back and forth between their parents, of having to listen to their still constant bickering, and of being forced to pick sides. Now, a little over a year since the divorce of their parents was finalized, Nolan and Emalyn are involved in a car accident on their way to their father's house, with their mother behind the wheel. While their parents are busy pointing blame at each other and revisiting custody agreements, Nolan and Emalyn are having to deal with the aftermath of that traumatic car accident. Particularly, Emalyn's newfound ability to time travel.

Ever since her head cracked against the windshield during that car accident and thus gained a pretty nasty concussion, Emalyn has been able to travel through time. Now, every time that she falls asleep, she wakes up in a different year with Nolan right beside her. By time traveling, these teen twins have to figure out where their parents' relationship went so wrong, and how to fix it.