The "What If..." Lens for Story Writing and Idea Book

     You probably have so many thoughts going through your head and probably are a person watcher. Both are wonderful problems to have if you want to write stories. Ideas can come from anywhere and at any time. This is where the "Idea Book" can come in handy. I carry a 5 1/2 inch by 4 inch, 180 sheet little notebook in my pocket with a pen. If I hear a weird turn of phrase or see a person with an interesting unique quality, I write it down in the book. If an idea comes to me, I write it in the notebook as a what if question. I leave it on my nightstand and if I wake from a dream and remember enough of it I will add what I can remember to the notebook.

    This little notebook (and the dozen I have filled up) is a treasure trove of ideas, or partial ideas. If you read my previous post on writer's block you will remember my suggestion on using the "what if..." questions to help eliminate the block. Here we will dive deeper into doing this.

    All stories can be boiled down to at least two "what if'..." question. In your book you should end up with dozens of these ideas. A few may get you excited, and you will use them as a jumping point for a new story. This is how many writers come up with their more unique story ideas because the art comes out on exactly how a writer can link them together.

    The next time you have writer's block or between projects, randomly open your idea's book and randomly pick two of your "what if..." questions and write a short story connecting the two ideas. The less they seem related the better. Have fun doing this. Don't worry if the story is strange, this is not for publication (though, who knows, you might want to continue with it).

Here is an exercise that can get you started and help you understand what I mean by all stories can be stated as two (or more) "what if..." questions:

    Watch your favorite movie again. While watching it try to figure out what two “What Ifs…” make up the story concept. An example: Pet Cemetery: “What if animals could return to life?” “What if it is tested on a person?” These are not meant to be a synopsis of the movie. What this exercise will do is demonstrate how stories can be boiled down to small ideas. This also demonstrates that it is not the ideas alone that make a story, but the artist who used the ideas as tools for their craft. If I wrote a story based on these two ideas, it would be unrecognizable as Pet Cemetery just like if you wrote from these ideas, it would not be the same as my story.

    Once you have the two more obvious "what ifs..." for the movie you picked, write a short story using the same two "what ifs..." and see how your artistic style can take the same questions and create a unique story.