"What if?" is my favorite question. Not "Why? or How?" or "What For?" It sparks a story idea, it presents possibilities when I get stuck on a plot, it fires up the creative juices. Sometimes the most outrageous stories come out of those writing sessions, but that's all right. Creativity is rarely on the straight and narrow. As a friend of mine likes to say, "If you ain't outrageous, if you don't question, you ain't living."
Like:
1) What if Frodo and the Hobbits found Doctor Who's TARDIS? Could they even reach the control panel? What happened to the Doctor (choose your incarnation here)? Could they just whisk off to Mount Doom or will there be other misadventures along the way?
2) What if Jack the Ripper came back in the 31st century? Technology's advanced by this time, so would he use a different modus operanti in his murders? Or would he stick with the tried and true, 19th century style? Was he frozen in cryostasis? Is Scotland Yard (or the 31st c. equivalent) still pursuing him, or someone different?
3) What if present-day Earth became a utopia? How would the people live? Is it violence-free, disease-free, poverty-free? How could such a society exist and maintain itself? Or is there something darker under the surface (Like Orwell's "Animal Farm" or "1984'?)
4) What if the London Underground/New York Transit System/BART got stuck? Or if certain hidden tunnels were secret passages to different worlds? Or maybe a train driver/conductor/worker finds a long-lost treasure deep underground? Maybe there are really mutant sewer rats or alligators down there?
5) What if no one could speak? How could anyone communicate with each other? Sign language? Writing? Body language?
Ask yourself..."What if...?" and maybe it'll take you on a writing journey you didn't expect.
Like:
1) What if Frodo and the Hobbits found Doctor Who's TARDIS? Could they even reach the control panel? What happened to the Doctor (choose your incarnation here)? Could they just whisk off to Mount Doom or will there be other misadventures along the way?
2) What if Jack the Ripper came back in the 31st century? Technology's advanced by this time, so would he use a different modus operanti in his murders? Or would he stick with the tried and true, 19th century style? Was he frozen in cryostasis? Is Scotland Yard (or the 31st c. equivalent) still pursuing him, or someone different?
3) What if present-day Earth became a utopia? How would the people live? Is it violence-free, disease-free, poverty-free? How could such a society exist and maintain itself? Or is there something darker under the surface (Like Orwell's "Animal Farm" or "1984'?)
4) What if the London Underground/New York Transit System/BART got stuck? Or if certain hidden tunnels were secret passages to different worlds? Or maybe a train driver/conductor/worker finds a long-lost treasure deep underground? Maybe there are really mutant sewer rats or alligators down there?
5) What if no one could speak? How could anyone communicate with each other? Sign language? Writing? Body language?
That sort of thing.Sometimes the most outrageous stories comes out of those sessions. But that's all right.
Hmm...what if?
Ask yourself..."What if...?" and maybe it'll take you on a writing journey you didn't expect.
All writing and art copyright A. Dameron 2000-2010
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