# What if ...?



## Olly Buckle (Jul 12, 2019)

I was talking with a friend about writing something together and saying we needed to get a basic plot idea first. He said "We could make it a 'what if?' story and then we wouldn't need a plot." I don't think that is quite true, but the plot can be something pretty basic. My first thought was of Day of the Triffids, 'What if almost everyone went blind?' After we had explored the other senses we moved on a bit and came up with some really good ones. I thought you might like to try it, can you come up with any good 'What if...?' scenarios?


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## escorial (Jul 12, 2019)

What if all humans were equal


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## Olly Buckle (Jul 12, 2019)

escorial said:


> What if all humans were equal



I take it this is a fantasy novel concept.


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## escorial (Jul 12, 2019)

I was thinking more of a religious novel approach...


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## JustRob (Jul 12, 2019)

escorial said:


> What if all humans were equal



Well then the standard clothes sizes wouldn't fit any of us.

[SIZE=+1]In my novel[/SIZE] (Yes, my much overused phrase is still around!) I mentioned a domain that I called "Eventuality" where some people such as writers go to think "What if ...?" while others go there to sadly think "If only ..." A character visiting this domain with a colleague named it so because she said that it was the place that people refer to when they say "In the eventuality ..." It was a central feature of the allegorical aspect of the novel and a possible reason why I referred to the story as a fairy tale.

So, if you want to know what happens when you try to write a story about "What if ..." itself then maybe my novel is the answer. I have no other to offer.


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## escorial (Jul 12, 2019)

What if there were no clothes...some believe we had fur than she'd it ..an a tail...which would have made us crap at playing poker.. without clothes humans would never had discovered much ..


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## bdcharles (Jul 12, 2019)

Olly Buckle said:


> I was talking with a friend about writing something together and saying we needed to get a basic plot idea first. He said "We could make it a 'what if?' story and then we wouldn't need a plot." I don't think that is quite true, but the plot can be something pretty basic. My first thought was of Day of the Triffids, 'What if almost everyone went blind?' After we had explored the other senses we moved on a bit and came up with some really good ones. I thought you might like to try it, can you come up with any good 'What if...?' scenarios?



I remember reading, quite possibly on here, something along the lines of "all plots are what ifs". At first I didn't fully get it; to the idea of what if everyone was blind, my first thought to the above was well so what, then what happens? But then I realised it's about the change. What if everyone was normal-sighted and then _went _blind. That could be a plot. Lots and whys and wherefores spring from it.


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## seigfried007 (Jul 12, 2019)

If everyone was already blind and had always been so... we'd be a very different bunch of people. Blind creatures have to depend on other senses and even sometimes develop senses we don't really have. We'd be more particular about the nuances of taste and touch, but especially on smell and sound, which are the long-range senses that give the most information to sightless creatures. Long-range senses are there own kind of precognition--giving awareness of something that one hasn't encountered yet.


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## Terry D (Jul 12, 2019)

Ooh! Ooh! I'll play!

What if a sea-captain became obsessed with killing a whale which had maimed him?

What if an old miser had the chance to see his effect on the lives of those in his past, present and future?

What if a man woke up one day and found he had been turned into an insect?


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## Amnesiac (Jul 12, 2019)

What if a young woman was slated to be the sultan's toy, after which she would be killed, but instead, beguiled him with 1,001 tales, and he eventually falls in love and marries her?


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## JustRob (Jul 12, 2019)

[SIZE=+4]W[/SIZE]hat i[SIZE=+4]F[/SIZE]...?​


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## Periander (Jul 12, 2019)

Terry D said:


> What if a sea-captain became obsessed with killing a whale which had maimed him?



If I ever get around to writing this story, you may call me Ishmael.


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## JustRob (Jul 12, 2019)

Periander said:


> If I ever get around to writing this story, you may call me Ishmael.



As writers we are all Ishmael, the insignificant narrator. However, if you prefer to believe that we are more like unseen gods then I would say in response that we are all Kosh.


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## Phil Istine (Jul 12, 2019)

What if, with the UK due to leave the EU on Halloween Night, trick-or-treaters showed up at the Prime Minister's private residence with a view to ...

Well, I've started writing it.  Hopefully it will work.


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## EmmaSohan (Jul 12, 2019)

Yeah, a premise story. What if the Holy Grail appeared in someone's attic and people started visiting it? There's no problem. No conflict. Surely I created those as I wrote the book, but none of them lasted much longer than a chapter. The ending is when it leaves (though I have epilogue). I think someone described the plot structure as episodic. I think that was supposed to be a criticism, but I didn't see the problem.

Journey to the Center of the Earth? The Princess Diaries? Gulliver's Travels?

There's your basic idea that gets your started and then what the final book looks like, but a good premise can get you far and I think a legitimate style is exploring the premise.

Have fun.


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## Terry D (Jul 12, 2019)

By definition a novel explores the concept of 'what if?' And, by extension, any 'what if' concept could potentially become a novel (or story). Absolutely anything.

What if...

A man woke up in a room with no door?

Apples suddenly tasted like steak?

A woman suddenly had the ability to see sound?

The Earth's magnetic poles reversed themselves? (this one has happened and will again)

Druids had taken over Europe?

Gravity stopped?

A small boy got cancer?

Take a noun, mix it with a verb, add characters to taste, and let them bake in your imagination until done. Presto! Stories.


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## Ralph Rotten (Jul 12, 2019)

Actually "What if..." is a great way to come up with a hook.
It's that intriguing question that gets them to keep reading the rest of the blurb.
You gotta have a hook, wouldn't hurt to come up with it BEFORE you write the book.



PS: The blindness thing was done already. Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo. I hated it. Julianne's character was an idiot pretending to be a strong woman.


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## PSFoster (Jul 15, 2019)

If we were all blind, who'd read the forums?


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## Olly Buckle (Jul 15, 2019)

Ralph Rotten said:


> PS: The blindness thing was done already. Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo. I hated it. Julianne's character was an idiot pretending to be a strong woman.



And as I said, with 'Day of the Triffids' by John Wyndham; it wasn't just something I came up with.


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## ppsage (Jul 15, 2019)

What if a person had a strong imagination but could only use it to imagine dire consequences?


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## JustRob (Jul 16, 2019)

My novel writing stems from a simple "What if ...?" premise. What if time had more than one dimension so that there was no before or after but only elsewhere? Added to this was a second premise. What if very few people in the world were aware of this?


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## Olly Buckle (Jul 17, 2019)

JustRob said:


> What if time had more than one dimension so that there was no before or after but only elsewhere?



Spatial seems wrong, it should be temporal surely? Mind you I cant think of a word for 'Elsewhen'.


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## seigfried007 (Jul 17, 2019)

Olly Buckle said:


> Spatial seems wrong, it should be temporal surely? Mind you I cant think of a word for 'Elsewhen'.



Simple. Call it "Elsewhen"

Use it three times, and it's yours.


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## Olly Buckle (Jul 17, 2019)

Not quite, think of the other words like it and their close relatives somewhere nowhere elsewhere, it would be sometime, never, elsewhen, that doesn't 'chime'


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## seigfried007 (Jul 17, 2019)

Olly Buckle said:


> Not quite, think of the other words like it and their close relatives somewhere nowhere elsewhere, it would be sometime, never, elsewhen, that doesn't 'chime'


Time-based words haven't been designed for time travel, so time travel and other temporal distortions require new vocabulary. "Never" and "sometime" also don't fit exactly because they're used as temporal rays (start from point now and project infinitely backwards or forwards in time, but don't really go both directions in time). The "wheres" project infinitely in three dimensions simultaneously. 

"Where" is  a three-dimensional term, also, whereas "time" is a single dimension term, so it should have some weird vocabulary associated with it. As fiction writers, we're free and more than able to make up our own words--whether they "chime" or not. 

Perhaps: Somewhen, Nowhen, elsewhen.


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## Theglasshouse (Dec 31, 2019)

What if a mermaid said something forbidden? (secret and censored to be even uttered by the law of the country of the judicial/legislative branch) And it turned out to be true.

What if a robot made you regret the bad choices you make because it has a database of human memories? It becomes the antagonist? It's archived memories simulate having a consciousness. It's a bad character.

Thought of these two today but haven't gotten around to writing them yet.

I couldn't find ralph rotten's thread on what we are currently working on so decided to post it here.

I have one more but it sounds like a remake of It's a wonderful life. (What if traveling angels existed? As part of a tourism industry who are visiting and seeing people who are not considered angels in the world of the living?).


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## bazz cargo (Dec 31, 2019)

Grrrr Bloody What If's

Anyone tried using a flow chart to map their WIP?  What if this happened? Then what happens next? 

What if, in the hands of a writer is about as safe as a chocolate bar in the hands of a toddler. And just as messy.

Kowabunga! 

And all the best in the new year.


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## Dan Rhys (Dec 31, 2019)

I am seeing more and more of that kind of set-up nowadays, especially on television, where a big, stunning concept is thrown at the viewer and then we work backwards at figuring out what happened over the course of a few seasons. I think the art of writing a tightly structured story with all the basic elements has either been lost or is not valued so much today.


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## indianroads (Dec 31, 2019)

Kurt Vonnegut is one of my favorite authors; I'm unsure if he's known across the pond though. Anyway, he wrote a book called Breakfast of Champions that really wasn't about anything at all, just two of his characters from previous books meeting each other. 

It was an amazing read that you might look to for inspiration.


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## Theglasshouse (Dec 31, 2019)

I will be asking a lot of questions when writing it. Thanks bazz cargo.

It is a technique and respected way of coming up with a premise. I've read about this advice in a couple of screenplay books. The mermaid premise started as a joke I wanted to tell my aunt. That I never told since she left to go somewhere. Then I added what if. Then the robot one came from a quote from a book where I re-imagined a character. James blish's most well known book on airships. Then the last one came out of a writing article and as I asked myself this question, I asked what if. Besides of other concepts I have seen on it.

For example what if questions are popular for movies. What if a shark suddenly became dangerous and unstoppable? Jaws. (according to some sources it came from a newspaper article but I have no way to know how they came up with Jaws besides using what if)

Dan rhys can you clarify your opinion on what you don't like? Is it the execution of those concepts (characterization)? You don't like the end of the story either when it is written? I think movie goers like new concepts and premises to see and watch.

You are right in that in the movie industry it is used, diane drake's book on craft includes it as way or strategy of generating story ideas (mentioned briefly). I haven't started her class yet but I take what I learn from the book. So I don't know a lot on her teachings yet. (need for the movies I bought to arrive here)

Need to read Kurt Vonnegut. I remember a world war 2 novel, that was well done written by him. It was one of the best movies I had ever seen and wasn't even a true war story unlike a lot of them. It had a spy agent. Even though it had a sad ending I enjoyed it a lot.

Hello indianroads and welcome since I see you are a new member here. I will be considering Kurt Vonnegut for my next read, and maybe it will be that one. He's very talented that I am certain based on one of his works I saw. The characterization of the characters was done excellently since I cared because of how much danger they were in. I have no doubt anthropology influenced him when they filmed it. It also uses some gallows references. A dying minority and religious culture was trying to kill the main character in the movie. I think it spooked me when I got to the end of that movie. Nothing graphic I just could not believe how it ended. I still liked the ending. Not sure how symbolic the ending was. I don't remember everything about how it ended. I also intend not so reveal what happened in that movie.


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## JohnCalliganWrites (Dec 31, 2019)

What if aliens appeared on Earth in little round ships and always wore red, even in disguise?

What if aliens appeared on Earth in little round ships and always wore red, even in disguise, and they asked a shy and withdrawn child to carry their message of peace to a summit of world leaders, but the child would have to grow into a confident youth to deliver their message, even as evil media moguls tried to stop them.

Sometimes the "what if" portion is really just a setting, and not a story.


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## Olly Buckle (Jan 1, 2020)

If you want fantasy. What if politicians were somehow compelled to be honest and truthful?


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## Theglasshouse (May 25, 2020)

Also, what if as a creative writing exercise makes us into good liars of fiction. If I opened a newspaper and did erase the facts and added a "suppose and what if". It could be a decent idea and way to generate an idea. Referring back to be a liar, it's a decent technique. Imagine jaws having been originally inspired by a newspaper and changing the facts to a suppose or what if question?


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## VRanger (May 28, 2020)

Theglasshouse said:


> Also, what if as a creative writing exercise makes us into good liars of fiction. If I opened a newspaper and did erase the facts and added a "suppose and what if". It could be a decent idea and way to generate an idea. Referring back to be a liar, it's a decent technique. Imagine jaws having been originally inspired by a newspaper and changing the facts to a suppose or what if question?



Jaws actually was inspired by a series of shark attacks in the early 20th Century in New Jersey, now supposed to have been perpetrated by a bull shark.


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