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Basic Writing questions is not a crit forum. All crits belong in Share Your Work
"What if" what?
- Thread starter satyesu
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I usually ask Why? and So what? This works better for me than What if?
A plate is lying shattered on the floor. Why? Because it was placed in a precarious position and the pet dog tried to get at it. Why? Because the house has been in a state of chaos, lately. Why? Because the kids' parents aren't here. Why? Because they were attacked last night. Why? Because of gambling debts. Why? Because they felt they needed money because they're poor and they have kids and the stress has been fucking killing them, lately, and they made an impulsive decision. So what? The kids have to fend for themselves, and the parents have to get out of captivity. Boom, we have ourselves a dual-narrative story idea.
A plate is lying shattered on the floor. Why? Because it was placed in a precarious position and the pet dog tried to get at it. Why? Because the house has been in a state of chaos, lately. Why? Because the kids' parents aren't here. Why? Because they were attacked last night. Why? Because of gambling debts. Why? Because they felt they needed money because they're poor and they have kids and the stress has been fucking killing them, lately, and they made an impulsive decision. So what? The kids have to fend for themselves, and the parents have to get out of captivity. Boom, we have ourselves a dual-narrative story idea.
These are things we did as children: What if that fence was a dragon? What if he was mine? What if I could fly on his back? Where would we go? What would we see?
or,
What if I received a letter addressed to my great-grandmother that was lost in the mail for 80 years? What if there was a photo in that letter? What if the photo looked like me? What if I remembered sitting for that photo? How would/could that happen?
Each question leads to another one. You have it. Just try to remember.
or,
What if I received a letter addressed to my great-grandmother that was lost in the mail for 80 years? What if there was a photo in that letter? What if the photo looked like me? What if I remembered sitting for that photo? How would/could that happen?
Each question leads to another one. You have it. Just try to remember.
This is hard to answer.
I'm the type of person who instantly attacks things from all angles and find a fault. Either this is practiced, I'm insane or something... but I just do.
Imagination isn't asking "why?" because that's science.
Imagination is simply going with what you think up and letting it flourish.
A kid plays pretend, not to ask why, but to simply do it.
After the imaginative idea comes to flourish, then you start asking why to cement the thought into place. You find faults, you fill them and move on.
Ask why in every angle. Just keep asking "why?" at every possible answer until you hit a wall.
Like I said, it's hard to answer this.
How about this:
Think of Imagination as a machine that makes lies.
You make a lie and you have to convince the reader it's real.
You need to ask it questions, so if the reader has the same, you can answer them.
Answering the questions of the lie, does not make it more of a lie, but more real to the reader.
And what's real within someone's mind, is truth.
This is hard to answer...
I'm the type of person who instantly attacks things from all angles and find a fault. Either this is practiced, I'm insane or something... but I just do.
Imagination isn't asking "why?" because that's science.
Imagination is simply going with what you think up and letting it flourish.
A kid plays pretend, not to ask why, but to simply do it.
After the imaginative idea comes to flourish, then you start asking why to cement the thought into place. You find faults, you fill them and move on.
Ask why in every angle. Just keep asking "why?" at every possible answer until you hit a wall.
Like I said, it's hard to answer this.
How about this:
Think of Imagination as a machine that makes lies.
You make a lie and you have to convince the reader it's real.
You need to ask it questions, so if the reader has the same, you can answer them.
Answering the questions of the lie, does not make it more of a lie, but more real to the reader.
And what's real within someone's mind, is truth.
This is hard to answer...
How do you know which questions to ask?
Ask a question. If it generates an idea, it was the right question to ask. If it doesn't, it wasn't; ask another one.
Repeat in perpetuity.
Imagination and creativity are closely related. Both are inherent parts of the human condition, and both can be repressed or developed as we choose.
As a kid, you probably looked up at the clouds and saw a tiger, a dragon, a freight train... or, at the very least, you looked at a shaped and polyfilled lump of fabric and saw a best friend. Try to find that part of your brain again as you look around the world. Take that man standing at the bus stop. Where did he come from? Where is he going? Does he want to go there? Does he have to? What if he simply decided not to go? What if there was a job so important that, should the person in charge not show up, civilization itself would collapse, or time cease to function? What if he was dead, and waiting for the bus that would take him to Heaven or Hell - would he stand around to find out where he was going, or would he run before he had to face his own judgement?
Sorry... got lost in the "what ifs" at the end... but hopefully you get the idea. Look at something, or someone, or even a concept (like war or politics or even household manners) and think. Really think. Ask questions. What makes this important? Why does this exist as it does? If it were different, or didn't even exist, how would things change? What if it wasn't what it looked like - what else could it be?
If you're really struggling with the idea of creativity, try reading some books on the matter. Roger Van Oech wrote a few (such as "A Whack on the Side of the Head") about learning to think "outside the box," learning how to look at problems differently and come up with original solutions; they might help.
Ask a question. If it generates an idea, it was the right question to ask. If it doesn't, it wasn't; ask another one.
Repeat in perpetuity.
Imagination and creativity are closely related. Both are inherent parts of the human condition, and both can be repressed or developed as we choose.
As a kid, you probably looked up at the clouds and saw a tiger, a dragon, a freight train... or, at the very least, you looked at a shaped and polyfilled lump of fabric and saw a best friend. Try to find that part of your brain again as you look around the world. Take that man standing at the bus stop. Where did he come from? Where is he going? Does he want to go there? Does he have to? What if he simply decided not to go? What if there was a job so important that, should the person in charge not show up, civilization itself would collapse, or time cease to function? What if he was dead, and waiting for the bus that would take him to Heaven or Hell - would he stand around to find out where he was going, or would he run before he had to face his own judgement?
Sorry... got lost in the "what ifs" at the end... but hopefully you get the idea. Look at something, or someone, or even a concept (like war or politics or even household manners) and think. Really think. Ask questions. What makes this important? Why does this exist as it does? If it were different, or didn't even exist, how would things change? What if it wasn't what it looked like - what else could it be?
If you're really struggling with the idea of creativity, try reading some books on the matter. Roger Van Oech wrote a few (such as "A Whack on the Side of the Head") about learning to think "outside the box," learning how to look at problems differently and come up with original solutions; they might help.
What if someone could actually travel through time? The Time Machine, H.G. Wells
What if the Axis powers won WWII? The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
What if someone actually had the power to make his dreams come true? The Lathe of Heaven, Ursula LeGuin
What if anthropoid apes became the dominant intelligent species on Earth? Planet of the Apes, Pierre Boulle
. . .
caw
What if the Axis powers won WWII? The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
What if someone actually had the power to make his dreams come true? The Lathe of Heaven, Ursula LeGuin
What if anthropoid apes became the dominant intelligent species on Earth? Planet of the Apes, Pierre Boulle
. . .
caw
It takes creativity but that is what writing entails -using imagination and being creative. I have no idea how to improve an imagination -seems to me it's either there or it isn't.
What if? is simply one of many ways of triggering the imagination or creativity in a writing scenario if one is stuck somewhere in the story and don't know what happens next, although what happens next is usually determined by what went before.
It doesn't say much for the imagination if it can't generate a 'what if' or 'supposing? or 'I wonder what would happen if..' type of question.
Didn't you ever day-dream or wonder about things as a kid?
That's the imagination working.
What if? is simply one of many ways of triggering the imagination or creativity in a writing scenario if one is stuck somewhere in the story and don't know what happens next, although what happens next is usually determined by what went before.
It doesn't say much for the imagination if it can't generate a 'what if' or 'supposing? or 'I wonder what would happen if..' type of question.
Didn't you ever day-dream or wonder about things as a kid?
That's the imagination working.
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