What if? How often do you ask yourself this question while weaving your story’s plot into action? Are you writing in a straight line – Johnny did this and this happened and this was the result? Perhaps you need to add some subplots and tangents, some twists and turns, to make your story come alive. Remember, life doesn’t move in a straight line; there is never a defined cause-and-effect scenario in real life. If you want to engage your readers with a believable story, complicate your plot. Here’s how I managed to use the power of ‘what if’ in my novels. Thicken the plot with more scenes, more obstacles, and a few new characters. And, of course, keep asking that same old question: ‘What if?’

Keep current on the news, either by reading a newspaper, checking news sites online, watching the news on TV, or listening to it on the radio. You might pick up some ideas and themes to add to your story. Real-life events will definitely bring your story to life. For example, authorities have just discovered another puppy mill full of sick, malnourished puppies. Sadly, this is too common an occurrence in today’s world. Your main character may be a dog lover, and their reaction would surely be shock, especially if they were to learn that they know the person running the puppy mill. Here’s another scenario where you can prod the story along with multiple ‘what ifs.’ Expand this puppy mill scenario into another mini-plot. Perhaps the main character, the one who loves dogs, decides to visit the condemned puppy mill. Perhaps the main character is writing a story on this case but is terribly disturbed by the whole situation, making it difficult for this character to move forward.

Avoid weak plot development or a malfunctioning plot. You need to keep your plot strong. For example, “Mom died. Then Dad died.” Is this enough to form a plot? Perhaps this would be stronger: “Mom died suddenly from an unexpected illness. Shortly after, Dad died, suffering from grief.” Now you have the beginnings of a plot. Why? Because the reader has been given more insight into a possible story. Keep the reader engaged with the casual sequence of events, and the ‘why’ of things that happen. How these sequences are arranged, and how the author implements the complications will either encourage or discourage the reader to keep on reading. Characters are the key element to progressing the plot, even if the story is about animals instead of people. If a reader connects with your story, they’re likely to remember and admire it years after reading it.

The plot also moves the characters, revealing how they overcome their flaws, weaknesses, changes, and impressionable actions. Don’t allow your story to hit a roadblock – continually remind yourself what your story is about and what your characters are trying to accomplish or achieve. In other words, keep this purpose and theme on the right track throughout the plot development. Make your characters feel; allow them to wrestle with seen or unseen obstacles; allow them to struggle with lack of courage, inner doubts, lack of ethics, learning how to love, suffering from guilt or past trauma, terrors, and fears, and so much more. In other words, make your characters real.

This sounds like a lot of advice, but the hints do work. When I was working on “Autumn,” the third book in my Four Seasons series (Baico: 2009), I took pleasure in actually feeling like I was living the story. I took the main character, Martha Kapakatoak, a young Inuit girl with a passion for music, and allowed her to evolve from her family history and the rare square piano that had been passed down to her. Even this piano had a story to tell, as did the other musicians from the earlier books in the series. I wrote two parallel stories, Martha’s and that of her ancestor who, in the mid-1800s, dragged this square piano across the tundra on a dog sled.

What if is a powerful tool for writers. It provides them with an investigative tool that will open all kinds of possible scenarios to empower the plot and keep readers engaged. Make your plot a strong one, a story that readers will remember for years to come.