Have you ever asked yourself, “What if”. If you haven’t, then perhaps you should. There’s a whole wealth of story possibilities out there that all begin with that simple question, “What if”. What if it rained non-stop for weeks? I remember one year it rained every day, all day, for over a month. People were starting to compare it to Noah’s story of forty days and forty nights of rain. There were other comparisons, too, and the stories began to emerge. I lived in a basement apartment, and I marked the wet days by how much the water level was rising on my patio. I had to go outside and bail – not fun.

I love the challenge of asking myself, “What if”. When I was planning my first novel, “Spring” (Publish America: 2005), I asked myself multiple variations of “what if”, specifically referring to the classic violin that dominated the mystery. The main “what if” was: “What if the mystery inside the violin made it dangerous for the person who possessed the instrument?”. And the story evolved from that. Yes, there was a mystery inside the violin, a mark that identified it as a rare instrument. And, yes, there was danger afoot – or, at least, I created it and wove a plot around a potential danger.

I find it useful to make a list of potential what-ifs for every story I write. I may not use them, but the list helps me digest the wide range of possibilities to move the plot forward. What if Melanie, the main character and owner of the violin in “Spring” decided to sell the instrument? What if the instrument was stolen? What if Melanie was injured, killed, or abducted? Yes, it was quite a long list, and anyone reading the story will quickly note that I didn’t use half of my what-ifs. But at least the possibilities were there if I needed them.

Not only do I find the what-if list useful in the actual writing of the story, but keeping an active what-if list provides me with a list of potential topics to write about, should my muse go dry. The what-if list helps me avoid the inevitable ‘writer’s block’ that plagues all writers from time to time. And, the what-if list reminds me that there are, and always will be, lots of ideas out there to spark the writing gene. Other than a problem-solving and idea-generating writer’s tool, what else is what-if good for? For one thing, it stops the chaotic rush of ideas and helps you focus on the creativity of the moment. If I didn’t have my what-if lists, my plots would be randomly all over the place and make no sense at all. Even though many of the what-ifs on my list will never see the light of day, at least they’re there to help focus my thoughts and my plot development.

What if are probably the most powerful words in any writer’s toolbox. When faced with a problem in the plot, I find what-if useful in coming up with possible solutions. It allows the imagination to go wild, even if you don’t use all the ideas your brain generates. When writing “Mrs. Murray’s Ghost” (Tell Tale Publishing: 2018), I began with the idea of memories from my childhood experiences growing up in a haunted house. Then I started asking myself multiple questions: What if Mrs. Murray became my friend? (in reality, I was terrified of the ghost); What if when I was sick, I entered an alternate reality? What if little people were living in between the walls? And what if these little people became my friends and defenders? I used all these questions and more, creating a fascinating (my readers’ words, not mine) plot. Quite simply, in the list-making process, I stimulated my creativity and allowed my imagination to run free.

I keep the what-if list going throughout my writing process, both for the story in progress and for any other ideas that my brain might generate. It’s a means of giving my brain free rein to think creatively.