What if….I don’t have an idea?
For some people, getting started on a book or short story can feel impossible. For other people, completing the story can be the hard part. Before I start writing a new book, I like to brainstorm with another person. Talking to someone else about your story is a great idea for two reasons. The first, and maybe the most obvious, is that it can help you test the story. Something may be interesting to you, but boring to most other people. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t write your story, but it’s good information to know. Most commonly, when you talk to someone else, you find out your story just doesn’t have legs.
Do you know what I mean? There’s something there, it just isn’t a complete “table.” For example, I love thinking about where idioms, like “not a leg to stand on,” come from. I might think that I could craft a story around a person who only speaks in idioms. If I tell the idea to someone else, I’ll probably be met with eyebrows scrunched in confusion. Even if the person also loves idioms, I’d likely run out of things to say pretty quickly. That’s okay. I’d just need to figure out a couple of other legs for my story. Idioms alone are not enough for a whole book!
What if…is a classic brainstorming technique. What if….language was a type of magic? Some people could speak things into existence. What if other people could draw things into existence? What if…the king of the land claimed he had both of these poweres but really he had no powers?
Using the “What if…” technique, you start with something you are interested in and try to think of how that thing could create a problem for someone. For example, say you like cryptology or escape rooms or spies. What are things that might happen? A famous cryptologist could have a son who hates codes. The son refuses to follow in his famous dad’s footsteps, but then is forced to learn cryptology when his dad goes missing. I may be writing a similar story right now :) But it doesn’t involve cryptology, so feel free to use that idea!
Escape rooms are a bit easier. What if…you couldn’t escape and the door stayed locked? What if the props seemed a little too real? What if you and your friends were on a reality tv show contest about solving escape rooms? Spies are fun, too! What if you were a famous kid spy, but you’d just been accused of treason? What if you were a famous spy, but woke up with amnesia? I think that’s been done, but that brings me to another important point.
Don’t worry too much about being original! You can’t copy exact stories or character names, but it’s hard to be 100% original. Once you have a story idea that you like, talk to a friend. If they like it, talk to another friend, and another. If you’ve accidentally copied the entire story of another famous movie or book, someone will probably tell you :)
There are a million quotes about writing, but two of my favorites are:
“There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope. We give them a turn and they make new and curious combinations. We keep on turning and making new combinations indefinitely; but they are the same old pieces of colored glass that have been in use through all the ages.” - Mark Twain
“All great literature is one of two stories; a man goes on a journey or a stranger comes to town.” - Leo Tolsty
Now that you are not worried about being original, start brainstorming your “what if…” questions! Odds are, the person you're talking to will come up with things you never thought of. If they have questions, even better! Questions are how stories develop. If your reader isn’t asking questions about your story, they aren’t curious and may stop reading. But that’s a post for another day! Unless… What if…today repeats in a loop? I’d have to figure out how to get out of a time loop. That would be a fun story :)