THINKING STORY: The "WHAT IF..." game

Writers train themselves to “think story”-to look at people, places, and situations with an eye to discerning what dramatic potential they might contain.

Whenever something jiggles your mind enough to make you think, “That’s interesting…” or, “I wonder…,” it’s a signal that a story idea is there, waiting for you to discover it.

The next step is to think, “What if…” Make it a game to discover the story possibilities around you.

Suppose you’re lunching at a café, and you notice a young woman with a green silk scarf sitting at the window table. She’s been there an hour, nursing a cappuccino and impatiently looking at her watch. WHAT’S GOING ON?

Scenario 1: WHAT IF she’s waiting for her lover? What if she has sneaked away from her job to grab a few minutes with him, risking her boss’s anger? What if she is married, meeting her lover in secret, and her mother strolls by and sees her in the café window? Or her husband does? What if her lover then shows up? Or what if he never shows up and she decides to find out why?

Scenario 2: WHAT IF the young woman has discovered that the company she works for is defrauding its clients? What if she has arranged to meet a police detective who is investigating similar frauds? What if the green scarf is a signal so that the detective will recognize her, and the briefcase by her chair is filled with incriminating documents? Or the detective isn’t really a detective at all, but a fraud himself?

Remember every day: THINK STORY: PLAY “WHAT IF…”

Tips from Schaum’s Quick Guide to Writing Great Short Stories