What if?

[CharleyH]

As an author, this is my favourite question. It's THE question for any author. I think that sometimes we come to sites like Lit seeking the answer to this question, and we hardly ever get it. However, it is a question, IMO, that can be answered by inspiring each other to think about new ideas. What makes the question "What if..." interesting is that we can all participate in the answer, and we all have different ones. What is the AH about, if not to inspire, "What if..."?

Post your "What if..." questions at will. Let's inspire each other.

 

[sr71plt]

Tilt, I'm afraid. I don't come to sites like this seeking answers to "What if." I do my own "what if" thinking/research before I come here. I come here (to the story file) for an outlet for what I've already spun out of the question "what if."

(But, yes, what iffing is a good foundation for story creation.)

If I came to a "discussion" board like this for answers to much of anything, I'd be a real sad sack. There's some of this synergism on writing possible here, but not much. Most everyone posting here has already have trotted through the "what if" questions, has already made her/his mind up, and has his/her feet in concrete on the issues (especially the political ones).

 

[TE999]

Tilt, I'm afraid. I don't come to sites like this seeking answers to "What if." I do my own "what if" thinking/research before I come here. I come here (to the story file) for an outlet for what I've already spun out of the question "what if."

(But, yes, what iffing is a good foundation for story creation.)

If I came to a "discussion" board like this for answers to much of anything, I'd be a real sad sack. There's some of this synergism on writing possible here, but not much. Most everyone posting here has already have trotted through the "what if" questions, has already made her/his mind up, and has his/her feet in concrete on the issues (especially the political ones).

'What if' you weren't the resident curmudgeon ever poised to pop every rhetorical or philosophical balloon anyone tries to float around here?

What do you do for fun? Pull wings off flies? Toast ants with a magnifying glass?

Lighten up, why don'cha?

 

[CharleyH]

Tilt, I'm afraid. I don't come to sites like this seeking answers to "What if." I do my own "what if" thinking/research before I come here. I come here (to the story file) for an outlet for what I've already spun out of the question "what if."

(But, yes, what iffing is a good foundation for story creation.)

If I came to a "discussion" board like this for answers to much of anything, I'd be a real sad sack. There's some of this synergism on writing possible here, but not much. Most everyone posting here has already have trotted through the "what if" questions, has already made her/his mind up, and has his/her feet in concrete on the issues (especially the political ones).

No matter how thorough your research, I think when you come to Lit asking any question about a story of yours, you come asking 'what if' whether you think you do or not. More than getting an answer, it's asking the question that is the key, here.

 

[sr71plt]

No matter how thorough your research, I think when you come to Lit asking any question about a story of yours, you come asking 'what if' whether you think you do or not. More than getting an answer, it's asking the question that is the key, here.

Perhaps. If I came to Lit. asking about a story of mine. But I don't. (And 98% of those who do are just looking for a pat on the back.) I do my own work on my stories.

I did ask a question on the GL board once about what folks would consider to be gay male fetish to help me with topics for an anthology I was putting together--but they were too focused on discussing Obama as the anti-Christ to respond.

 

[English Lady]

What if chocolate grew on trees? I mean proper, edible chocolate bars. Would children no longer want to eat it because it's natural and will mum's all be saying 'Eat your chocolate, it's good for you?" or would people just gorge themselves on it 'til they were sick?

What if... is fun.

 

[CharleyH]

Perhaps. If I came to Lit. asking about a story of mine. But I don't. (And 98% of those who do are just looking for a pat on the back.) I do my own work on my stories.

I did ask a question on the GL board once about what folks would consider to be gay male fetish to help me with topics for an anthology I was putting together--but they were too focused on discussing Obama as the anti-Christ to respond.

Well, you didn't ask me. What if ... you did? I'm sure I'd given a more thought-out response and asked questions for you to think on. WHAT IF you had?

 

[CharleyH]

What if chocolate grew on trees? I mean proper, edible chocolate bars. Would children no longer want to eat it because it's natural and will mum's all be saying 'Eat your chocolate, it's good for you?" or would people just gorge themselves on it 'til they were sick?

What if... is fun.

Now this is a question! LOL

 

[Handley_Page]

What if chocolate grew on trees? I mean proper, edible chocolate bars. Would children no longer want to eat it because it's natural and will mum's all be saying 'Eat your chocolate, it's good for you?" or would people just gorge themselves on it 'til they were sick?

What if... is fun.

What if -
Politicians told the truth?

[sorry. I'll get my coat ]

 

[sr71plt]

What if -
Politicians told the truth?

[sorry. I'll get my coat ]

What if -
Voters didn't knee-jerk vote out of prejudice and ignorance.

 

[Stella_Omega]

What if -
Voters didn't knee-jerk vote out of prejudice and ignorance.

That's a what-if that makes my head blow up.

 

[Handley_Page]

What if -
Voters didn't knee-jerk vote out of prejudice and ignorance.

everyone would vote
(and for the right reasons)

What if:
the Media did NOT suffer political bias in reporting ?

 

[sr71plt]

What if:
the Media did NOT suffer political bias in reporting ?

Ah, now you are dipping into fantasy. It's aboslutely impossible for anyone (at all) to formulate a report on events that doesn't show a bias.

The savvy reader evaluates the source of the report as well to determine the unavoidable bias (and then they can't always get it right, as biases are a complex mix and some are more evident than others).

The crazies on both end of the reporting spectrum are the easiest to decipher, thouse.

 

[TxRad]

What if, OSSA hadn't been formed to save the stupid people.

What if, your next door neighbor was a porn star from Vega.

What if our normal was their kinky.

What if, whales could fly.

 

[sr71plt]

What if, whales could fly.

We'd all want to buy sturdier umbrellas then, wouldn't we?

 

[michchick98]

What if....we could have one more moment with someone we loved whose passed on?

What if...the Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup every season and the Detroit Tigers won the World Series every season?

 

[bronzeage]

What if, through drugs or technology, it became possible to script and manipulate dreams in the brain. Would it be the end of reality?

 

[Handley_Page]

What if, through drugs or technology, it became possible to script and manipulate dreams in the brain. Would it be the end of reality?

Isn't that what "the Matrix" was all about ?

 

[bronzeage]

Isn't that what "the Matrix" was all about ?

It was also the plot of a Red Dwarf episode and many other sci-fi type stories. In those stories, someone else is in control of the dream reality. What would happen if it were controlled by the individual? Would we each create our own reality and divorce ourselves from real people?

 

[gentledemands]

What if our normal was their kinky.

What if our kinky was their normal.

 

[oggbashan]

What if the urge to have sex ceased? Would the human race die out?

What if China ended its one-child policy? Would the Chinese take over the world?

What if women could impregnate themselves with no male input at all? Would men die out?

What if we invented a vaccine against cancer, heart disease and ageing? Would the planet's resources be enough to support us if we all lived beyond 200 years?

 

[oggbashan]

What if our normal was their kinky?

.

For some cultures that is already true. Some societies do not recognise the existence of fiction.

 

[Handley_Page]

For some cultures that is already true. Some societies do not recognise the existence of fiction.

on the other hand, others are living in a political fiction
I'll get my coat

 

[TxRad]

What if we all just got along?

Talk about something from fantasy land.

It would be boring also.

 

[nicecthulhu]

What if you lived at a time when the stars were all going out?
What if the American Revolution had been crushed in its infancy?
What if Canada had kept and used the Avro Arrow?
What if the earliest human civilizations had all been run by women?