Story Ideas – Asking Why? and What if?

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Story Ideas – Asking Why? and What if?

By Deb Gallardo

I’ve been a fan of Scott Card’s since the late seventies/early eighties when I read “Ender’s Game” (aka “Ender’s War”) and its sequels. I need to catch up with the series again, as he’s continued it since last I read the original trilogy, and besides, I lost the books in my divorce. *sigh*

I stumbled across his Hatrack River site in the late 1990′s, as I recall, and highly recommend it to writers as a wonderful example of what an author’s website can become. (It didn’t spring into being as you see it now, but evolved over time.)

I especially like his “Uncle Orson’s Writing Class” pages. I’ve culled and digested the best tips that relate to story ideas, our inner critic and writer’s block, with links back to his Q&A-style instruction. Today’s tip, the first in a series, relates to how he begins a story.

He says he looks for a detail or real-world situation in which something is not quite right, not as you might expect, and the “why’s” immediately begin to spring up.

This is similar to a classified ad that inspired the short story featured in “Story Ideas – Inside Your Newspaper.” The ad went like this: Wedding gown for sale, size 22, never worn.

Don’t you immediately want to know why it was never worn? There’s something inherently poignant about a wedding that never happened. As Scott Card says, it’s something that’s not as you might expect it to be.

Beware of getting hung up on the fact that the dress was a size 22. If you do, you’ll be hopelessly mired in a cliché that, frankly, is offensive to a lot of women — that she was jilted because she was overweight.

Is “size 22″ a typo? It could just as easily be 2, 11 or 12, if the data entry person weren’t paying attention.

Would a woman buy a wedding gown without an actual wedding scheduled? If so, why?

Or did she die? Did she get cold feet? Why?

You keep asking “why?” until you find something that piques your interest enough to keep you writing for 50,000 words-plus. Then you start playing “What if?” to flesh out more of the story. It will begin to unfold in front of your eyes, almost, as you ask yourself, “What if?” and “Why?” and answer those questions.

What-if’s and why’s are your friend. Without them, it’s nearly impossible to create a story. I’ve personally never written one without using these questions straight through until the book is down to the “tweaking the mechanics” stage just before sending it out into the hard, cruel world of publishers and agents.

To read Scott’s Q& A referenced here, go directly to Starting a Short Story. (All links open in new windows so you don’t lose your place here.)

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