The Power of “What If”

I teach speculative fiction—but not the way you might think. My classes don’t center on warp drives or the clan structures of far-flung mythical empires. Science fiction and fantasy are about so much more than just technology or magic, and some of the most satisfying stories are those that focus on the human desires and narratives behind the altered realities.

Speculative fiction is fueled by curiosity, by questions, by imagining “what ifs” like:

• What if we discovered other sentient life in the universe?

• What if you could learn magic at an academy?

• What if clothes could wash and iron themselves (I don’t know if this story actually exists, so feel free to write it!)

Anyone can try their hand at speculative fiction because everyone has things they’re curious about, or things they wish were different about the world. Everyone has a “what if.”

So now it’s time to let your imagination run. Open a pad of paper or a document in your word processing program of choice and follow these steps. Don’t read ahead—just focus on one task at a time. To make it easier to focus, I’ve spaced the instructions out physically on the page:

1. Take five to ten minutes to jot down some of your own what ifs. Don’t bother thinking about what’s feasible or even probable—that doesn’t matter here. It could be about some science news you recently heard or about some mythological creature you wish existed. It may be about visiting a part of the world or the universe that humankind has never been to before. It could be some wild new solution to a common problem or a cure for a disease.

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Have you written for at least five minutes? If not, go back up and keep writing.

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2. Now, choose one of your what ifs and think about one possible problem if it really happened. Like the classic: “What if there were life on Mars—and it was hostile to Earthlings?” Or, “Where would I keep a pegasus if I found one?” Or, “What would happen if we found Atlantis—but then it got too crowded with visitors?” Take another five to ten minutes to think about all the technicalities or potential difficulties regarding one of your “what ifs.”

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You’ve written for at least another five minutes, right? If not, go back up and keep writing.

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3. Next, come up with a product or service that would solve some of the problems you’ve thought up. Maybe you come up with the Mars-Earth translator or a specialty PR firm to avoid inter-planetary war. One of my students created a line of unicorn-grooming products, starting with unicorn horn polish. Another student came up with a Ghost Oil Elixir that gave people the ability to communicate with ghosts. Don’t worry if your product or service wouldn’t work in “real life”—it just has to work in the world you’re creating.

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You know the drill by now, right? At least another five minutes!

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4. Finally, write an ad for this product or service. It could be a print ad, a radio spot, a marketing department memo, a door-to-door sales pitch, whatever inspires you. Let loose and ham it up. If you can, work in what might go wrong and how your advertiser would spin that. I normally don’t use my own work for class, but if you need inspiration, you can look at a story I wrote about the chlorophyll-based weight loss empire of the future.
   

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Surely you can give yourself the gift of at least five minutes here . . .

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Bonus Round: If you want to get a jump on writing a story, take the ad you wrote and create a story around it. Come up with a main character and figure out what drives them. Write down some of their strengths and weaknesses, what they want (the conflict), and what happens if they don’t get it (the stakes).

For some people, this starts with notes. For other people, it starts by writing a dialogue or a scene. If it helps, imagine how your parents or grandparents or children would react if you decided to use this product or invention. Would they be on board or would they try to talk you out of it?

Ways to build upon what you wrote:

• Flash Fiction: It could be a story in itself, like the Chloroplyft story

• World building: This process could help you enrich the world of a longer story you’re working on. Think of problems your characters would have in their everyday lives and come up with a product or service someone in their world might have invented to solve it.

• Character: Perhaps one of your characters is a salesperson for this product or service, or their spouse is. Maybe your character loves this invention or they hate it. Either way, that will tell us something about them.

• Conflict: A character might be deciding whether or not to use this product or service, which might lead to clashes with friends, family, or spouse.

Even if you don’t develop your prompt results into anything else, you’ve put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and that’s all part of the writing process. Give yourself a round of applause!

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If you enjoyed this exercise, Tara is teaching a 12-week speculative fiction intensive at Catapult this fall. Apply now!

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