Playing ‘what if…?

The surest way to cure writer’s block – or writer’s temporary lapse of inspiration – is to play ‘what if’. Anyone can play. All it takes is to clear the mind and contemplate events, either inside or outside one’s actual life. Let’s play right now:
• Situation: high school reunion. Possibilities: What if one of your class mates could not be located, had simply dropped from the map? Had he/she simply gotten married and changed name? Moved to a foreign country? Or, was in one of our majesty’s secret services? Or in prison? How/why did that happen?
• Situation: you see a familiar looking face in the background of a newspaper photo. Possibilities: If a red carpet Hollywood shot or a disaster situation, how did that person put themselves into that situation as it was way outside of the known or expected life path?
• Situation: you barely missed getting creamed at an intersection. Possibilities: What if you had and you went into a coma, your mate bailed but you recovered to face the total rebuilding of your life? Or, what if the trauma provided you with new skills and capabilities and allowed you find fame and fortune in a new field? Or, both.
• Situation: you are trapped in an elevator with someone for whom you have had little interest or regard. Possibilities: What if you found that the extended conversation revealed absolutely congruent interests, humor, world view? What if lust and opportunity brought on a spontaneous erotic event that was erased as soon as the doors were pried open? Or, you discovered that the guy was your wife’s lover? Oye!
‘What if…’ is a game anyone can play and every writer should play.