What If?

True inspiration comes from the unknown. That is to say, the imagination. How many of us have labored over creating the perfect character, or the bullet-proof plot? How does that work out? Not so well, I'd bet. And why is that? Because trying to work these things out before attacking your keyboard is a very limited proposition. To work these elements out beforehand, even in a rough sense, means you must bank on the things that are already known, be it by you, your research subjects, or some other source. But what would happen if, instead of dwelling on character or plot, you started with a situation? Ask yourself what if. As in, what if you took a different way home from work one day because you wanted to fill your tank and the gas was two cents cheaper at Pete's Petrol? On the way to Pete's, you pass a motel and spot your best friend's girlfriend exiting a room with a man you don't recognize? How would you tell your friend? What if he didn't believe you? Or what if you were unexpectedly laid-off from your job and suddenly had no means to pay your mortgage or feed your family? Would crime be an option? Maybe not, but would you give it some thought?

The best answers to these questions will come from your imagination-the unknown. Of course, the best fiction requires obvious elements of truth, so you can't take the Mall of America from Minnesota and move it to California, or put Babe Ruth in a Dodgers uniform, but from your imagination, your characters will have limitless dimension, if you allow it to happen. And the plot lines-endless. Does it work in first person? Try it in third person. Watch the story unfold, the characters act. Look at all of those details! Watch and record. Sound simple? Well, it's not. Not at first, anyway. But just as in any other type of writing, the writer needs to establish a ritual. An everyday pattern in which writing takes place. Set aside a regular time and place each day where you can go to be totally alone, quiet, and uninterrupted. Your time. Selfish time. And before long, the question, What if? will introduce you to people, places, and situations you never knew existed. Why is this? Because your imagination knows truths that your head does not.