What-Ifs
This is the fifty-first
installment of The Curious Creative, weekly 10-minute writing
exercises for busy individuals interested in exploring their creativity. For
the complete rationale, click here.
My Thoughts:
What would happen
if…? What would it be like if…? Science
fiction writers explore what-ifs. Mystery novelists play with how one event
affects the natural course of things. Poets and essayists can also use such
questions to inspire their writing. Writing from what-if questions requires
analysis and imagination, a meeting
of both brain hemispheres, and so it can be a great source of creative play.
Your Turn!
- Start this creative exercise by getting out of the house. Take a walk down your street and comb your surroundings for salient details. Maybe you will notice a car that’s lost its side view mirror or a single shoe in someone’s front yard.
- Choose one of the things you noticed as your idea starter. From imagination, create a flow chart of the events leading up to it.
- Begin a story or poem that describes the unlikely phenomena leading up to the detail you noticed on your street.
How did you do? Did getting outside, taking
a walk, and paying close attention to your surroundings put you in a different
mental state? Is there anything worth excavating from your started poem or
essay? Did the exercise remind you of playing pretend as a child?
To encourage
each other and grow a community of Curious Creatives, sign in from a google
account so you can share your creation in the comment box below. Also, if you
subscribe to this blog (submit your email address in the "Follow this Site
by Email" box to the right), you will get an email update whenever a new
exercise is added. Thanks for playing!
Inspired by: Michael C. Smith and Suzanne Greenberg’s
“Implausible Causes and Unlikely Effects,” Everyday
Creative Writing: Panning for Gold in the Kitchen Sink, 2nd
edition, p. 170-172.
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