“Good writers borrow; great writers steal.”
--Oscar Wilde

Recently, Julie Berry, a good friend of ours and neighbor in Maynard MA, published her first novel, The Amaranth Enchantment.   Unlike most aspiring writers, her novel was "picked up" by a major publishing house (the same house that publishes the Harry Potter series), and so she is off on a spree of book signings and readings throughout the country.  Pretty great stuff for a good-hearted and hard-working woman with four young children of her own! My daughter, Margaret, who is way more well-read than her dad, said it was her favorite book she ever read, which tells me that Julie certainly engages her target audience of young teen girls.

Most of us probably don’t have Julie’s perseverance, but we may have enough of a way with words to create our own story worth publishing. I asked her how she came up with the plot of her novel (a secret ploy on the part of an eager English teacher to help my own students develop plots for their own stories). Her answer was all too simple and obvious: Julie does not worry about plot because the “plot” is what’s left after answering--using seriously good writing skills--a series of “what if” questions.  She went on to say that she got the idea from Stephen King--one of the great horror story writers of all time. I laughed and said I was afraid that her approach might put us teachers out of business, but I found myself applying her approach to one of my favorite novels: What if some naive, intrepid, and quixotic young man named Ishmael signed up on a whaling cruise with a maniacal captain named Ahab? What if that captain was bent on avenging a previous encounter with a menacing white whale? What if Ishmael befriended a tattooed carnivorous giant of a harpooner named Queequeg? What if the white whale defeated all who tried to kill her--except, of course, the voice of the narrator, the sole survivor who lived to tell the tale? And then all Herman Melville had to do was use his imagination and his experience and perception of life to fill in the details and create compelling and vivid situations--and out comes the novel Moby Dick!

Here is Stephen Kings short and pithy explanation of the "what if" approach:

    1.    The basics: forget plot, but remember the importance of 'situation.'
I won't try to convince you that I've never plotted any more than I'd try to convince you that I've never told a lie, but I do both as infrequently as possible. I distrust plot for two reasons: first, because our lives are largely plotless, even when you add in all our reasonable precautions and careful planning; and second, because I believe plotting and the spontaneity of real creation aren't compatible.

A strong enough situation renders the whole question of plot moot. The most interesting situations can usually be expressed as a What-if question:

What if vampires invaded a small New England village? (Salem's Lot).
What if a young mother and her son became trapped in their stalled car by a rabid dog? (Cujo).

These were situations which occurred to me - while showering, while driving, while taking my daily walk - and which I eventually turned into books. In no case were they plotted, not even to the extent of a single note jotted on a single piece of scrap paper.

As readers, we need to be interested in what we read. As writers, we need to create interesting and compelling situations that seem real--even if they are completely “unreal.”

For a writing prompt, try applying the “what if” approach to whatever you are writing: a short story; a journal entry; a personal narrative, or a poem, and see for yourself if it helps or hinders your writing. It is a great exercise to think "what if I wrote about..." and see if what you come up with can be followed up with an "and then..." or two or three! It is certainly worth a try. Remember that "what if" only sets up a situation or a series of situations. You fill in the details using characters, dialogue, imagery and actions, and creating a setting and scenario that make what you write worth reading--and that is the really fun and challenging part of writing.

There is everything right about trying to imitate greatness.  Steven King and Julie Berry are great writers in their own right.  It is well worth heeding the sharing of their wisdom and their approach to the craft of writing.

Comments

[Scott B]

As much as the "what ifs" seem like a great idea, I'm not sure how well anyone would do trying to force them out. But if one occurred to me, then I'd pursue it.