What if?

How many times have you wondered how different your life might have turned out if the circumstances leading to the people you’ve met or the career you’ve chosen were changed? This question reminds me of a wonderful story building exercise I often do when conducting a writing workshop.

Start with a very simple story that everyone seems to know – I usually choose the Jack and Jill nursery rhyme: Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water… But – what if Jack decided he didn’t want to make the journey and told Jill to go by herself. And while she was up there, some dastardly incident happened and Jill suffered terribly.

Would Jack feel guilty? Let’s say that Jack does feels guilty. What if the reason that Jack feels guilty is because he is behind the dastardly incident? How does Jack cope with his guilt? Does he drink, get angry, or throw away his own life’s ambitions? What if Jack hadn’t intended for Jill to be hurt, but his partner wasn’t as caring? Meanwhile he is as attentive to Jill as possible and she returns his attentions.

What if Jack plans to take revenge for what happened? What if he gets his revenge and the partner is done in, but not before Jill finds out and turns her back on Jack? What if Jack is devastated by losing Jill?

The story can go on and on like a flowchart. What if this happened instead of that? And if this is the result, what if something else You can use any story as a springboard and use “What If?” to change it to something else. It’s like going through a maze – what if you went right instead of left? What are the choices in front of you now? You will be surprised at the terrific and wonderfully “original” stories you can come up with.


Writing exercise: Take any real-life event from your life – how you met your significant other, how you decided on your career, etc. Now change the circumstances just a bit each time you have a choice. If you met your intended at college, what would have happened if you had gone to another college? Write a short story and always make choices.

Writing prompt: Using one-word descriptions, list the ten most important things that made you WHO you are today.