Not "What If...?"

Instead, when developing a story ask yourself "What would it be like if...?"

I just stumbled onto this. Like a gift from the Muse, or something.

I was revising the horror screenplay I'm currently working on, and this concept just sort of popped into my head. And the approach suddenly showed me the difference between a great story and a "and then this happened, and then this happened..." type of story.

It might seem like mere semantics at first, but I'll explain:

"What If...?" gets that creative ball rolling, gives us a scenario to explore. But "What If...?" is about actions, stuff happening. I love the Friday the 13th movies (well... Parts 1-4, 6 and X), but I wouldn't call them great movies. "What if Tommy goes to Jason's grave to make sure he's really dead, but accidentally brings Jason back to life?!" Great idea and very fun movie. But Poltregiest and The Exorcist are both better films and a hell of a lot scarrier.

And I believe the reason for that is because Friday the 13th Part 6: Jason Lives answers the question "What if...?" well enough, but fails to answer the question "What would it be like if...?"

"What would it be like if your daughter were possessed by a demon?" It would be like The Exorcist. "What would it be like if your house were inhabited by violent spirits?" It would be like Poltregeist.

"What Would It Be Like If...?" seems to inherently draw the writer into the visceral experience of his scenario. And I would argue that this is what effective stories do, too.

And it makes sense that professional writers wouldn't think to make this distinction when talking to novice writers. They're pros! They know how to tell an effective story. That's why we're asking for their advice!

But as an amateur writer I'm still examining what works and why, and why some of the stuff I write doesn't work.

So I look at the collection of interesting and more-or-less effective unfolding events of my screenplay, and they're obviously well crafted. (To my mind, at least.) But I wonder why I'm not as into my story as I might be a story crafted by King or Crichton or Elliot & Rossio or Koepp.

Then this approach -- "What Would It Be Like If...?" -- hits me, and my movie instantly gets 20% better! I'm more drawn into the world I've created; I'm not watching someone else play a videogame, I have my hands on the controller and I'm the one dodging bolders and shooting zombies! It's no longer a series of actions happening, it's now a story! :)

"What If...?" is "What events might unfold if...?" But "What Would It Be Like If...?" is a question about how people would feel in said situation. What would they think about? And the realistic subjective experience of characters in unlikely or fantastic situations is really what an audience is looking for. According to Robert McKee, that's why humans are story-junkies: We're looking to have precarious experiences.

So now when I'm developing a story I will ask myself "What Would It Be Like If...?" in hopes of creating characters and a world that feels emersive, for myself as well as anyone who reads the story, rather than simply creating a succession of events that might or might not interest a reader.

Challenge: What was the last novel you read or movie you watched that really just didn't impress you? Not blatantly bad, really. Just... not really good. My guess that if you thought about it, you could probably track down a "What If...?" scenario nthat might have inspired the writer, but book/flick couldn't answer the question "What would it be like if...?"

I'm guessing this because I've read/watched some really, really interesting stories that I want to really love (I'm thinking of a particular series of sci-fi novels at the moment), but they just don't really draw me into the world, into the lives of the characters. I'm just watching stuff happen, but I'm not really invested emotionally in any of it.

Hopefully, "What Would It Be Like If...?" will help us craft tales that readers will become emotionally invested in.