LET ’ S PLAY THE “ WHAT IF ?” GAME By : Barbara Donlon Bradley
LET ’ S PLAY THE “ WHAT IF ?” GAME By : Barbara Donlon Bradley
Each of us has a way to start our next novel . You use the method that works for you . For those that are still looking for something that works or want to try something different let ’ s go over how the “ What if ?” game works . Since I play this game when I start a new project I ’ m going to share how I do mine .
Each book has its own set of questions . I always start with creating my characters . If it ’ s part of a series I will look at secondary characters from a previous book . Do they have something that can spark a new story ? Like right now I ’ ve been thinking about another book in my werewolf series . ( It ’ s under my pen name )
I had a character in my last book that was painted as a villain until his father showed up and you realize who the real villain was . I ’ ve been thinking about him , and I want to give him his own story . So in my “ what if ” game I have a werewolf who ’ s being trained by the most powerful alpha in their world . What if my alpha wants to see what this young man learned ? How would that happen ? What if I have a pack contact my alpha because someone has been kidnapped from that pack and James has to go and find out what happened to them ? What if the person kidnapped is the pack alpha ’ s daughter ? And James ends up falling for her ?
As I go along I develop my plot to a point where I can start writing . The rest will come as the story develops . That ’ s the panster way and the way I write .
Under my real name , I ’ m working on a new series . Again I played the “ what if ” game . I opened a new document in my computer and came up with a title of the series . Magic Man . What if I take Mother Nature and give her sons who have magic ? Those sons can live in both worlds because they came from human fathers . What if Mother Nature doesn ’ t like the fact that her sons live isolated lives , and she makes plans for them to find love ? Now I have a basic plot thread to use throughout the series .
So what should my first book be about ? Which son ? What does he do ? What if I make him a dreamwalker ? He can go into our dreams and help us steer our dreams to a point where we ’ re in control ? Okay , that sounds good . So what about my heroine ? Does he enter her dreams and want to meet her ? What if he meets her in person and then walks in her dreams once he realizes she needs his help ? From there my brain created a story that I was happy with .
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