A Goodreads user asked Nadine Brandes:

How do you come up with "what if?" prompts for your stories?

Nadine Brandes I love this question because "what if" questions are the prompts behind almost all of my ideas. They key to mine is just always asking the "what if" question any time I can.

When I watch movies: "What if instead of true love's kiss saving the princess, it caused her to lose all her memories?"

When I'm listening to a sermon: "What if I turned this story into a fantasy adventure?"

When I'm taking a walk and trip over my shoelace: "What if someone had a machine that could turn gravity on and off in certain places?"

When I'm reading a book: "What if instead of this character finding a lamp with a genie, she joined the genie in the lamp and discovered another realm?"

See what I mean?

And every time you dare to ask the question, "What if?" go write it down. In a notebook of ideas. Even if it seems silly. Because someday you might find yourself meshing two seemingly crazy ideas -- "What if a giant wall encircled the entire Earth, splitting it in half?" + "What if everyone had a Clock telling them the day they'd die?" -- and ending up with a story called A Time to Die. 😉

Fill that notebook with your ideas. A year from now, you might read an idea and then take it a completely different direction than you originally thought.

Just. Keep. Asking. "What if?"

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