Kylie Day - How to Outline Your Story with What If Questions

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2015 Kylie Day

Cover Design 2015 Kylie Day

All rights reserved, except where otherwise noted. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including informational storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the copyright holder, except for brief quotations in a review.

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Find Kylie online at TheWritingKylie.com

I really appreciate your comments, corrections, and suggestions. You can send me a note at . Thank you!

Dedication

To all aspiring authors around the world.

Why I've Written This Book for You

Ive dreamt about becoming an author since I was a child. Creating stories, worlds, and characters are one of the best things I know in life. Reading does not come far behind. I believe you feel the same way, since you have picked up this ebook.

However, I have often gotten stuck in the process of creating my projects in one way or another. Why? Because of a few reasons. Do you recognize any of the following statements?

• Have you ever bought several books on writing, thinking they will make you write better and/or faster, but instead you read and read and push away the time your should spend writing?
• Have you ever felt overwhelmed of how much information and how many full-length books there are about writing, so many that you dont know where to start reading (or where/when to start writing, for that matter)?
• Have you ever felt frustrated over how many extensive books about writing there are, but none that could give you the solution to a problem youve had at a moment of struggle or writers block?

I have felt it all, and I believe there are more people like me who have this problem. The fact that you have picked up this ebook makes me believe you are one of us. The overwhelmed, frustrated, and struggling writer was the reason I created The Busy Authors Guide -series in the first place.

Are you a struggling writer? If you are, then The Busy Authors Guide -series might be the solution for you.

I dont want you to waste your time wading through yet another full-length book when you should be writing the thing you want and/or need to do most. I want to provide you with bite-sized help, inspiration, tips, and creative exercises because I believe small steps are easier to tackle than giant leaps.

As an incurable reader with a BA in literature I have studied a lot of books (both fiction and non-fiction). I understand what it takes to create a written work (whether fiction or non-fiction). With that knowledge as a base, I have created easy exercises and questions for you to do and answer to work on your writing-project.

I also wrote this book (or more likely the whole The Busy Authors Guide Kindle series) because I want to help others who have that same dream of becoming and author as I do. I want you to write the book (or books) you cant stop thinking about.

If you are someone who wants quick and useful tips on how to develop your written work so that you can spend more time writing and less time with writers block, this book is for you. If any of the descriptions above apply to you, I urge you to read on.

What You Will Learn in This Book

The Busy Authors Guide -seriesis a series of short ebooks meant for all kinds of writers who wants to take their writing seriously. I am aware that not all authors want to outline or plan their work. Yet, you can use these books as sources of inspiration as well as practical tips on how to create your work. If you are stuck in your creative process or starving for inspiration, you can read one of these ebooks in less than an hour and then get back to writing with newfound energy and inspiration.

In this book, How to Outline Your Story with "What if..." Questions , you will find exercises on how to brainstorm ideas for your stories using what if questions. With the exercises in this book you can, more easily, come up with new ideas for your plot, how to put more pressure and drama into your story, and even how to flesh out your plot if you already have one. With the what if questions you can also see, for example, what you need to foreshadow in your story. I often use this method to brainstorm, and in this book I will show you how.

I hope you will find this book useful. Now, you snatched up this ebook to get some help, inspiration, and/or great tips, so here we go!

Exercises

You get ideas when you ask yourself simple questions. The most important of the questions is just, What if?

Neil Gaiman

Every story begins with an idea (an event, a scene, a character, a setting, a theme, etc.), and most ideas begin with a question and a sense of curiosity. Most of those questions start with What if.

Examples in fiction :

What if a wealthy and unmarried man in need of a wife became acquainted with a family consisting of five unmarried daughters? ( Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)

What if people lived under constant surveillance, without any privacy? ( 1984 by George Orwell)

What if children were forced by the government to fight in gladiatorial games? ( The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins)

What if one ring could wield terrible forces and help its master rule the world? ( Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien)

What if a baby boy survived the killing curse? ( Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling)

What if questions can vary in a million different ways. They can ask questions about the plot, scenes, characters, and everything else that constructs a story. There are no limits.

Perhaps not all stories begin with these what if questions articulated, however, most stories are ultimately inspired by questions like these.

Now its your turn

A few of the exercises that follow are loosely based on the chapter about What if questions in K. M. Weilands Outlining Your Novel and Outlining Your Novel Workbook . However, here I illustrate the exercises with examples from fiction as well as offer you exercises to develop your What if questions further.

Exercise 1 :

Write down every question that comes to mind about your story. Dont worry about how well articulate the questions are or how good / bad, serious / laughable they are. Go wild with your imagination nothing is right or wrong. This is meant to be a creative exercise, like brainstorming, where nothing is written in stone. Dont censor yourself just write whatever comes to mind. Do this for about 15 to 30 minutes.

Examples :

• What if every person in the world threw trash on the ground?
• What if children ruled the world?
• What if someone found a magic wand?
• What if aliens have visited Earth for centuries?

Choose a few of your ideas those you might find most intriguing, dramatic, emotional, funny, or perhaps those that interest you without a specific reason (these ideas can be grains of something bigger that you wont see until youve fleshed them out more fully) and highlight, underline, or draw a circle around them; do whatever you want to highlight those ideas you want to explore.

Exercise 2 :

This is the part of the creative process where you can develop your what if questions and go even more crazy with your creativity.

Begin with one of your highlighted what if questions and write it down on a new sheet of paper (physical or virtual, whichever you prefer). Now, brainstorm all the possible events you can think of that will happen in a story inspired by this what if question.