The What If Games

There are two versions of the "what-if" game, and I am adept at both because they both involve daydreaming. And I would totally win a gold medal in the Daydreaming Olympics.

The first version is one of looking back at past choices and usually results in a big steaming pile of regret. What if I had stuck with my original major in college? What if I hadn't even gone to college and had pursued a more creative career? What if I had stayed in California and married the guy I was dating out there? "If I had onlies" and "what if I had justs" are rarely a good idea.

But the other version, the one of imagination and possibility, is crucial in coming up with good ideas, especially good story ideas. Like...what if a tornado picked up your house in your black and white Kansas world and plopped you down in a technicolor world called Oz? Or what if you could walk through a mirror into another dimension where Cheshire cats had big grins and Mad Hatters threw tea parties? Or what if a plane crashed into an island that had special qualities and a history all its own and everyone was LOST?

What if a simple girl from Alabama had big dreams and wanted to write a novel and maybe a couple of screenplays? What if...