Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Tawny Weber | What If and Why?
Uncategorized / October 12, 2007

What if and why are two of my favorite things to ask. I’m notorious for asking them in writing and in life. (I think I ask often enough I drive my husband a little nuts, to be honest). I’ve what if’d everything from the idea that we are really all just microscopic beings on the thumbnail of a giant (hey, I was twelve) to the slightly-obsessive emergency kit I packed for the drive through a snowstorm for a family emergency (hey, I’m a California girl… how was I supposed to know those flutters weren’t a storm? and we MIGHT have needed those empty tuna cans and tealight candles for heat… really, we might have). And I ask why more than an eight year old. Just ask my eight year old, she’ll tell you! A psychologist might refer to it as catastrophic thinking (taking what if to its highest degree of drama) but for a writer, it’s mighty handy. After all, the question of “what’s the worst thing that could happen” is what provides me with plot and conflict. Better yet, what if is what keeps the reader turning the pages. When I read a book, I’m always wondering, always asking…