Idea List #5

 

You don’t have to be crazy to think this stuff up, but it helps!  The real fun is when you start plotting with these ideas – I promise you, writing can be very addictive.  As always, these ideas are in the “What if…” format – that is, add the phrase “what if” in front of every idea.  Enjoy!

 

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A computer cabal (i.e. Bullock=s AWired@) goes up against a group of young hackers?  Who will win?

 

A little girl from a wealthy family is put into an orphanage when her parents die?

 

A movie was made of your life?

 

A mummy did come back to life, stalking the desecrators of its tomb?

 

A picture from over one hundred years ago could have dangerous repercussions for the current presidency?

 

A police detective found out that the Superbowl was being rigged?

 

A soldier at the ASimon Tests@ (testing response to an atomic explosion) experiences a bizarre event at the moment of explosion.

 

Abortions were not only legal, but were enforced?

 

All your sensory perception was destroyed?  What could you do?  What would your mind do?

 

An alien invasion was coming that took a form totally unsuspected?  Why would aliens want anything here, anyway?

 

As a chef, you went to your restaurant and found your hated enemy, a food reviewer, dead?  What would you do?

 

Coca-Cola became the national drink?  Drinking anything else (or at least any other soft drink) was punishable under law.  What would be the result of this?

 

Earth was abandoned for space by the human race, and set into perpetual security as a monument to humanity=s home?  Now centuries later, something is going on down there, and a team is sent to find out just what.  Could it be that there were some people left behind?  Aborigines or some such?

 

Everybody knew everything about you?  What if that extended to knowing your thoughts?  Can you imagine, every person you meet knowing your most intimate thoughts - every detail of you life open before them.  And you could not do that to them.  Would you try to think horrible, deviant thoughts just to keep people away, as a sort of protection for yourself, and to Apunish@ everyone around you for something neither you nor they can control?

 

In a high school, there was someone who could take care of the bullies without becoming one themselves?

 

King Arthur was still alive today?

 

Native Americans demanded their land back, and we gave it to them?

 

Satellites in orbit around the plant mysteriously began to disappear?

 

Some environmental group started a guerilla war in the rainforests to keep out loggers, slash-and-burn agriculture, etc?  What if that migrated on to attacking people in the United States over environmental issues?

 

Someone took it upon themselves to act the part of your guardian angel?

 

Someone was psychotic - no conscience, no morals, no nothing?  What would their story be?

 

The courts could arbitrarily change your name?

 

The current (or immediately former) Miss America became a secret agent?

 

The Destroyer somehow got amnesia?  And then went to work for the mob?  Wouldn=t that be a hoot?

 

The great pyramids were really giant communication antennas for an advanced society?

 

The person you loved, loved like you never would again, died before you got to tell them?

 

The pope recanted from Catholicism, either publicly or privately?

 

The Russian (or German) leaders are playing a dangerous game, to lull the world into a sense of security before making one forceful strike to conquer the world.

 

There really had been Aancient astronauts@ who built lines and buildings, etc., and now they were coming back? 

 

There was still a Roman colony somewhere in the jungles of Africa?  What if it was set in the 1800's?  What if it was set in modern times?  How have they avoided detection?  Are they bribing people to leave them alone?  What happens when they are discovered by explorers, or by CNN (or National Geographic)?  How would a Roman colony be able to survive for all those centuries without genetic problems?

 

Time was a fluid stream?

 

Whatever you wanted came true?

 

You began revamping old t.v. shows?  What would it take for them to be successful now?

 

You came back as a pig?  Or a camel?  Or some other weird thing?  What if then, in that state, with your former brilliant scientist mind, you discovered the cure for some dreaded disease?  How would you communicate that to the world?  What if there were others in the same position as you, but only you had found out how to communicate your ideas to the human world?  Heck, you would be a god amongst the hamsters.

 

You could fly? 

 

You could hear the radio in your head?  What station would it be?  Would it be all the time, or just some of the time?  Could other people hear it?  What would you do about it? 

 

You could prove conclusively that the evolutionary model of creation was true?  What would happen?  Who would try to stop you letting that information out?  What if you could prove that the evolutionary model was not true? 

 

You could read the Athoughts@ of animals?

 

You developed the ultimate computer virus?

 

You discovered that someone had made a clone of you?

 

You discovered that vampires were after you?

 

You found someone=s driver=s license, and that=s all you knew about them?  What ideas do you get about this person as you work toward finding them?  What if it=s a wallet (or purse) with a name but without an address?

 

You got caught in a giant spider=s web?

 

You had an action/adventure movie set in the 1800's; say, someone is trying to kill the president and it=s up to the hero to stop them?

 

You had an extraordinary sense of hearing (or any other sense)?  How would this affect your life?  Could you stand to be around anything, or would the brain filter out most of the extraneous information (as it does anyway)?  Would it make a difference if you were born this way or if you became this way?

 

You had Atotal control@ of your place in the time stream, for the matter the space-time continuum?

 

You had proof that you were reincarnated?  What if you had proof that someone else was reincarnated, but they didn=t want to believe it?

 

You had to do something with the phrase Agangster=s paradise@?

 

You head was cut off but was still alive?

 

You knew someone so well you could predict their every move?  What would it say about you?  What would it say about them?  What if they committed some crime?  What if you had the ability to do this to anyone, after you got to know them just a bit?  This would be very similar to the FBI guys that hunt serial killers.

 

You made a sound that was heard across the entire planet?

 

You made computers break down by being around them?  How could you use this to your advantage?  How would this be a hardship?

 

You only Aexisted@ (or had a meaningful life) as an entity in the world wide web?

 

You played around with the phrase, AThe Lost World@?  You could have ancient Egyptians, or prehistorics, or whatever you wanted in it; could be cool.

 

You predicted the extinction of the human race in one hundred years?  What would happen if people began to believe you?

 

You saved someone=s life, and they, because of their culture, then had to become your slave?  What if saving the life meant you then had to take care of them for the rest of their lives?  What if someone saved your life and then tried to apply either of these concepts to you?

 

You saw a murder on a web cam?  It could be a serial killer making his own Asnuff@ stuff.

 

You updated the Munsters?

 

You went through a black hole, and survived?  Where would you end up?  What shape would you be in?  Did you do this on purpose, or was it an accident?

 

You were a being made of water?  Where would you live? How would you interact with humans?  Hey, what=s your problem?

 

You were a comic book illustrator, but somehow your art seemed to be coming to life?

 

You were a giant?

 

You were able to reveal to anyone the absolute truth about themselves?  What would you do?  How would you use this?  You are only responsible to tell the truth, not to do anything else about it (the watcher on the walls).

 

You were dying, and someone had the cure?  What would you do to get it?

 

You were in a universe where the t.v. shows we watch were real?

 

You were kidnaped and forced to work in a foreign labor camp, as a slave?

 

You were legally, or rather bureaucratically dead?

 

You were living in this world, but you were actually from a fantasy world?  Why would you be here?  Would you want to go back or not, and if so, why couldn=t you?

 

You were reformed gunfighter trying to stay out of trouble in the old West?  What if you moved somewhere else, say, New York or San Francisco, Atlanta or Memphis, or New Orleans?

 

You were the last lonely guy on Valentine=s Day?

 

You were the ultimate computer hacker, but different sides were struggling to get your services, or deny them to the other side?

 

You witnessed a mob killing, and the mob was now out to get you?  What would you do?

 

You woke up one morning and could speak a foreign language?

 

You wrote a ASanta Claus@ novel?

 

You wrote a novel about the first people over the land bridge?  You could develop it into a series, tracing American peoples until the coming of the Europeans.  Of course, you wouldn=t need to use the same characters or anything, but there should be some aspect of continuity.

 

You wrote a novel based on a fictional slave revolt in the American South?  You traced it from its inception to its conclusion, also making it a part of the larger world at the time.  It would be too complex a story to have pure rights and wrongs.

 

You wrote a series of novels, like the "Sharpe" series, but based on a group in the Civil War?  Which side would you choose?

 

You wrote a story about a divorce, where the contest is, can the wife kick the husband out of a house because she has been unfaithful and wants the divorce?  He has paid for the house, etc.

 

You, a writer, was hired by someone to invent a Afictional@ character, which they would then create in real life as their new identity and persona?  What if they used that identity to commit crimes, or do something else that was immoral, irregular, or deviant?

 

Your biological clock worked so that you were awake at night, and asleep during the day?  What job in a big city could you have?   What manner of mischief could happen around you?

 

Your cat was possessed?

 

Your children were trying to kill you?

 

Your deepest desires came true, with disastrous consequences?  What if that happened whether you wanted it to or not?

 

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The Idea Lounge website and related links created by Brian S. Miller.  Last update: June 31, 2004.