Idea List #8

 

That’s a lot of ideas!  Every one as good as the one before.  Pick a few, put them together, and see what happens.  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 former president has to solve a mystery, or the current president will be killed.  The catch is, the current president is a bitter political rival who swept our hero out of office.  How will our hero=s attitudes toward his rival change as he tries to save his life?

 

A grisly set of serial murders happened, but the government was protecting the culprit because he knows something or can do something that only he can do?

 

A group of people wanted to form a new town?  What sort of trials (personal and otherwise) would they have to face?  Call it ABuilding Algonquin.@

 

A killer demanded you keep writing a serial story, with installments every so often, or another person in the city would die?

 

A man you never met made you the sole heir to his fortune, providing that you lived in his mansion, took over his business, and took care of his n=er-do-well family?  What would you do?  What would (or could) happen to you?

 

A statue came to life, becoming a real-life human being?  What if this only happened at certain times?

 

A very beautiful woman suddenly became plain?  How would she react?  Would she become better, or bitter?  What if it was only temporary?  What if she knew it would be temporary?

 

Alien invaders were coming, not to kill us, but to be killed by us?

 

All the terrorist organizations in the world were secretly funded by a anarchist organization?

 

An express mail operation was a front for an assassination group?

 

Because of some plague no more babies could be born?  What would mankind do?  Put this as a planet in the Star Trek universe; then what happens when the Enterprise stops to investigate?  What if the crew is infected?  What if crew members are stolen for their genetic material?

 

Coffee turned out to be the wonder cure?

 

England had a sudden desire to recreate the Empire - all of it?  Or better yet, what if the United States decided the Great Experiment failed and we petitioned the crown to take us back?

 

Human beings could be duplicated (different from cloning)?  Who would you duplicate, and why?  What manner of control would you have over the duplicates? 

 

In a heavily polluted future pure air and water became the basis for currency?

 

Man was on the verge of extinction?  What would we do?  Why did this happen and how could we stop it?

 

Nobody ever went to the moon?  It truly all was faked?  Why would the U.S. governments (indeed all governments) be participating in this?

 

Silk became the world=s medium for backing currency instead of gold?

 

Somebody invited vampires to the prom? (No Buffy=s allowed, please.)

 

Someone came up with a way to Acolor@ skin as easily (and harmlessly) as painting one=s nails?

 

Someone poisoned what was hoped to be a good vintage year of wine, when it was bottled?

 

The ancient Egyptians were the remnants of a greater early society, of which all traces are lost?  How could you explain this?  What if all the early world was similarly influenced?

 

The fillings in your mouth picked up radio waves?  What if it drove you crazy?

 

The plane you are on crashes and you are the only survivor, walking away without  a scratch?  What if it crashed in the ocean, or some desolate place?

 

The president was schizophrenic, and took control of the war room, ordering everyone outside the White House to disregard any orders from anyone other than himself?

 

The refugees from the destruction of Carthage formed a secret organization devoted to the rebuilding of the Carthaginian Empire, not matter how long it takes?

 

The world really did warm up?  What would be the true results (increased rain forest, more arable land in the north, increased water in the hydrologic cycle)?

 

There was a girl named AAmerica@?  How could that be important to a story?

 

There was another story based on Haggard=s King Solomon=s Mines?  What would it be like if it were set in modern times?

 

There was intelligent life in the universe, but it ignored us?

 

Walls really could talk?

 

When your mother died, you found in her papers that she had another child before you that was put up for adoption?  Do you look for this person?  What if she had kept in contact with that other child?  What if they are up to no good, and that whatever they are in is what got your mother killed?

 

You accidently killed someone?  How would you deal with it?

 

You became addicted to a sensory deprivation tank?

 

You became ruler of a country (in either a Areal@ or Afantastic@ world)?  If you were not prepared, what would you do - lead by common sense?  What problems might you encounter?

 

You cornered the market on rice cakes?

 

You could communicate telepathically; that is, you could put your thoughts in someone else=s mind and then pick up their responses?

 

You could decipher any code?

 

You could look at someone and tell when and how they were going to die?  What would you do with that information?  What if that knowledge kept changing moment by moment?

 

You could make one thing illegal?  What would that be, and how would it affect your life (and everybody else=s)?

 

You could pick any lock, crack any safe?  What sort of trouble could you get into?

 

You did a life-story of someone, from cradle to grave, in the 100's America?  He and his family can be involved in all the important events of the period.

 

You discovered King Solomon=s lost mines?

 

You found a large bomb at your workplace?  What if you didn=t like the place you worked?  What would you do?

 

You found out your wife of five years was a mafia princess?

 

You had a reverse sort of Soylent Green?  (Where people are expecting to be eating recycled people, but react adversely when they find out it=s plants/animals?)

 

You had to do something with the phrase Afool moon@?

 

You knew exactly how many days you had left to live, even if it ran into the tens of thousands?

 

You lived on airplanes and airports, squandering your fortune just flying from one place to another?  Why would you be doing this?  What if you, for some legal reason, couldn=t get out of the fictive country that is made up of international airports?

 

You married a mafia don=s daughter?

 

You put a slasher movie into reality; Scream but with real people?  It would, I suppose, be the ultimate snuff film.

 

You raised opium poppies, legally, for a pharmaceutical company?  What problems could come up because of this (like people stealing your crop)?  What if you grew some other controlled substance?

 

You ran a pizza parlor in a run-down, drug-invested neighborhood?  What if you decided to do something about the conditions around you?  Can you see Steven Segal as a pizza chef?

 

You really could, personally, teach old dogs new tricks

 

You retold the story of Orpheus in a modern (or futuristic) setting?  How are the stories of Frankenstein and Orpheus related?  How is Pygmallion related to either of these?

 

You suddenly knew what everyone else was thinking, both on a conscious and an unconscious level?

 

You truly understood everything that was going on around you?

 

You were a doctor, say a surgeon, and decided you wanted a job change?  To, say, a cop, or a detective, or any other odd-ball thing?  What would your life be like?

 

You were a knight, and some dragon made it his life=s goal to hunt you down?

 

You were a nobody, who would do anything to be famous, even if just for a moment?

 

You were a super-taster?  What story could be made of that?  What kind of mystery could be made from that?

 

You were an alien, but no one would believe you?

 

You were assigned the task of cleaning up all pollution on the planet?

 

You were in prison for life, but you never died?

 

You were looking through a trunk of your great-grandfather=s and found two perfect, genuine Faberge eggs?  Why would your great-grandfather have such things in his possession, especially if he wasn=t Russian?  What if it was your great-grandmother=s trunk, instead?

 

You were on a search for the perfect meal?  Who would you meet on this quest?  What would it be when you find it?  Does the perfect meal depend on the food, or where you eat it, or who you eat it with?  What do you discover about yourself, and food, and your friend, along the way?

 

You were the last person on the planet?  Suppose you woke up and everybody had disappeared?  What would you do?  What if everybody had left, but you were left behind?  How would that change your actions?

 

You were the only person left without an STD?  What if there were only two of you left?  How do you think society at large would react to you?

 

You were transported to the land of Oz?

 

You were trying to get to the perfect plate of ribs?

 

You wrote a novel based on the premise that the story the ufo conspiracy people have been

preaching for years is true (you know - gray aliens, abductions, brain chips, lizard aliens, the whole deal)?  How would you stop this?

 

You wrote a story about a (police?) detective and his cases in Memphis?  You=ve got everything from the Mississippi River and Beale St. to Germantown to work with.

 

You wrote a story about a North American Indian who wandered down to the Mayan or Aztec Empire?  What kind of story would it be?

 

You wrote a story about people who were rewriting the history books?  If they do it well enough, no one in the future will know it, because what they have learned will be Athe truth.@  Why would they be doing this?  How could they get caught?

 

You wrote a story about the prophet Cassandra (cursed to always tell the truth, though no one could believe her), from her point of view?

 

You wrote a story about the world=s first experiments in faster-than-light engines?  What would happen to these people?  What about communications? 

 

You wrote the mother of all exposé books, and somebody didn=t want it to get to the publisher?

 

You wrote the ultimate Southern novel?  How would your life be different?  How would the people around you react?  What would you think about yourself after the fact?  How would you be different?

 

You, a city-dweller, had a nearly magical green thumb?

 

Your boss turned into a frog while you were in a meeting with him?

 

Your t.v. was alive and could talk to you?  Would it criticize your viewing choices?

 

Your wife told you that she was a Soviet sleeper in a post-Cold War world?  And then told you that you were one, too?

 

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