What If

What if a young lawyer found out the firm he worked for turned out to be run by the mob?

What if a young orphan boy found out he was a wizard?

What if someone heard a knock at their door, and their ordinary simple life was going to be turned upside-down by a great adventure?

What if a school teacher found a portal to the year 1958, and set out to stop the assassination of JFK?

What if a teenage girl fell in love with a guy who turned out to be a vampire?

What if a farmboy found himself thrust into an epic battle of good vs. evil?

I don't think I have to tell you what novels/movies these ideas point to, but you get the idea.  What if questions are a great way of generating ideas for stories.

Here's my favorite: ever heard of the phrase from a movie trailer that starts with "in a world" - that's the creation of the late Don LaFontaine.  I use his voice to work through many of my what if's.

Try it.  See if it works for you.