To be honest, generating ideas was never my problem. I’ve got this giant swipe file with hundreds of ideas to tap into. And whenever I do some outlining, new ideas for stories jump to mind quickly.

But I’m still looking for a 5-minute drill to use at the end of the day so that my swipe file never reaches its end. I guess, this might be a question to Grok for tomorrow.

You can follow the project in real time here: @michael_brig

I asked Grok to further explain the method in the backend. Here is the full answer:

What if Method Explained

The “What if” method is one of the simplest, most powerful, and most widely used techniques for generating story ideas in fiction writing. It’s essentially a speculative question that takes a familiar situation, fact, person, object, rule, or event from reality (or from an existing trope/story) and twists it by asking:

“What if [something impossible, unexpected, exaggerated, or reversed] happened?”

This single question forces your brain to leap away from the ordinary and into conflict, possibility, and originality — which is exactly where good stories live.

Why it works so well

• It starts small and everyday (an observation you can make right now) but quickly escalates into high-stakes drama or wonder.
• It bypasses “I have no ideas” by using the real world as raw material.
• Almost every major story can be traced back to a “What if” core (examples below).
• It’s endlessly repeatable: one good “What if” can spawn dozens of variations.

How the method typically works (step by step)

1. Observe something normal
Look around, read news, overhear a conversation, remember a memory, or take a common trope.
Example observations:

• A child playing alone in a park
• People staring at their phones on the subway
• A solar eclipse happening on schedule
• A rat in a restaurant kitchen

2. Ask “What if…?” and twist it
Add one surprising, contradictory, extreme, or impossible element.
Push it toward conflict, emotion, or high stakes.
Examples from above:

• What if that child playing alone could see and talk to dead people? → The Sixth Sense
• What if staring at phones actually let people control others’ minds? → Black Mirror episode
• What if the eclipse was late… or never ended? → speculative short story
• What if that rat was a master chef in disguise? → Ratatouille

3. Follow the chain of consequences
Once you have a strong “What if”, ask:

• Who would this affect most?
• What would they want/lose?
• What happens next? (escalate)
• Why does this matter emotionally/thematically?
  This turns the idea into a premise, then a plot skeleton.

4. Vary the intensity

• Mild: What if someone forgot their phone for a day?
• Extreme: What if forgetting your phone erased your entire identity from the world?
• Genre flip: What if forgetting your phone turned you into a ghost?

Famous examples of “What if” origins

• Jurassic Park → What if we could clone dinosaurs and put them in a theme park… and the safeguards failed?
• Toy Story → What if toys were alive when humans weren’t looking?
• The Matrix → What if the world we see is a computer simulation?
• Jaws → What if a great white shark started hunting humans off a small-town beach during tourist season?
• Inception → What if you could enter and manipulate people’s dreams?

Practical tips to use it right now

• Keep a tiny list on your phone or notebook: 5–10 daily “What if” questions (takes 2–5 minutes).
• Combine it with other sources: news headlines, overheard sentences, random objects, fairy tales, history.
• When stuck, take any boring situation (waiting for the bus, doing dishes) and ask: “What if [worst/best/weirdest thing] happened right now?”
• Generate 10 bad/weird ones on purpose — the 11th is often gold.