“What if” posts are not simple writing prompts but supercharged explorations into the many directions a simple prompt can take you. Here you will find conventional questions and “what if” questions surrounding a prompt to help get the creative juices flowing.
From Reedsy comes this prompt.
Write a story that takes place in the same building but in two very different time periods.
The easy question.
What type of building and what time periods?
What if this was set in the Old World, Paris or London? And the building is a castle? With time periods of medieval and modern day?
What if this was set in America, New York or L.A.? And the building is either on old brownstone in New York or a craftsman in L.A.? With time periods of the roaring twenties and modern day?
What of the people involved in the time periods?
What if one was a forgotten knight and a daughter in his lineage? Or an American mobster boss and a great granddaughter? Or a movie stage hand on silent movies and a star actress?
What if it is a story about a family history of mother’s giving up their daughters for adaption? What if one side of the story is about the mother who started the chain of events and the reason why and the other side is a daughter looking for her birth mother and finds much more, as they live and had lived in the same building but different apartments.
What if it is like the movie Frequency?
What if it is a love story like the movie Somewhere in Time?
Can there be a love story without time travel? A love story involving two individuals, one looking into the past for a research project while becoming overwhelmed with the subject matter. So in love that it consumes every waking moment but the past is dead and the individual accepts that fact and that just maybe they will always be alone in the present, until they met a descendent going to the same college. Happy ending?
What if the time periods were not past and present but present and future?
What if it’s about different dimensions? Two individuals living in the same space but on separate levels but time periods the same but one is slower than the other, or they are different time periods.
What if it’s about murder? Story told from the past and the one who was killed and the present as the one who killed. Where they lovers or enemies?
Can one kill the other even though they are in different time periods?
Any prompt can have endless directions, and I provided just a few for one.
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