“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.
Prompt comes from the fact I like to wake up in the middle of the night.
What if you wake up in the middle of the night every night and leave your house, but in the morning you find yourself back in bed with no recollection you left?
I think there are a lot of ways to go with this but let’s start with an obvious question.
If he/she (I will use he from now on for simplicity) doesn’t recall they left the house in the middle of the night what clues them in?
What if they woke up in different clothes? Woke up with dirt on the bottom of their feet? Woke up with blood on their hands?
Exploring the different clothes: What if he woke up in a dress? Woke up in a clown suit? Or a business suit? Diapers? Wet suit?
Exploring the dirt or other material: What if he woke up with red clay under his nails? Sand in his shoes he still wore and there isn’t a beach within 100 miles? Tangled in cobwebs? A red ribbon around his finger? What would it mean waking up with some foreign object on his body or with him mean? What clue does it hold to indicate where he might have been? Doesn’t have to be something on his body but an object in bed with him the next morning.
Exploring the objects: What if he woke up with a gun beside him? A knife? A cooking pot and a chef’s hat? A wand? A car steering wheel? Food? Drugs? Jar of hearts?
These all could help him discover that something went on at night but what and how does he determine that when he can’t remember in the morning that he even left?
What if he records himself one night and determines yes he got out of bed and left? What does he do next? What if he locks himself in his house but he still knows he left? What if he recruits a friend or his girlfriend to watch him? What if he never sees them again after that night?
The next obvious question is: Where does he go and what does he do?
Here are some general thoughts.
Does he do bad or good? Is he a serial killer or a Good Samaritan or superhero type? Or something between these extremes? A circus performer in some after-hours club? Having an affair he is not aware of? Or does he have another life and this not only happens at night but he finds out that sometimes during the day he is gone somewhere?
Where do you go at night when you don’t know you even leave and how do you find out?
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