“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 a mystery note.
Have you ever had a secret admirer, someone who holds you in fondness but keeps their identity a secret for a variety of reasons? Have you ever been a secret admirer of someone? Myself, the answer would be no to each but I find the thought exhilarating, frustrating, and chilling, not to mention a bit creepy from a stalking and sexual harassment angle. I assume the goal of an admirer would be to win the affection of the admired as overtime an anonymous bridge can be built strong enough to hold a bond between each other before finally meeting face to face.
So let’s explore this.
What if you arrive to work one day and find something on your desk that you are sure you didn’t put there? What if it was a note? What if it was a flower? Or what if it was a piece of your favorite candy? From that day on, day after day, the same item appears.
Only naturally your curiosity is peaked, but what do you do about it. What if you asked around the office and no one confessed or knew anything about it? What if you started coming to work earlier and earlier but to no avail at even getting a hint of who may have left something on your desk? What if you asked the building security to look at video footage?
What are your thoughts and feelings about what’s going on? What if you are really intrigued and must know who is doing this? How far would you go to find out? What if you are feeling staked after a while? How far would you go to make it stop? What if you don’t care? You read the note and then throw it away. You take the flower home and place it in a vase with all the others. Or you eat the candy for an after-lunch snack and never give it another thought.
What if things escalate? A note is not left on your desk but an item you thought was lost at work? Or what if the messages in the notes start to escalate? Notes go from “Hope you have a Great Day!” to “You looked good last night in your blue dress or workout attire.”
What if, instead of a fresh cut flower, the flowers either start to change what color they are, or they appear on the verge of death until one dried flower is left on your desk? What if the candy left on your desk is your favorite until it’s not? What if you are allergic to nuts and the candy contains peanuts and either you know it does or you don’t realize till you’ve eaten it?
Since I read and write in the mystery/thriller/suspense spectrum, it is easy for my thoughts to gravitate toward that end. But what if this was a romance story?
What if the recipient of a supposed secret admirer was so thrilled their life began to change for the better? What if this recipient just days before contemplated suicide? There is a fine line here I realize but there needs to be major conflict before an ending. So what can be that conflict?
What if the recipient is an undisclosed secret admirer of someone else and believes that the notes or items left on his/her desk are coming from the one they admire? What if it is from someone else that they can’t stand (ala You Got Mail)? Or someone else they never given the time of day to?
What if the recipient wasn’t the intended target and he/she discovers who the admirer is but is disappointed they were not the subject of being admired? What if the recipient is accused and ridiculed for making up a secret admirer.
Resolutions can be found for all of these scenarios, but I’ll leave that up to your story.
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