khiemtran | What happens when ...? vs How does ...?

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The big difference for me between starting a story with "what happens when ...?" versus "how does (X do Y)?" is that once the initial premise has been made the rest is all truth-telling. There isn't the same pressure to take an exciting storyline and make it true to the characters and their world. The truth comes first. The excitement only comes if it was in there in the first place. If it turns out it wasn't in there, well so be it.

There are also differences in what can change mid-story - the goals the characters are striving for can change far more easily in a "what happens when ...?" story, for example.

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From:

zornhau.livejournal.com

If your protagonist is NOT passive, then there is a "Can X do Y?", and the "What happens..." is pushed into the premise or theme, as in, "What happens when the shy geek - by fluke - gets the prom queen?" Answer: "He has to come out of himself." Which gives, "When - through online sparlkle - Shy Geek Boy gets a date with Blonde Prom Queen, can he...etc"

If your protagonist IS passive, then you'd better be Jack Vance.

From:

khiemtran.livejournal.com

There are certainly many different questions that will come up during the story. But my point is about the starting point. It's the difference between whether I start with "How does Shy Geek Boy defeat Alien Invasion with Aid of Prom Queen" or "What happens when Shy Geek Boy and Prom Queen uncover Alien invasion". Instead of starting with a storyline and choosing characters and circumstances to fit (why are they taking on the aliens themselves - because no-one else believes them - well, why wouldn't anyone believe them if SGB is already supposedly an expert in...), you start with the characters and the circumstances and see what happens. Maybe this SGB and this PG never do have the hot love action in the satellite dish atop the secret volcano base.

From:

zornhau.livejournal.com

Phew. You were talking about process.

From:

green-knight.livejournal.com

What happens when Shy Geek Boy and Prom Queen uncover Alien invasion

My starting point is 'Here's SGB, what's happening to him' which then morphs into the 'what if' of the day. I cannot choose a character - characters turn up; and they're themselves, and often not at all what I expected.

And why are we talking about Prom Queens when there are no Americans present?