We’ve been having a wonderful time at the Romance Divas Sci Fi Futuristic Workshop. It got me thinking. I know. It’s dangerous.
The one thing that romance, science fiction and fantasy have in common is the questions it poses. “What if….”
What if a sheik fell in love with a woman lost in the desert and kidnapped her?
What if the rings of Saturn were actually created as a signal to Earth? (Thanks Ben Bova)
What if Druids have existed undercover for centuries and end up being the savior of mankind through magic?
What if humans were wiped out, but their colonist shifter counterparts DID survive on several planet? (LOVE the Wereplanets series).
These questions make fiction readable, entertaining and even thought provoking. (”Dune” by Frank Herbert anyone?)
I think this is where those ideas come from. Writers ask themselves “What if?” and things happen. When it works, readers want the answer just as much as the writer does. The good books are the ones that “I can’t put down”. In other words, I want the answer. What DOES happen? What happens NEXT?
So, what’s your favorite “What if”?
October 14th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
My whole life I have been obsessed with “What if”.
I love the-what if we are not the first incarnation of an advanced civilization on Earth? What if the gods of the past really were aliens-either posing or wowing us with their skills? What if all that we imagined was real-but because we were so caught up in our hum drum list making lives we just couldnt see it…with a little nudge?
LOL
I could just keep going. I know-I’m weird.
October 14th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
Sorry-I meant-without a little nudge
October 14th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
I love stuff like that. It’s so much healthier for me to use my “What if…” in fiction than real life. LOL.
October 15th, 2007 at 9:21 am
Awwww…thanks for the nod to my series, Jen. *mwah*
October 18th, 2007 at 11:00 am
Oh goodness…I love what if’s! I am such a sci-fi fan. Now…to actually sit down an “write” it one day…hmmm. Maybe.
And R.G. - I so agree with you. What if we weren’t the first? I love stuff like that. I’ve always told myself that we as humans shouldn’t be so arrogant to think we were the first to inhabit this planet.