“Oh, my God. What if you wake up some day, and you're 65 or 75, and you never got your novel or memoir written; or you didn't go swimming in warm pools or oceans because your thighs were jiggly or you had a nice big comfortable tummy; or you were just so strung out on perfectionism and people-pleasing that you forgot to have a big juicy creative life, of imagination and radical silliness and staring off into space like when you were a kid? It's going to break your heart. Don't let this happen.” PeopleIfsHeartBigsHappensKidsImaginationSpaceBreakNovelCreativeNiceWrittenOceanComfortableWake UpWarmMemoirRadicalStaringWhat IfSwimmingPoolPerfectionismThighsBreak Your HeartJuicyCreative LifeSillinessPleasing PeopleStaring Into Space Author:Anne Lamott
“When I am thickening my plots, I like to think 'What if ... What if ... ' Thus my imagination can move from the likely, which everyone can think of, to the unlikely-but-possible, my preferred plot.” IfsThinkingMovingImaginationNovelMysteryPlotWhat IfUnlikelyMy ImaginationMystery Novels Author:Patricia Highsmith
“I don't base my books on my life (thank goodness) and I don't pick the topic first. In fact, the topic picks me - via a question I can't answer as a mom, a wife, a woman, an American. I find myself wondering "What if..." and it blossoms into a whole novel.” IfsFirstsI CanBookWholeFactsAnswersWonderNovelWifeMomGoodnessPicksWhat IfTopicsIfs AndPick MeWondering What If Author:Jodi Picoult
“With a song, it only takes a couple of minutes to go back to the beginning and try it again to see if it works. The novel freaks me out because, what if you get into the eighth chapter and think, 'Let's go to the top and see if this works again? It's going to take me three weeks.' I'm in awe of that.” IfsThinkingWritingTryingSongThreeNovelWeekMinutesCoupleAweWhat IfSongwritingTake MeFreakChapters Author:Ben Folds
“Every novel begins with the speculative question, What if "X" happened? That's how you start.” IfsNovelHappenedWhat If Author:Tom Clancy
“I am really interested in who owns ideas of religion. What if I say I'm a libertarian, socialist, Occupy-supporting, anti-war, Christian? Is that a controversial idea? I don't see anything really in the original semiotics of Christianity, in the specific parable of the radical socialist Jew from Galilee who becomes the hero figure in the Homeric-word-of-mouth-gossip-novel that becomes the Bible that should make that a paradox.” IfsShouldIdeasWarChristianChristianityNovelFiguresHeroMouthsOriginalsJewLibertarianRadicalWhat IfParadoxGossipAnti WarSocialistControversialParablesWord Of MouthSemiotics Author:Robert Montgomery
“First of all, the novel should be a critique of the novels that have come before it in a language that broadens the audience of American literature. Second, it's really got to be invested in a number of what-if questions.” IfsShouldFirstsLiteratureLanguageNumbersNovelAudienceWhat IfCritiqueAmerican Literature Author:Kiese Laymon