What If Scenarios to Write About When You Feel Stuck

The problem with finding a good “what if”

Coming up with what if scenarios to write about sounds simple until you sit down to begin. You may have a character, a setting, or a vague feeling you want to explore, but no clear event that starts the story moving.

A useful “what if” does more than create a strange premise. It gives the main character a problem, forces a choice, and leaves room for consequences. “What if there was a hidden door in the woods?” is interesting. But it becomes a story when someone has to decide whether to open it, walk away, bring someone else, or destroy it before anybody finds it.

The best prompts create pressure. They make the reader wonder what happens next and give the writer something to respond to. Below are a few ways to find story ideas that can keep growing instead of ending after one scene.

Start with a familiar situation, then change one rule

One reliable way to create what if scenarios is to begin with an ordinary part of life and change a single rule. The setting can stay grounded while the new rule creates uncertainty.

Try prompts like these:

• What if everyone woke up speaking a language they had never learned?
• What if your childhood imaginary friend called you after twenty years?
• What if a stranger returned an item you lost before you were born?
• What if every lie appeared as a visible mark on the speaker’s skin?
• What if your apartment building moved to a different city every night?
• What if a public library contained books describing events that had not happened yet?
• What if you found a voicemail from yourself, dated ten years in the future?

These ideas work because they immediately raise practical questions. Who knows about the change? Is it dangerous? Can the character benefit from it? What happens if they tell someone else?

To turn a premise into a story, ask what the character wants before the unusual event arrives. A person who wants to be left alone may react very differently to a future voicemail than someone desperate for direction. That contrast gives the situation emotional weight.

Use choices to make the scenario matter

A “what if” prompt becomes more engaging when the character has no perfect answer. Instead of only asking what happened, ask what they must do about it.

For example, consider: What if you were the last person on Earth? That question can lead in many directions. The character might search for other survivors, protect something important, enjoy their freedom, or begin to doubt whether they are truly alone. But a stronger version introduces a decision:

• What if you were the last person on Earth and a radio broadcast asked you not to leave your city?
• What if you found another survivor, but they remembered a completely different version of the world?
• What if you could restore humanity, but only by giving up your memories?

The same approach works for historical, fantasy, science-fiction, mystery, and romance stories. Add an obstacle, a cost, or a deadline. A character should have something to lose regardless of which path they take.

Here are more what if scenarios to write about using difficult choices:

• What if you could rewrite one event in history, but every change erased one memory from your life?
• What if you inherited a house that only appears on maps during storms?
• What if you could hear people’s thoughts, but only when they were thinking about you?
• What if your town held a yearly lottery, and this year the winner had to disappear forever?
• What if an alien ship landed, but it came specifically to meet your younger sibling?
• What if you could visit any moment from your past but were unable to change it?
• What if you discovered your best friend had been living under a different name?

You do not need to decide the whole plot before writing. You only need a starting question and a first choice with meaningful consequences.

Let the story branch instead of forcing one answer

Writers often abandon a good idea because they feel they chose the wrong direction. Maybe the detective should have opened the locked box instead of calling for help. Maybe the time traveler should have stayed in the past. In a traditional draft, those decisions can feel final.

Branching stories give you a different way to explore what if scenarios. Rather than treating every turn as a commitment, you can follow one path, then return and see what might have happened if the character made another choice.

That is the idea behind What If?, an AI-powered interactive story app built around reader decisions. You choose a world, make a first move, and continue the story in real time. At each turning point, the app provides four possible paths. If none of those directions fit the story you want, you can write your own choice instead.

This makes it useful for anyone who wants to explore a premise without outlining every scene in advance. You might begin with a mysterious door in a forest, choose to step through it, and later backtrack to see how the story changes if your character runs away or invites someone else along. The story can keep unfolding, so a single prompt can lead into many different versions.

Premium features include saving stories to continue later, backtracking to explore the road not taken, and downloading a PDF of your story. That can be helpful when you find a story branch you want to keep, revisit, or turn into the starting point for a longer writing project.

Keep asking the next question

The most useful what if scenarios are not just surprising. They invite another question after every answer. If the door opens, where does it lead? If the character enters, what do they leave behind? If they return, are they still the same person?

Start with one change, give someone a choice, and follow the consequences. Whether you write a single scene or explore multiple paths, a strong “what if” can take you much further than a blank page.