As several good story consepts start with "what if?" let's think of some more, but bring the crazy level up to over 9000. For example. What if the world was taken over by cyborg vampire werewolves from space? What if a teenage boy fell in love with his teacher, only to descover that she is in reality his mom who is also an MI6 agent out to catch his headmaster? What if the entire world is actually an alien research program trying to find out how to create better kinds of chocolate? (And humans are just an unfortunate slip in the design)
What if mother was a complicated man? What if the only person that exists is you, and everyone you think is real are actually a simulation by a highly advanced race playing a video game simulating a life? What if there was no such thing as music, but people sang everything instead of normal speech? (Bonus for going Seuss on this one.) What if alcohol was the only beverage that made you sober (and this would include even water)? What if it was offensive to wear clothing, and those who do are shunned by society?
What if God was an orgasm? What if artificial intelligence became strong and decided to turn the sun into a disco ball? What if cats suddenly gained Jedi powers? What if Uwe Boll was elected president of the United States? What if people figuratively started using "literally" correctly?
I made a short comic about this concept when I was still in school. It was my bachelor project. It was called "Mortal of War". (Taken from God of War). Abandon ship!
What if? Waking, I turned on the pillow. Who was this middle-aged man, with his bushy eyebrows, and the distinctive mop of hair, who was this pot-bellied lover man? Yes, I had enjoyed the greatest night of sexual pleasure in my entire life. I wanted to open the window, scream to the world: 'Derek, David, Daniel, Donald,' I could not be sure exactly. Indeed I would discover exactly his occupation, his motivation once I had fried a full American breakfast, and yes ouch, it was all still a little sore, a man so bold, so forward in his squeeze...zzzz..etc
What if your MC lives in a completely 'ordinary' human world but suddenly everyone took of their disguises and took the form of various zoo animals? What if gravity pulled your characters down by the head and the biggest problem was that when greeting each other people kicked each other and the greeted person lost balance? What if there was a story without beginning, climax and end? Just one chapter describing an uneventful day with no new revelations....then repeat the chapter over and over again.
What if there was no heaven, no hell below us, no countries, nothing to kill or die for, no religion too. Err, and no plagiarists. *vanishes*
What if we abolished the stock exchange, made currency perishable (paper money would have an expiry date), abolished income tax, but raised sales tax on all goods except food, shelter and eductional books to 25%. Strike all that, as long as there are greedheads, they will find a way to generate exceedingly rich and desperately poor people. What if ...we just made money perishable and it would get a new expiry date when you spent it. Nah, that wouldn't work either. What if I just go back to work.
What if you were just and illusion? What if your body was a vehicle that what we perceive as our soul (which is actually a separate life form) drives?
What if boardgames were used to determine the progression of an entire family tree? What if planets are our collective external organs?
What if for every 3rd step you take forward life presents options via chess? What if for every step backwards you took you grew younger (think psychologically)?
um, i believe that last one is called HELL (or daily life... depending on how you look at it) what if we didn't have thumbs, but had a third arm growing from our chest? what if love didn't exist? what if this whole thread were irrelevant because time will lay waste to the server holding it, as well as all other traces of humanity, leaving the universe a dark, cold, lifeless abyss with no signs of the beautiful splendor of life?
What if Trump, Putin, and Xi Jinping created a new world government, what do you think will happen to the rest of us?
What if IF didn't exist? Maybe it doesn't. How do we know IF even exists in the first place, or even if it's any good? Perhaps words are all just figments of our imagination. Are our human minds too simple to comprehend the full meaning of IF? What can we really comprehend? Does comprehension even exist? We, sitting here on a light based telepathic link, using radio waves to communicate. An abstract dimension of reality, all around us, created by our thoughts and the thoughts of countless souls throughout time, expressed through simple black slashes on a white screen. Understanding, but not understanding each other's motives. Is that all we can really comprehend about the universe? Is this really happening? Am I real? What if dragons were real?
