Based on the popularity of my first What IF post (I got one comment!), I've decided to do a follow up post. This What IF post will be from the reading point of view. I know all of you are way, way ahead of me on this one. After all, many of you are famous reviewers or authors. But yesterday I got all kinds of ideas from writing my 1st What IF post. I thought I'd see what came of this one. Thank you for humoring me.
One good way to better your creative self is to read books. Duh. But sometimes when I read books, I get in the story and then get out. What if (heh, heh,) I put some What IF questions to the story?
For example, let's take a look at the story of Puss in Boots. The miller died, and left a cat to his youngest son. In the story, that young man trusted his fortune to a CAT. That says a lot about the dude's character. We could ask ourselves, What IF he had never trusted his fortune to a CAT? It could mean he was too proud or too scared or too stupid not to trust a cat. So when we see who a character is NOT, we can see who they are more clearly. Does that make any sense at all?
All I'm saying is when I read a story, I need to pay more attention. I need to study it. I need to ask What IF? That will make me a better reader and writer.
A have a young friend in 5th grade, and every time her teacher reads in class, the teacher asks the students to write predictions of what they think will happen in the chapter. She asks them to write about the main character, etc. Pretty good, huh? Clearly I need to rejoin a 5th grad class.
What is your thought process when you read a book? Do you let the story sweep you along, or do you try to make observations while you read, or do you go back and look things over after you've finished, and that was a really long sentence, don't you think?
(BTW, Rachel is the person who left a comment on my first What IF post. She is amazing, so you should check out her blog.)
