Writers: ‘What If,’ & ‘Why?’
The key questions that unlock the story
Story crafting involves delving into an imaginary rabbit hole, but what’s the point of a leap into the creative abyss if you aren’t equipped for the climb out.
‘What if?’ and ‘Why?’ are the yin and yang of story crafting. ‘What if’ is the imaginative leap, and ‘why’ is the tether that prevents your idea from floating away.
For every ‘what if,’ you must know ‘why’ it is so. Your reader expects your story to possess its internal logic.
I have written of these creative partners before, but a recent news story stirred my imagination and, in turn, I thought said news report might allow me to show their magic by example.
The Original Report
On the night of January 11, 2024, two US Navy SEALS nudged their standard-issue Zephyr inflatable boat alongside the hull of an unlit Arab dhow off the western coast of Yemen. Their orders were (supposedly) to search the dhow for weapons meant to resupply Houthi efforts to disrupt Israeli ships traversing the Red Sea in support of Hamas’ resistance against their confinement in Gaza.
One SEAL slipped as he reached for the dhow’s side rail and fell into the water. His partner dived in to rescue him. Neither were seen again. On Sunday, January 21, the Navy reported that despite an ‘exhaustive’ search that included maritime assets of France and Japan, no sign of either SEAL had surfaced and the pair have been declared dead.
This story first jumped out at me for two reasons. First, there is so much inherent drama and mystery, and second, because it is the story of two characters — it is a ‘small’ story, as opposed to, say, Black Hawk Down or D-Day. What might have been the fate of the SEALS?
First Things First
There is no point in daring any rabbit hole if you have no idea what to expect — you need to know where best to aim your magic questions.
Research comes first. Always. How deep you dig and for how long can make or break your story, because the more you study your subject, the greater the number of options you uncover. Jack Reacher says, “In an investigation, details matter.” You are investigating your story, and the wider your sources, the more likely a detail from here will bond with a detail from there, and your story will benefit.
You should take copious notes as you explore the details of your research. I suggest a college-lined notebook because you want to just scribble whatever occurs to you as you read and keyboards are quite judgmental when it comes to what should be input and what passed over. A notebook is like your dog, ready for every scrap of your love.
Details
While there are dozens of articles on this event, they all pretty much say the same thing, although the political bias of the sources becomes ever more obvious the wider you read — more on this shortly.
Every story stems from Pentagon press releases, and perhaps the CIA is better at using a lot of words while saying nothing, but the US military is close behind in their skills at clouding facts.
So your research becomes a matter of studying not just what they aren’t saying, but ‘how’ they’re not saying it. Of course, the less they say, the better for us, because it is the gift of literary license.
When I encourage your research to cast a wide net, I mean you should read as many perspectives as you can. The Russian RT and Sputnik. Al-Jazeera, Middle East Monitor, and Iran’s PressTV. Independent sites like ConsortiumNews, theIntercept, and Truthout retain far greater journalistic integrity than CNN, which allows Israel’s censors to ‘correct’ its product.
Now, most of the West’s mainstream media accused Iran as being the source of the weapons and how that nation sows disruption — they ignore the fact that the current genocide in Gaza is only possible due to an unending supply of American bombs and their pervasive UN Security Council veto against every effort to censure Israel’s century of oppressive depravity. How dare Iran enable the Palestinians and their allies to resist Israel’s colonial occupation?
That aside, some stories referred to the capture of a dhow and some ‘missile parts’ and ‘warheads’ intercepted and 14 sailors taken prisoner. The partial weapons are assumed to be of Iranian origin, but no proof is provided.
What stood out, though, was that the SEALS rappeled from helicopters and it would require far more than two SEALS to assault the boat. There are 16 men in a SEAL team, 8 men in a squad, and 4 men in a fire team.
See where I’m going with this? That event could not have been the same one as where the two men disappeared, and in any case, there should have been at least two other SEALS.
It is a cornerstone policy that America out-number and out-gun their opponents, so why were two SEALS sneaking aboard a dark-running dhow? They had to be sneaking because the dhow was moving as they tried to board. And while dhows have sails, a sail would have reflected whatever light there was, so it must have been under diesel power.
Down the rabbit hole (and back out again)
What if the Navy’s lying? It wouldn’t be the first time.
Why were the SEALS alone and without support in the Red Sea at night? What if it was a clandestine rendezvous with a boat captain more interested in profits than politics and who was willing to let the Americans examine or sabotage his cargo? What if the captain changed his mind at the last minute or, worse, his first mate woke up to relieve himself and witnessed the captain’s treachery? What if the first SEAL lost his footing because he was hit by the captain’s falling body after the first mate pushed him?
What if one of the SEALS had been compromised? What if one SEAL pushed the other into the water, to be sucked under and into the spinning propellor? Sharks would tidy the scene in minutes. Why, though? Perhaps he had supplied some intelligence regarding American patrol routes so the dhow captain could avoid detection. After his partner went under, he climbed aboard the dhow and pretended to be Arab until the boat returned to a neutral country with his new wealth.
What if the first SEAL climbed aboard and it was the second man who fell into the water, the first unable to rescue his partner because the crew took him prisoner and planned to sell him to the Houthis?
What if the dhow’s first mate was an Iranian intelligence asset who would be recognized by the SEALS once onboard the dhow and he caused the first American to slip into the water? He was saved a second murder when the second SEAL tried to rescue his partner.
What if the second SEAL failed to save his friend, nearly drowning himself, but was rescued by the dhow’s sailors and resuscitated to be sold to the Houthi, but the captain’s daughter is the dhow’s cook and she helps him regain his strength, falling in love with him in the process? The SEAL learns the dhow carries a special missile capable of sinking an aircraft carrier — the same carrier the SEAL is assigned to. What if the SEAL was racist and only wanted to use her? What if he began to change his feelings towards her just as she learned of his racism? Could be a great romance, right?
Some of your ‘what ifs’ may initially seem to be poor, and this is another reason to use a notebook rather than a keyboard. An outrageous ‘what if’ without a ready ‘why’ can be scribbled into a notebook and the page turns to a new leaf, but it might not meet the keyboard’s standards and end up lost. But one day, out of the blue, the ‘why’ is suddenly in front of you and everything falls into place.
So many options
A single news event promises a choice of story genres, from military action to spies and betrayal and even romance.
What you should take away from this is that a subject that captures your attention, when researched through a wide and disparate range of sources, will yield a fertile field of possibilities.
No paywall.
