“What if…?”: Cycles of the Phoenix

“What if…?” This is the question that drives the premise of fictional stories.

Here are the “what if…?” questions behind the stories in my award-winning book, Cycles of the Phoenix.

• What if a hero discovered they were a villain?

• What if someone lost the ability to feel sadness?

• What if someone turned a flood of murderous impulses inward and locked it inside, while fighting to survive?

• What if a kid who is experiencing trauma tried to heal a child who was abused?

• What if two people of different genres told the same story?

• What if a storyteller was haunted by happy memories?

• What if someone could learn to love themself by experiencing their life through others’ memories?

• What if an inspirational children’s story represented a tragic adult’s story that surrounded it?

• What if individuals’ stories of depression and hope echoed one another across scripts, poems, and letters?