Alternate Scenes and What Ifs

[l8rose]

As some folks may know, I tend to be a bit of a "by-the-seat-of-my-pants" kind of writer with the barest hint of an outline (it's more like three notes in a trenchcoat really) for when I write. I know where things are going but sometimes, it'll divert in ways that surprise even me. Throw in editing and I tend to end up with a lot of drafts that are more like alternate scenes of specific stories. I don't always share these alternate things as they don't ever have a complete resolution but most are pretty fun to write. Which made me wonder if I'm in the minority or do people have lots of alternate takes on their stories.

What is everyone's take on Alternates or "What Ifs" of their stories? Do you write them? Share them? Bury them several folders deep on the computer and never let anyone see them?

 

[Comatoast]

I've had a situation like this. My comedy book is slowly becoming a dumping place for all my outlandish ideas and it's kind of interesting.

It has a magic society of isekai trucks trying to send this man to an alternate world so he can save it.

The alternate world called Igoroth retreated through dimensional travel to dwell in Earth's mirror realm and uses earth as a sort of gate to it's land.

Now come the aliens. Aliens want to get to igoroth to harness their immense supply of magic for themselves to conquer the universe so they have begun infiltrating earth slowly to find out how to reach the land.

Then you add the LEGENDS, Defenders of earth that choose people to sponsor. Legends can be anything from Kobe Bryant to George Washington to Mothman from USA urban legends.
These legends have awoken as the mana from the earth (which used to be Igoroth but that's lore for another time's) remnants of mana passively turn these stories or thoughts of the collective consciousness into tangible beings.

Then the protagonist, A man with lots of mana stored inside him. The aliens want to use him, The trucks want to send him away to be a hero and the legends are trying to protect the guy to let him save earth.

It sounds like a mess but it makes so much more sense in practice, It's just wild because each idea could be it's own book.
Comedy books are so funny because I can add literally whatever I want and you can't say No because randomness is a type of humor.
(Plus Kobe Bryant, Behaving essentially as a JoJo stand doing an anime style blazing slam dunk through a giant alien amalgamate might just be the funniest idea.)

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Most of my stories grow out of a "what if?" question and I rarely backtrack. Occasionally characters take things in directions I hadn't planned (for example, one character I had originally only planned to be the friend everyone bumps into in passing, with no real role in the story, just would not let me leave her in the sidelines like that and kept pushing her way into scenes until she became one of the core characters). If I finish a story at some point, I might do a "What If...?" later but for now, those are where I start...

 

[RepresentingCaution]

I only write them in my head, not really on paper. I was hoping others would write some alternate scenes for me in a CHYOA type of thing.

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