Playing “What if . . . ?” With History

People just love to ask writers where they get their ideas for the novels they write.  In my case it’s simple.  I get my ideas from the ultimate idea factory—history.  There’s a lot of truth to that old saying, “There is nothing new under the Sun.”  In fact, just to point out how true that is, that saying itself originates from the Old Testament—Ecclesiastes 1:9 to be precise:

“That which hath been is that which shall be; and that which hath been done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” (The Bible—American Standard Version)

So, you see, even this modern expression owes its origins to a past history that stretches back to somewhere between the second and fourth centuries B.C.

I’ve now written four complete novels, I’m currently working on another, and I previously started two others that are currently shelved but may be resurrected in the future.  Every one of those books started with an idea with some historical precedent which was then ran through a course of, “What if…?”  “What if…?” is a game all authors of fiction play, whether it’s for books, television, movies, or plays.  Indeed even William Shakespeare took past histories and played, “What if…?”  The following are three examples of books I wrote in the 1990s and plan on releasing over the course of this year:

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The History: The inspiration was John Godson’s incredible exposé The Rise and Fall of the DC-10 (^©1975) and several accidents and incidents involving the McDonnell Douglas DC-10: American Airlines Flight 96, Detroit, Michigan, June 12, 1972; Turkish Airlines Flight 981, Ermenonville Forest, France, March 3, 1974; United Airlines Flight 232, Sioux City, Iowa, July 19, 1989; and to a lesser extent American Airlines Flight 191, Chicago, Illinois, May 25, 1979.  Because of several design flaws, the DC-10 racked up a pretty unimpressive safety record over the years.  One such flaw, discovered very early after it went into service, was a problem with the rear cargo door blowing out at altitude, thus causing a collapse of the passenger floor and subsequent loss of control to the tail surfaces.

So…what if someone sabotaged a DC-10 by making it only look as if the cargo door had failed?

The Resulting Book:  An On-Time Departure (Book 1 in the Ian Drake Series)—A DC-10 experiences explosive decompression and resulting loss of rudder and elevator control.  The aircraft crashes into the Swiss Alps with the loss of all lives on board.  Aircraft sabotage investigator Ian Drake initially believes the mishap was an accident . . . until he discovers every move he makes in the investigation is being watched.

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The History: Following the infamous Cerritos midair collision between Aeroméxico Flight 498 and a Piper Archer, the FAA began a crash program to develop and deploy the Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS).  Problem was that the program was rushed before the software was truly ready, and the early TCAS units actually precipitated several near-miss situations rather than preventing them.  Software and hardware bugs still crop up in TCAS systems to this day.

So…what if someone found a way to sabotage the aircraft’s altitude information hoping to cause a crash short of the runway during instrument weather conditions, but before such a crash could occur the TCAS received the erroneous altitude information and a midair collision ensued instead?

The Resulting Book:  And The Games Begin (Book 2 in the Ian Drake Series)—A Gulfstream IV business jet has a midair collision with a passenger-carrying Boeing 747 near Sydney, Australia.  The 747 crashes into downtown Sydney killing everyone aboard the aircraft and hundreds more on the ground.  The Gulfstream limps back to Kingsford Smith Airport where American pilot Marla Stinson, Ian Drake’s former lover, is being charged with negligence in causing the accident.  Ian Drake takes a leave of absence and travels to Sydney to help clear her.

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The History: January 17, 1966 in the skies above Spain, a B-52 bomber carrying four MK28 thermonuclear bombs collided with a KC-135 during aerial refueling operations.  The B-52 broke apart, casting into the void all four bombs.  Three bombs, slowed in their descent by large parachutes, fell onto the small fishing village of Palomares, two of which exploded conventionally contaminating large areas with highly toxic plutonium.  The fourth plunged into the Mediterranean Sea, setting off a massive search and recovery operation that lasted three months before the bomb was successfully recovered.

So…what if it weren’t an accident and what if the MK28 that went into the Mediterranean weren’t really a bomb?

The Resulting Book:  Grand Slam (Book 3 in the Ian Drake Series)—A C-141 carrying four thermonuclear devices from the United Kingdom back to the United States is badly damaged when the KC-135 preparing to refuel it explodes over the North Atlantic.  The C-141 limps back toward the U.K. but is forced to ditch off the coast of Northern Ireland.  U.S. Navy divers discover that one of the nuclear bombs has been replaced by a disguised dummy bomb unit.  Aircraft sabotage investigator Ian Drake is sent undercover to learn how the sabotage was done, who stole the real weapon, and to locate the device before it falls into the wrong hands.

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“What if…?” is a truly fun game for any author. And if it’s done well, the reader gets the true benefit.  My current novel for sale, Decisions, was also the result of a “What if,” scenario, and it has been very well received by readers, reviewers, and even Publishers Weekly.  I hope my three previous efforts are as equally well received after they come out later this year.