If - then

This is actually a game but it's sometimes hard to find fun word prompts and this will work well as a word prompt.

The game only needs two people, but you can do it alone by writing the if and then phrases on separate slips of paper and putting them in separate piles and then drawing one of each randomly.

To play as a game, fold a piece of paper in half lengthwise. The first person writes down an "If" on the left, flips the paper over to hide what they've written and passes it to the other person. The second person writes down a "then".

The ifs and thens follow the formula:

If noun + past tense verb + object
then plural noun + would ....

Here are some examples:

If octopi wore bracelets
then ships would be towed by flies.

If there were no guillotine
then wasps would take off their corsets.

If wizards really walked the earth
then ruins would be runes.

If animals could speak
then drones would mate.

If there were no such thing as clothes
then portraits would shed their frames.

If life really benefitted everyone
then serenity would not be obtainable.

This comes from Logic Exceeded where there are a fair number of interesting writing ideas.