Since you’re reading a blog about writing fiction, I bet you’ve been blessed with more story ideas than you know what to do with. Or perhaps you have ONE big story idea that you can’t stop thinking about. Or both! But how do you know what’s the right story idea for you?
Regardless of what non-writerly people might think, a lack of ideas is generally not a problem. There’s so much more that goes into writing a memorable book. Even the greatest idea can get lost in bad writing and lack of direction, which is why not everyone who has an amazing story idea is writing bestselling novels.
When you start writing a book, you really should commit to your story idea and to your premise. This post will help you find out whether your story idea really is worth pursuing or if you’d be better off choosing something else.
To be clear, we’re talking about writing a novel here, mostly. Writing a short story that sucks the life out of you might be a lot easier, though I probably wouldn’t recommend that either.
Related reading: Where to get story ideas – All vibes and no plot
Does your story idea get you excited about writing?
Sometimes we start working on story ideas that don’t really vibe with us because we think we “should be” writing something different than what we actually want. Maybe we want to be taken seriously as a writer or maybe we feel like a specific genre isn’t “for us” even if we like reading in it.
Your readers are going to notice if you don’t love your story, and they’re not going to love it either. More importantly, you might not even get your story to the finish line if you’re not excited about writing it.
I get it, some parts of the writing process are less exciting than others, but overall you should be so very in love with your story. Otherwise, you might not ever finish it. Can you imagine working on this story for five years? Can you imagine revising and editing thirty drafts? If not, maybe your idea can still work as something other than a novel.
Does your idea feel authentic to you?
Sometimes we have to write things that aren’t really us, often for work or school. Believe me, I know, I’ve written content for online casino sites. But when you start writing a book, it should feel right. It should feel like you.
I’m not at all saying that there’s one genre for everyone, by the way. You don’t have to stick to just one thing to be authentic, and I believe anyone can write in any genre if they want. But whatever path you choose, make sure that you speak with your voice and you don’t leave out integral parts just to fit into someone else’s narrative. (That’s a life tip right there, not just a writing tip.)
If you don’t believe in happy endings, you probably shouldn’t be writing romance. If you think writing murder mysteries trivializes the effects of killing people, you probably shouldn’t be writing in that genre. Some genres might be popular and lucrative, but that doesn’t mean we need to explore them if we’re not going to execute all the important elements properly.
Why should anyone care about your story?
This might sound harsh, especially after what I told you about following your own path. However, if you want to share your writing with the world, your reader needs to care what happens in your story.
Why do we care whether or not Voldemort wins? Because we’re made to care about Harry and because we’ve seen how Deatheaters treat anyone who isn’t like them. (Who knew that J.K. Rowling would turn out to be more like a Deatheater herself, yuck.)
Why do we care what happens to Katniss in the Hunger Games? Because we’ve already seen the sacrifice she made for her sister and we’re rooting for her before the games even begin. (Related reading: Beginning your story the right way)
The “So What?” factor might not be obvious to you as soon as you get your idea, but it needs to come to you during the brainstorming phase and no later than that. Writing about a day in someone’s life might be interesting, but it’s not a real story if we don’t care what happens in the end.
If you give your protagonist problems that are too small, that can be solved with a single phone call or problems that are actually non-problems, nobody is going to care about your story even if we care about the characters. Don’t be afraid to give your protagonists REAL problems that hit them where it hurts – nobody loves a cowardly writers.
Related reading: Conflict ideas for your story
Do you have a unique take on your story idea?
They say there are no new story ideas left, and while that might sound depressing, it’s actually not a bad thing. Many readers gravitate towards certain kinds of stories, and if you can tap into that, it’ll be so much easier to find people who can’t wait to read your book.
The important thing here is this: do you have a unique approach? A unique point of view? If you write authentically and from your heart – perhaps easier said than done sometimes – you most definitely do. So don’t worry about finding a unique idea that no one else has ever used, just focus on telling the story in your own way with your own voice.
Even if you worry that you don’t have a unique enough voice, or perhaps something has happened to you the same way it has happened to everyone else, you can still take a story idea and turn it a little to the left. Add something unusual, change something that is expected. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel to come up with something fresh.
Related reading: Story ideas for different genres – How to write unique stories
Does your idea have enough material for a full story?
We have all kinds of ideas when it comes to our stories but not all of them lend themselves to a full story.
“What if a librarian knew exactly what everyone really needs to read?” That’s a character idea, admittedly with some meat to it.
“What if my character went to the library and the librarian recommended a book to them that solves all of their problems?” That’s a scene idea.
When you have little ideas like that, it’s easy to see that you need to combine more of them to have a solid story idea. Then there are “high concept” story ideas that might feel like there’s a lot going on but that will end up hollow if you don’t explore them enough.
For example, just a park full of dinosaurs wouldn’t be interesting enough if it didn’t explore the consequences of cloning extinct animals. An artificial virus wiping out most of humanity won’t keep people reading for long without giving enough airtime to the complex lives of the survivors.
My point here is, when you’ve got an idea, see what kind of an idea it is first. Then, see if there’s more to it. Can you come up with more scenes, more characters, more consequences? If not, maybe you’ve got a short story idea in your hands instead of a novel idea.
Choose your story idea and stick with it
Now you know what makes a killer story idea and you can start vetting your ideas for the right one. Exciting, isn’t it?
If you still end up with multiple ideas, you could start loosely outlining them and see which one you’d like to continue writing. You’ll likely find out that you’re a little more excited about one of your ideas than the others. You can read this post and choose one method of outlining to start with if you don’t have your own go-to method yet.
And if you’re STILL struggling with choosing after doing that, why not ask your friends or social media followers what they would like to read about? Post a poll on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter and see what others are excited to read about. You can choose the most popular answer, but it might also make you realise that something else was your favourite option all along.
What if you still don’t know what to write about?
This post assumes you have more than one story idea to choose from, but what if you simply don’t have any ideas? Or what if none of your ideas actually excite you?
Luckily for you, I created a workbook that helps you mine for your best story ideas. Even if you think you’ve got zero imagination, I WILL help you find those golden nuggets of inspiration from inside yourself. Hundreds of writers have already used this workbook and now it’s your turn.
Protagonist Crafts is a blog about writing fiction, written by a published author and creative writing teacher. You can find more writing tips and inspiration in the blog and you can get the best author tools at Writer Lifestyle on Etsy.
