How to Decide What to Write Next
I'm not one of those writers who has a hard time coming up with story ideas. Instead, I have two million ideas that I want to write at any given moment. I can story ideas from almost nothing. So when it comes time to pick a new story to work on, it can be quite difficult to pick. I hope I'm not the only one who has this problem, so today I'm sharing how I decide which shiny idea to work on.
1. Read Through All the Ideas
Start by looking through all your multiple documents and notebooks and slips of paper full of story ideas. It's good to have them all fresh in your mind. I've often found great ideas hidden among my many notes, characters, and other writing thoughts.
2. Look for the Ones that Speak to You
I have lots of story ideas, but that does mean I want to write them all right now. When I look through my story ideas, some of them don't sound interesting to me at that time. I might not know what the plot will be, or how to tell it in a way that goes with the image in my head.
Others sounds exciting and bring my imagination to life. Those are the ideas you want to take note of. At this point, one of your ideas might speak to you more than other and you no longer need to read the rest of this post. But normally for me, I have several that look promising.
3. Top Five
At this point I like to pick the top five ideas that speak to me. If you have less, skip ahead to the next step. I write down each idea and a paragraph or two about what each story idea is and some basic thoughts. I don't write a lot here, it's more to make me think if any of these story ideas seem feasible for writing (like, do I have an idea for the plot, or do I feel excited by it).
4. Light Brainstorm
From those top five I list the three ideas that make me the most excited. With those three ideas, I write a full page on each of them. I start by going through these questions from Kristen Kieffer (only the premise ones, but you can do the others if you want). Based on those answers and brainstorming, I write a small premise to give myself an idea of what the story will look like. I also enjoy writing what aesthetic I'm going for. Ex: Spider-Man+Casey Neistat+YouTube+vlogging+Radio Rebel (last year's novel).
5. Chose Your Idea!
Hopefully at this point, you'll have one idea that stands out to you above the others. If not, give your mind a few days to mull over the different ideas you have. Allow your brain to consider them, think if you'll be happy spending a lot of time with these ideas, and so on. And, if all else fails, flip a coin.
Congratulations! You now have a brand new story idea to explore. It's full of possibilities and amazing discoveries, just waiting for you to find them. Enjoy!
How you do decide what story to write next? Do you have a lot of ideas, or only a few? Tell me in the comments.
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