I often allow ideas to float around in my brain a bit too long. It’s a habit of mine. I’ll mull an idea over for weeks, thinking about plot points, characters, dialogue, and story structure, but I won’t commit it to paper or a Word document. Finally, when I do sit down and get it out of my head, I can quickly discover whether the idea truly works or needs even more work than originally thought.
This delay in writing it down can be summed up in one word: Fear. It’s that fear that, once it’s on the page, it’s a project that needs to be considered or rejected. And if you’ve spent weeks developing something in your head, it can be frustrating and disappointing if the idea doesn’t work once it’s out there.
But it has to be done for several reasons that we’ll talk about; the key to crafting any story and seeing if it works or not is getting out of your head and into a visible form where you can work on it.
A Brain Break
Being fixated on a story idea can be exhausting, especially if the only place it exists is inside your mind. This can lead to unnecessary stress since you haven’t taken the time to write it down and are now at the mercy of your memory.
Use your Notes app, a pen and paper, or your computer to write the idea down ASAP! Get it out of your head and onto the page. Look at it, read it over, explore new options, rewrite and refine it.
You now have the power to develop the idea beyond what’s in your brain. By freeing the idea from your mind, you have empowered yourself to do more and finally craft a story that doesn’t cycle only in your imagination.
Bullet Points
Once you have an idea you feel is solid, jot down the basic story points in a list. This is your chance to flesh out the ideas in your head and see what you do and don’t have. You’ll find that the basic story idea is just the tip of the iceberg, and now your mind and imagination are free to explore new avenues of the story since what you had already been thinking about is now out and on the page.
Strengths and Weaknesses
At this stage, digging in and looking at what works and what doesn’t isn’t that important. However, as you brainstorm and develop your ideas and story, you’ll see which ideas work for your story and which can be crossed out or set aside for future reference.
Remember, you’re in the beginning phases of this project. Your goal now is to develop a basic structure for your story that you can physically see and work on outside your head. The more ideas you generate and write down, the stronger the likelihood that you’ll generate stronger ideas for your project.
When looking at the weaker ideas, ask yourself whether there are ways to make them stronger. As you look at them written down, is there anything in the idea that is worth saving? Is there any aspect that you can remove and build upon to make it a stronger idea?
Connect the Dots
As you visually look at your story ideas, you may also find connections you hadn’t thought of or seen before when the idea was only in your head. You’ll be able to find the gaps in logic or pacing but also discover links between elements at the beginning and ending of your narrative.
Taking a step back to read through and analyze what you’ve written will also show you connections that will deepen your story’s structure, themes, and character arcs.
Perhaps you’ll also find new ways to tell the story that weren’t there before when the idea was only in your head. It’s possible you’ll see new directions to go and areas to explore now that your mind isn’t stuck on just the idea and has the freedom to brainstorm.
Final Thoughts
Breaking the cycle of keeping ideas in your head instead of getting them on the page will go a long way toward making you a more productive writer. It’s only once your stories come alive in front of you that they can grow and develop into something more than blips and fragments in your mind.
By breaking the habit of only thinking and not writing down, you will free your mind and imagination to explore your stories in new and exciting ways.
Happy Writing, and I’ll see you next time!
