Story Ideas: 5 Tips for How to Get to Work When the Ideas Won’t Quit Coming

Recently, one of my students contacted me with a problem that is also a blessing. She has too many story ideas. She has ideas for preschool magazine activities. She has magazine and book ideas for high school aged readers. Then there’s her elementary nonfiction series idea. “How do I narrow this down?”

When some writers have more story ideas than they can pursue right now, they freeze up. These five steps can thaw that freeze and allow the writing to flow.

1. Write your ideas down. It doesn’t matter if you use an app like Notepad or an actual paper journal, record your ideas. Once you’ve written them down, you’ll stop worrying about forgetting them. Don’t worry about the quality of the idea. Write it down so you can get to the next step.

2. Check your time. How much time do you have to write? If you are a student with a paper due or there is a big event, like a wedding, birth or move, in the near future, your writing time is probably limited. If that is the case, you might want to pick a shorter project to work on, a magazine piece or poem vs. a novel or series idea. I’m not saying one type of writing is easier but that a shorter project can often be drafted in less time.

3. Check the timeliness of your ideas. Some ideas, like those that celebrate an anniversary, will be marketable now, but not in the future. Seasonal ideas are marketable six to nine months in advance. Is there something that is timely or seasonal? Then you might want to work on that.

4. The idea that won’t let you go. Do you have an idea that is pursuing you? One that you find yourself thinking about at various points throughout your day? Then put that one at the top of your list.

5. Pick three. Once you’ve considered the above, pick three ideas. Rank them first, second and third. Then get to work on #1. You pick three because, once you get started, you may hit a block. Maybe you are waiting for information you need to write the next section. Or you may need to think through a problem. With three “top” projects you can rotate through them and write as your mood, energy or time allows. This can help you keep writing instead of coming to a complete halt.

Having dozens of ideas is a blessing as long as you learn to work around them and keep the words flowing. If there are additional techniques that work for you, please consider sharing them in a comment below.

--SueBE

To find out more about Sue Bradford Edwards' writing, visit her blog, One Writer's Journey.  Sue is also the instructor for Writing Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults. The next session begins May 20th, 2019.