P: Potential Energy: Deciding Your Next Project
Many of us authors have way more ideas than we know what to do with, and not only that, but they tend to come at the most inopportune times. With so many ideas, how do we know which to follow and which to leave? Which idea is worth pursuing as your next project?
Know How Many Projects You Can Write At Once
This will obviously affect how many ideas you can follow at once. I used to work on something like half a dozen projects at a time, until I decided to focus solely on The Dark War Trilogy and found that I’m way more productive when I limit myself to one project at a time. Experiment, find out what works, and use that to inform your decisions with story ideas.
What Idea Are You Passionate About?
What idea makes you start babbling to yourself about the possibilities? What idea makes you grin? What idea makes you want to dig deeper? That’s the idea you should most strongly consider for your next project. What about it excites you? What do you find yourself daydreaming about? Start with that and expand from there until you have a full-fledged story.
What Idea Can You Not Stop Thinking About?
Similar to above, which idea grips you and won’t let go? Which idea keeps sneaking into your thoughts? Figure out what’s so fascinating about it and go from there.
What Idea Is Most Developed?
What idea is already fairly well fleshed-out? This may sound lazy, but if it’s already significantly developed that means your brain liked it enough to build on it, even subconsciously, which is a pretty good indicator of a worthy idea.
What About All the Ideas You Can’t Use?
But now what happens to all the ideas you’re unable to write? First, try implementing them into existing stories. If you can’t do that, consider writing them as short stories if you can’t develop them into full novels, or giving them to fellow writers who are struggling for ideas.
Not sure how to successfully finish your new project? Check out my post 5 Tips To Help You Stick To a Writing Project!
Want access to two idea ranking worksheets?
How do you determine a good idea? What writing project are you really passionate about right now?
In answer to that question: I think that a story that sounds like something I would enjoy reading is a good idea. I’m currently working on planning a story about a young woman named Jane who teleports back to the time and place of her 12-greats-grandmother’s diary. She was a pirate and Jane ends up joining her crew.