What is the most important thing you need to start a story? The simple answer is an idea. Every great story starts from a simple idea. This could be as simple as ‘I want to write a story about this’ or a plot of a full novel.
Where do ideas come from? Authors often get asked this, but in truth there is no simple answer, because ideas come from everywhere and anywhere. My initial idea for the Venus King mystery series came when I was bored at work and started mentally coming up with a mystery story set in a retail store. The final product turned out to be completely different than this initial idea, but it was the springboard which I used for this series which is now close to spanning four books, and could go on for longer!
This isn’t the only place where ideas can come from. They can be sparked by other media, music, news, conversations, dreams, art, and an endless amount of other places.
But what if you can’t come up with any ideas? There’s no need to worry. Not everybody has a big lightning bolt moment or a ‘vision’ for a book idea. If you can’t find anything from your own life, then check out writing prompts. I have a whole list on my Pinterest board. You could also try going on a research trip to somewhere that interests or inspires you.
It’s a good idea to keep a notebook, or at least something to note ideas like your phone, on you at all times so you can make a list and add to it whenever anything strikes you. When you come to crafting a story, you can refer back to this list for ideas you might have forgotten about and go back to it when you’re running short.
Don’t worry about your ideas being completely original. Every idea has been done already, probably thousands of times already. You are putting your own spin on an old idea.
How do you turn an idea into a story? Look to Tolkien for an example. He first started writing The Hobbit when he was bored marking student papers so on the back of one paper he wrote the opening line ‘In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit’. This alone doesn’t make a story, so he started to think what a Hobbit was and why they lived in the ground. Eventually, this turned into one of the world’s most beloved works of childrens’ literature.
How do you know which ideas are good and which are bad? For this, you have to trust your instinct. Go with whichever one inspires or motivates you the most. You may want to combine your ideas to make them better. Start small then build upon them, as Tolkien did. It takes some experimentation and practise before you can tell which of your ideas are great and which should be ditched. Sometimes you still won’t know for certain until you have actually tried out the idea. It’s okay to abandon an idea or even a whole story if it doesn’t work or if you don’t enjoy writing it. I’ve abandoned many projects which weren’t working for me.
What are your methods of finding and developing story ideas? Tell me in the comments below!
J.A. Arundel 