What To Do With Ideas Once You've Got Them

Once you’ve collected a few ideas you can begin the process of turning some of them into stories. But first... 

Allow your ideas some time  

In the first instance, ideas in this rough and embryonic form benefit from being abandoned for a while. So leave them in the notebook and do nothing with them. Allow them to germinate. Several times I’ve returned to ideas after months, or even years, and found that they’ve somehow developed, taken on a new life. I was thinking about them, somehow, without realising that I was. 

Ask what sort of idea it is 

Ponder the idea as a whole. What should it become? How big or small is it? Should it be a play or script? A scene? A series? A thread in a larger story? Or is it, in fact, more than one idea? Or half an idea that needs something else to put with it? How serious (or light) is it? [...] 

Interrogate the idea 

Give some thought to the details of the idea. At this stage it’s probably malleable. It can change. Don’t accept that it must stay as it is when you first wrote it down. You might be able to persuade it in several different directions. [...] 

Reject the idea 

Don’t be afraid to throw out the original idea. Sometimes the thinking about it, the interrogation of it, will lead to more interesting ideas. It’s tempting to cling onto the image or thought that started your thinking. That’s how it all begins – three people standing round an ironing board – we have to keep that. But you don’t. Your story has moved on. That ironing board is now in the way. You can, and sometimes should, ditch the idea that gave rise to it. 

Recycle the idea 

If you think you’ve come up with a good idea but no one wants it, don’t throw it out. Put it in store and revisit it later.