Story Ideas

I'm not an idea person. While I consider myself to be creative, I'm better at taking an idea and running with it than I am at coming up with original concept. That explains why I will never be an outliner. 

The few times I actually started a story with an idea, it didn't lead to a compelling narrative. Granted, my "ideas" were rudimentary; a woman buys a broken-down motel and proceeds to renovate it; a 14-year-old girl runs away from home during the Summer of Love. And so on.

Those weren't really ideas, just concepts. In the hands of a talented writer, they could have turned out great. But any idea can.

I wrote a post about wannabe writers who've had an idea stuck in their heads for years, and now they're finally ready to write it. That must be an extraordinary idea, except it's almost certainly not. Everything is derivative, and logically so. People like tropes, whether they admit it or not. Ever watch a movie that made absolutely no sense? I've started watching a couple of those and I switched them off. Being different just for the sake of being different isn't a path to wide acclaim. 

Why do all the writing experts stress story beats? Because readers expect a certain order of things. 

Ideas are ideas, just like songs are songs. As a former songwriter, I know that the way a track is produced makes all the difference between a stunning product and a "ho-hum; been there, heard that". It's not the idea; it's the execution of it that matters. And that's where so many of these would-be writers get stuck. "But my idea was great!" Unfortunately, it takes more than that. 

Don't get me wrong; I'm not holding myself out as any kind of expert. My in-progress novel, that I once absolutely loved, is currently in limbo. Sure, it has an interesting concept, but I obviously haven't executed it well.   

I don't have the answer to why a great idea rarely pans out. Well, yes, I do. Talent. A writer with natural talent can take anything and turn it into an interesting story. Absent talent, I guess one needs to do lots of study to know what to do and what not to do, and they need to fail a lot and learn from their failures. 

I think they also need to know when to move on. If that awesome idea isn't going anywhere, stop trying to force it. Get a new idea. That's good advice I should have taken a few times, except I was stubborn. Where did my obstinance get me? Absolutely nowhere. Sure, I finished those stories and even published them, but when a writer finds herself stuck trying to write the blurb, maybe that's a sign that the book just isn't interesting. 

I would have learned just as much by finishing (or not finishing) those stories and then tucking them away. Admitting it was time to come up with a new idea.