Too Many Story Ideas? - Bethany Henry

Having too many story ideas seems like a weird problem to have. Yet it can sometimes be just as difficult as having no ideas at all!

The Problem of Too Many Story Ideas

Having too many story ideas is distracting.

Every new idea is shiny. It’s interesting to explore new things and soon we’ve lose interest in what we’re working on- those old ideas are so boring at this point!

This leaves us never focusing on any one project long enough to finish it.

This is a big problem.

Having too many story ideas is also confusing.

We have so many ideas it’s hard to know which idea is best or how to possibly pick just one to write about.

We don’t want to neglect or throw away ideas that have merit- but how do we know which ideas have merit? How do we know if we’re picking the best ideas? What if we spend all our time on a bad idea?

This is overwhelming.

Ideas are great and we want to train ourselves to always be curious, to ask why, to look closely, to imagine “what if” and dream weird dreams.

But we also need to know how to use those ideas well so that they don’t overrun us.

6 Tips On Managing Story Ideas

1- Recognize There Will Always Be Ideas

We need to recognize there will always be ideas- sometimes we’re scared the ideas may dry up if we don’t use them all RIGHT NOW but we can have faith and know they will come again. Trust the process.

2- Save Them

Whether it’s in a notebook somewhere or an ongoing google drive document, have a place to jot down the bits and pieces of cool ideas as they come to you. These are great to be able to go back to later, and it’s also useful to help us not feel overwhelmed trying to remember it all.

3- Pick One

Often we need to just pick an idea and go with it.

One idea we follow through with is more valuable than 100 ideas we never act on.

Read more on how to choose a story idea.

4- Combine Them

I know, I know. I just said to choose one and now I’m saying combine them?

Sometimes we look through our story ideas and we realize common themes keep turning up- use that. Sometimes there are concepts that just become 10 times better when we combine them with each other- use that.

We don’t need to worry about running out of ideas or saving that “really cool bit” for later. There will always be ideas (see above).

5- Explore Further

If you’re still feeling you have too many ideas to just focus on one, maybe try using the ideas as brief writing prompts or for short stories to explore several ideas further.

These exercises can help reveal which ideas have merit and which ones you may still feel excited about.

Then you can pick one (see above) and set the rest of the ideas aside for some other day.

6- Keep Writing!

Don’t let the ideas keep you from writing- if anything they should inspire us to keep going!

After all, we have a multitude of stories to tell.

One of my favorite techniques for completing my projects without getting distracted is to write my first drafts as quickly as possible. This allows me to at least finish the draft.

Finishing our stories is essential.

Occasionally a project should be abandoned but that should not be our immediate go-to. By finishing projects we can share our work with others and we can grow as writers.

So keep writing! Let’s harness our ideas, let’s play with them, and let’s put them to work!