What to Do with Your Story Idea

My passion project died, and last weekend I buried it.

We all have a project like this one - one that we've been thinking, writing, sketching, and talking about for years. Mine was a collaboration between myself and my two high school best friends: a graphic novel of epic proportions with action, betrayal, magic, plot twists, and high stakes. It was everything we wanted in a story that we hadn't seen since the likes of Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. Our idea was going to change everything.

Last weekend on a long drive with my wife, we were talking about how we spent our spare time in high school. I didn't even have to think - in every study hall, free period, or end of class, I would get my schoolwork done as quickly as possible and get to drawing. I would draw all sorts of things, but a lot of it had to do with this project. It was in that moment in the car that I realized that passion project was a big deal to me, but somewhere along the way, I realized it was dead in the water. How did I come to this conclusion? And why didn't I feel like I'd lost something significant?

Does your story idea belong in the land of the living? The only way to know is to explore your options.

1. Consider Medium

   Sometimes an idea is so powerful, it can be hard to put it in a box. Is it a picture book? A television series? People often look at the setting and characters of a story to determine its medium, but I disagree. Animal Farm by George Orwell is about a bunch of mouthy pigs taking over a farmyard. Sounds cute, but this is no picture book. Other may argue the theme is what makes Animal Farm for older ages, but a similar theme can be found in Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Seuss. There are few themes, settings, and characters that should be restricted to a certain medium or audience. What it ultimately comes down to is your voice and focus. How do you want to present the story? For example: if the story relies on a stuffy, eccentric narrator to relay information about a vast world, a novel may be the best direction. If the focus is on one specific character and a singular event that affects them, a picture book just might do the job.

2. Time Analysis

   Medium is vital in determining the how of your project. Once you know the scope of your project, you can determine if now is the right time to develop it. Look at your priorities. Log your hours for every day of a week. How much of that time is spent on things that can be set aside for the project? Most will find there's plenty of time spent in hobbies or entertainment, but some may be in life situations where a project is too burdensome, and may get in the way of rest, friends, or family time. That's alright - your project doesn't have to die because of the season you're in. As you'll see further down, stepping away from a project at the right time is just as important as working on it.

3. Critique Groups

   Find people to read your work! Being in a consistent writing group provides accountability, honest feedback, and a nourishing community for you and your project. Your first fans and critics should be people that know how to express what is or isn't working in your story.

   "But James," you say, "where can I find such wonderful people?" Every community has a gaggle of yammering, goofy, head-in-the-clouds folks who would love to critique your work. Who is teaching creative writing in your community? Who meets at your library? Are there any signings from local authors at the bookstore nearby? These are all good places to ask around first, and if you still turn up empty, consider national writing organizations like SCBWI, 12x12, and NaNoWriMo. Their resources go far beyond connecting writers - some offer workshops and networking opportunities.

   
   

   

   
   

4. Avenues - Traditional or Self-Publish

   Your critique group loves your project, and they have offered all the wisdom they possibly could. One draft, two drafts, three, maybe even eight drafts whiz by, and you feel ready for the world to see your work. Your path today is one that many writers didn't have in the recent past - do you want to produce, promote, and distribute your novel yourself, or will you take it to a publisher? That depends on how long you're willing to wait.

   Traditional Publishing

   From my conversations, I've gathered it can take 5 to 10 years for a new writer to get noticed by an agency or publisher. Are you and your project willing to wait that long? Is this project your one and only dream project, or will something else come along eventually? If you really believe this is your only story, it just might be worth the wait. Start researching agencies, and try to find an agent who has championed stories similar to yours. Learn how to query those agents (there are thousands of articles about it), and see how they respond. If they don't respond, it's often not a good fit. If they do respond but still reject you, pay close attention to their feedback - the notes they have for your story may give you the missing ingredient you need to make your project more publishable.

   Self-Publishing

   If you don't want to wait on publishers, or maybe you already have waited and think it's time to try something different, self-publishing has more potential for success than it ever has before. Social media gives writers the power to market their work and grow audiences organically, and places like Amazon will print and ship your books for you. There are some things you may not be able to do yourself that you'll have to invest in, like web developers, social media marketers, and illustrators (like me!). It comes down to how much you are willing to lay down for the sake of your story seeing the light of day. It's better for a low-sales book to exist and touch lives than to sit on the back burner forever!

5. Giving it Time

   In the midst of all of these things - critiques, querying, developing an audience, and taking workshops, you're going to have a lot of time to consider your project from every angle. Through time, often a writer can come to realize the project needs to take a break - or it might need to be buried. Some days you might be sick of staring at your project, and that's different. Everyone feels that way now and again, even with ideas that are working well. Other days, however, time may bring new insights, new ideas, and new directions for a project. Maybe the project needs to be a different medium, or perhaps a critique brought your entire project to a standstill. This is also natural! Time will tell you how committed you are to the project, and if it may be time to move on.

6. The Scrap Pile

   Time was what brought my dream project to its end. I realized I didn't have the skills or capacity to carry out this graphic novel without my high school buddies nearby, and I wasn't passionate about the story any more. I had learned too much in the past decade to let the project continue in its current form - it was actually a pretty bad story with a lot of gaps! However, just because my project is dead doesn't mean that great pieces of it can't be repurposed for something else. This leads me into my last bit of advice: don't get rid of your old projects! Keep those dusty 2,800-word drafts and half-drawn page layouts. Sometimes there's still good ideas within scrapped projects that can be used on the next project. Some of my best ideas come from looking at shows, movies, books, and even projects of my own and thinking: "Wow, I wish it had gone this way instead,". Write it down and try adding it to the story you're working on currently, or even jamming it into another scrapped idea you had written down. This is how projects are born - from scraps.

   
   
   
   

When you have a new idea, it can be paralyzing. I hope the steps above can drag your project out of stagnation, or give you hope in moving on to the next one. These processes can serve as a refining fire for your picture book, comic, or novel to see if you truly care about it. If you do, I desperately hope someone else will get to see it fully realized - who knows what new ideas it may spark in others? Thanks for tuning in, and keep your eyes peeled for next week's post about the pros and cons of digital and traditional mediums for illustration. Until then, safe travels!