Developing—and choosing between—book ideas

A look at the earliest steps in my story development process

Dedicated notebooks for three stories I’m currently working on

Today I’m going to tackle another subscriber question. Julie asked:

How do you come up with story ideas and how do you choose which one to write next? Where/how do you save ideas for later?

I love this question because it focuses on a part of the creative process that I haven’t covered much: the ideation phase.

I have a LOT of book ideas. Literally hundreds. But most of these ideas are so vague/broad that I am nowhere near ready to sit down and draft them. I’m not even ready to truly brainstorm them. So how do I keep track of everything? At what point do I decide to seriously pursue an idea?

It starts with what I think of as a predecessor to an actual story idea: a story kernel.

Story kernels

A story kernel is a piece of a larger idea, not yet capable of growing into an actual book. Why? Because this kernel—part of a seed—is dormant or lacking. It hasn’t germinated yet, often because the idea is missing some crucial story-telling element that will let it sprout.

For my story ideas to sprout, I typically need a setting (world), problem (plot), and someone trying to solve said problem (protagonist).

Most of my kernels have the potential to sprout, but for now, they are resting and waiting for that growth to begin.

Sometimes my story kernels are just a setting—a location that I can see in my mind or some extremely detailed world-building note about an even bigger world I can’t yet see clearly. Sometimes a kernel is a single scene: two characters doing something, a random inciting incident, the glimpse of a climax… but no greater plot. Sometimes the kernel is just a top level concept, like “If months had faces / were people.”

I keep all my story kernels in a single document in the Notes app on my phone. And yes, the above concept example is one of the things currently saved in that document, as you can see in the below screenshot. You can also see the initial story kernel that went on to eventually became Dustborn.

A screenshot of “story kernels” in my Notes app. The second example went on to become my most recent release, Dustborn

I add to this document when new ideas come to me, and I scroll through it every few months to see if any of the ideas speak to me or grab me with renewed enthusiasm.

This is the one time in my creative process where I promise myself to not think critically at all. Literally everything gets written down. There are no bad ideas. I never delete things. I do sometimes reorder them, so ones I’m less interested in are at the bottom, but I tell myself that every kernel has potential, even if I can’t see it yet.

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Story ideas

If I keep thinking about one of those kernels, it will inevitably start to germinate. Suddenly, the idea will have that magic trifecta (world + character + problem/plot), and now that it’s sprouting, it’s too big for the Notes app. It needs a bigger pot, so to speak.

Enter: a dedicated notebook.

“Dedicated” means the only thing allowed in this notebook are ideas for this particular story. I will plot in this notebook, flesh out characters, worldbuild, draw maps, sketch locations, write scenes longhand, ask myself lots of questions. Anything and everything.

I like having an analog place for this type of thinking. I’ve found that working on the computer feels so formal. It’s too easy to overthink things, get stuck in editing circles, or simply stall out. But there is something freeing about being able to brainstorm in analog. Nothing is final. It’s very open. Paper is where you can experiment without any pressure.

Austin Kleon

says it best in Steal Like an Artist, when he advocates for having a digital and analog split to your office and/or process:

“The computer is really good for editing your ideas...but it’s not really good for generating ideas. There are too many opportunities to hit the delete key. The computer brings out the uptight perfectionist in us—we start editing ideas before we have them.”

Amen.

If you want a better peek at some of my notebook pages, you can click through to these insta posts:

heyerin

A post shared by Erin Bowman ⚡️ (@heyerin)

heyerin

A post shared by Erin Bowman ⚡️ (@heyerin)

The first post is a photo set which shows four maps/scenes I’ve sketched during brainstorming/drafting. The second post shows part of a final timeline for Contagion, which I added to my notebook during revisions.

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Story drafts (and beyond)

Once I feel like I understand my story world and characters enough to start getting the plot on paper, I finally move to the computer and write the darn story.

I’ll continue to use my dedicated notebook(s) to plan/puzzle things out as I go—like with Contagion’s final timeline—but for the most part, I’m mostly working digitally from this phase on. If I get stuck, if I’m uncertain about something, if I need a revision plan, etc…? Back to analog. After I figure it out in the notebook, I shift back to the computer.

My notebook (analog workspace) is never far from my computer (digital workspace), not even if I’m away from my office and working in a cafe (as shown below).

heyerin

A post shared by Erin Bowman ⚡️ (@heyerin)

I use Scrivener to draft and revise. It is my favorite writing software

¹

. I truly do not know how I used to write books in Word.

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Choosing between ideas

So… that’s my rough process for keeping track of and developing story ideas. But part of Julie’s original question involved how I choose between ideas. This is a little more complicated for me than it used to be.

When I was an aspiring author, I simply wrote whichever idea I was most excited about. Excitement is definitely a continued factor for me today, but now that I’m published, I also have to keep a few other factors in mind. What does my published body of work look like so far? What might readers want/expect from me next? What are my contractural obligations? What’s currently selling well and what is currently oversaturated?

I never write solely to trends, but it doesn’t hurt to understand the pulse of the market. If readers want another YA western from me, but westerns are a hard sell and my latest western sales weren’t great, my publisher isn unlikely to agree to another novel in this genre from me.

²

If thrillers are super hot (as they are right now), but I don't have one written, the trend could be fading by the time I draft/sell one.

³

None of this makes or breaks things when I’m deciding what to work on next. But it’s good to keep in mind.

I also have to consider my contract’s option clause. Most publishing contracts will include a clause that gives the publisher the first look (and ability to offer on/buy) the author’s next novel. My agent typically negotiates very narrow option clauses for me, such as “Erin’s next middle grade fantasy” or “Erin’s next YA sci-fi”. This allows me a bit of freedom to pursue projects/contracts outside of those terms as needed/desired.

If I have an option to fulfill, I typically send some rough story ideas to my editor and she’ll let me know if any speak to her. If so, I’ll work on that next.

If I don’t have an option to fulfill, I can pursue more options. I usually chat with my agent about what she feels is my next best step, career-wise. Then I’ll toss some of my ideas her way and we’ll try to figure out where I should focus my efforts.

Of course, every once in awhile I get so excited about an idea that I work on it without telling anyone and eventually end up emailing my agent with, “Here’s 50p of something new, what do you think?”

At the end of the day, choosing which idea to write next comes down to my personal excitement levels for the project and what makes the most sense from a business/strategy perspective.

If a story doesn’t strategically make sense at the moment and my heart isn’t bursting at the seams to write it, that idea can stay in its dedicated notebook until it’s time for me to revisit it. There’s no harm in letting it marinate a little longer. Besides, some of the best story breakthroughs come when you’re focused on something else.

Now I’m curious…

How do YOU decide what story idea to write next? How do you develop story ideas and do you have a method for saving/organizing them? Tell me in the comments!

Until next time,

1. I’m not even getting paid to say this, I promise!

2. This is exactly what happened a few years ago. Westerns have always been hard sells in the YA space, Retribution Rails didn’t have as great sales as hoped for, and my publisher passed on my next western idea.

3. I actually do have one of these ready; it’s the book that’s been on sub for over a year. Sometimes a ms that fits current trends isn’t always a fast sell, as that space can be crowded and competitive on publisher’s lists.