You have a great idea for a story.

Now what?

What do you do with that great idea?

How do you add weight to it and make it a rich and satisfying book?

First things first.

I strongly recommend that you write down each and every single story idea you ever have. If you are sitting in a coffee shop and you hear a conversation at the next table and it sparks a story idea, grab a napkin and write it down, or send yourself an email. Make sure to honor and respect these ideas because they can turn into your next great book.

Also, try to keep some sort of system to organize your story ideas.

This is one of my bigger challenges. I have ideas on my computer, on my phone, and of course in various notebooks. I once read about an author that kept a shoe box full of slips of paper with story ideas written on them. I like the image of that. I can visualize sticking my hand into a shoe box and drawing a slip of paper out. The winning slip of paper would be the next project to work on – kind of like winning your own lottery.

The Big Step

Second, of course, is turning the great idea into a book or at least testing the potential of that idea to see if it can stand on its own or if it becomes a part of a larger whole.

For example, my husband and I took a trip to Crested Butte, Colorado a few years ago. As we were making the drive I had the pleasure of sitting in the passenger seat and enjoying the view. My imagination took over, as it often does, and I daydreamed about a woman on the run from a bad boyfriend. Her car broke down and she started walking down the long road in the middle of the Colorado countryside. She was picked up by a kind woman on her way to pick up her son from his job at the ranch. My daydream heroine opted to stay the ranch, and sleep in the very well appointed stables, while her car was being fixed but was warned to stay out of sight because the owner of the ranch was a loner. He of course catches her in the barn and that’s where my idea ended.

 I loved the idea but wasn’t sure where to take it.

Could it stand alone as a story or did it need to be a single scene in a larger plot? This story idea rattled around in my brain for a few years before I pulled it out and tried to make something of it. I created this process, this workbook, and it helped pull everything together. Hopefully, it’ll help you too!

It’s a free download.

You don’t have to sign up for anything. You can find it here or visit the Worksheets and Free Downloads page and take advantage of all the resources.

And if you’re still looking for a great story idea or your muse has left the building, maybe my new book 1001 Romance Story Starters can help.  It’s available for instant download at Amazon and Smashwords.

Happy writing!