NaNo Need-to-Knows: Picking Your Story Idea

Hey everyone! Today's my first vlog post for my NaNo Need-to-Knows series (click here for the list of posts as the series progresses). Right now, the vlog part is dealing more with survival strategies than technique (whereas my blog posts are more technical) so I thought I'd start at the very beginning.

The script I used for this vlog post is under the video.



October is here, and that means it’s time to start ramping up for NaNoWriMo. In case you’re unfamiliar with the term, NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month is a writing marathon where writers try to write a 50,000-word novel in the month of November.

It’s something I believe writers should try at least once, but NaNo is hard. I’m not going to lie. This will be my eighth NaNo, and I still have days in November when I wonder why I do it to myself.

But I always end November with a sense of accomplishment because I always get more done than I do in other months, even if I don’t get to 50,000 words.

It can be a bit of an overwhelming experience, especially for newbies, so I decided to start a blog and vlog series about things you need to know about and for NaNo. Hopefully it will make the process just a bit easier for you. I will provide the links to my blogs below.

Right now, my blog posts are dealing more with some story tips, while the vlogs are dealing with survival tips. And since this is Week 1 of the series, I thought I’d start with advice on deciding what you want to work on.

So you’ve decided you’re going to do NaNo, but you don’t know what you want to work on. What do you do?

My first tip is: Write what you wish you could read more of.

If you have been waiting for a book to come out about a pirate mermaid in space and it’s just not coming out, that could be your sign to write it yourself.

Bonus points because of the fact that you’re already passionate about your idea.

Which brings me to my next tip:

Pick the story idea you’re most passionate about.

If you have more than one idea that you want to get to, make sure you pick the one that makes your heart beat faster when you think about.

Writing is already a challenge. Racing time to write about 1,700 words a day makes it even harder. Accomplishing this mammoth task with a story that feels like a punishment to work on because you’re just not that into it is going to make NaNo almost impossible.

So don’t do it to yourself. Pick the idea you love.

But what to do if you’re equally passionate about both?

Pick the most complete story idea.

Once NaNo starts, you don’t want to stop to rework a story idea because it turned out not to be strong enough to carry a 50,000-word story.

So pick the idea with the biggest goals, the strongest inherent conflicts and the highest stakes. If your ideas lack those, it’s a good idea to figure them out for all of your possible options, and then compare.

I’ll providing tips on my blogs to help you with this.

But then, what if both stories are strong?

What if you’re equally passionate about two stories, and both of them come with everything you’d need to ever make them both awesome?

Just Pick One.

Yep, you heard me. If you’re wavering between two ideas, you’re really wasting time you could be spending on preparation or worse, on NaNo itself.

So if you trust your ideas, pick which one you’re going to write and promise to get to the other once this one is done. Be decisive and commit to one of your awesome ideas.

Or Pick Both.

Now we’re venturing into Rebel territory, but if you feel like you can handle it and you don’t want to leave one of your stories by the wayside, write both concurrently. I have a whole new series worth of advice for people who want to do this, but there’s just no time right now.

It’s not for everyone, though, so tread lightly. But just keep it in mind as an option, because if you have your heart set on NaNo’ing and you just can’t decide, it’s better to add 50,000 words across two books than it is to not write because you’re still wavering.

Before you go, do let me know if you’re going to do NaNo and leave your NaNo name so we can buddy up. Is this your first time or are you a veteran? Do you have any questions? What's your best advice for picking a story idea.

A to Z Challenge: Ideas

Usually, the whole writing journey starts with a single idea. You're probably going to get that new idea while you're innocently reading a book or watching a movie. 

Maybe you already have the first beginnings of an idea forming in your mind. That stirring in your soul when you close the book. That thought about: This can't be the end. What about so-and-so? What will happen to them if something or the other happens? 

And then, the next thing you know, you have an idea. Some people dismiss that idea and open a new book. Some of us, though, are consumed by that idea until we just want to write a few pages to get it out. 

But a few pages isn't enough. So you write a few more. 

You fall in love with the idea. With the characters. With the sheer joy of exploring your newly created scenario. With the joy of pure creation. 

At this point, my friend, you're screwed. 

The muse has you hooked, and she's a cruel cruel mistress. You'll be grumpy and agitated when you don't write. And often wracked by fears and doubts as you do. And yet somehow, you're still simply not happy unless you're writing. 

And then, as you settle into the routine (you know, the way people who ride a roller coaster again and again eventually can sleep on it.), things become complicated. 

Because while you adore the story you're working on, a new idea comes to you. 

Now suddenly you have a choice. Most new kids (me included when I was there) let my inspiration and ideas carry me from project to project. But the thing is, it's a real risk that you'll end up getting lost in your million new ideas. So lost that you won't know which one to pick up and which one to let lie. 

That's when the new kids start crying something along the line of: "Oh I just can't finish projects!" 

Well... no. You haven't taught yourself how to see anything through. Trust me on this: your muse is a terrible enabler. She will give you five new ideas for every single one you start. And five for each of those. And so on. 

It's your job to say: "Thanks muse, but can we please finish this story first?" 

It's always a choice you're making, even if you don't realize it yet. But if you ever want to get done, you need to commit to finishing one thing. Then the next. And the next. 

Or, you might be like me and you'll learn how to actually work on seven projects at any given time and still finish all of them in a year. 

But that's a skill I learned first by learning how to finish one book, and then two. So focus on that first. Focus on finishing your stories, or your ideas will remain ideas only. 

Where did your first idea strike you? How soon after that did the second idea hit? 

When Ideas Make Love

Hi all! I'm finally back on my own blog, but today I'm welcoming Tara Maya to MFB. Tara is the author of the Unfinished song series, which is available at Amazon here, here and here.

When Ideas Make Love


Recently I heard of the notion that progress is made when ideas make love.  

This is true of ideas in writing as well. 

One of the dangers in writing—any kind of writing, but, I fear, especially genre writing—is that you will settle for a cliché instead of a fresh idea. Orson Scott Card once warned that when you brainstorm for a new idea, the first couple that pop into your head are going to be clichés. Cliches are the low-hanging fruit of the archetypal world. In his example, he would ask a class of science fiction writers to design a race of aliens. Inevitably, in class after class, the first few “aliens” suggested would be reptilian or dog-based or cat-based…each class churned up the same tired ideas unless challenged to step past that first easy, over-obvious thought. Lazy thinking leads to stale writing.

One trick to overcome this is to mate two unrelated images. Let us say you have a story about three soldiers trying to make their way home after a war. You might allude to an archetypal antecedent such as the Odyssey, which is also about a warrior trying to make his way home after a war. Adhere to this too closely, and you’d just have a retelling of the Odyssey—which is fine if that’s what you want, but let’s assume you don’t want it that close. So maybe you also throw in an homage to the Zodiac. Your hero’s journey takes a year and in each month he encounters a monster or obstacle related to the astrological sign of that month. This is pretty absurd, but that’s what makes it work—especially if your story has nothing to do with the Zodiac. It’s not something you need, or want, to make obvious. You don’t have the hero say, “It’s time to meet the Embodiment of Pisces.” What I’m talking about is not the overt mythology or world-building in your story, but just the opposite. I’m talking about taking a wild card and throwing it in the mix.

What does this do? It forces your creative mind to get off the easy road of cliché and go to work. “Hm,” you think, “In Yawning Moon month, they should meet a element related to a fish. But they are traveling through a desert. How are they going to meet a fish? Hey, what if they come to a temple built from the fossils an ancient marine sea monster….” Until that moment, you might not have realized that there was a temple built from fossils in the desert!

You can use this technique for deepening characters too. It can help to have secret totems for your characters. These are metaphors that you don’t share directly with your readers, only indirectly. For instance, if you character is a were-elephant, that’s not a secret totem. You share that with the readers openly. But you might have a character who is not a were-elephant or directly related to elephants in any way, who is nonetheless elephant-like in mannerisms or body-build, etc. I’m not even sure what the distinctive mannerisms of an elephant are, but again, the point is that this absurd metaphor forces you to think about your character in an unexpected way, and you discover things about him that you didn’t know.

Some people will say, “Don’t use dragons,” “Don’t use vampires” or “Don’t use elves” because these are over done. I don’t agree. I think that such archetypes can still offer fresh and wonderful stories, if you shake off clichés and continually surprise readers. When you use this technique, you surprise yourself with what you come up with. If you, the author, are surprised by the twists in the story, chances are the readers will be too—surprised and delighted.


Thanks so much for the great guest post, Tara. So all, do you mix seemingly unrelated ideas to freshen up your writing?

Where do you get your ideas?

Cher Green, intrigued by the written word, has made it a life goal to bring her stories to life and share them with others. Cher writes in many genres, spanning from horror to romance. Her work has appeared in such magazines as, “Untied Shoelaces of the Mind,” and “Spinetinglers.” For more information on this author, visit: http://www.chergreen.com

Where do you get your ideas?

First, I’d like to thank Misha for inviting me to her blog. I’m delighted to be here. I’d like to talk about ideas and where they come from.

One of the most common questions asked of a writer is, “Where do you get your ideas?” The answers may vary from “Life” to “Dreams.” I’m sure every writer has his/her own answer to this, and it is sure to vary depending on the story.

My favorite answer to this question is ‘My Muse’. I get some strange looks with this response, but I’m sure you writers know what I’m referring to. She’s a touchy creature, expecting daily attention. Ignore her for a day, and she may disappear for a week.

I like to think of an idea as a seed. The seed may come from life, dreams, prompts, images, etc. After you plant this seed, the rest is done with sprinkles of imagination dust. The more you nurture it, the larger and healthier the creation will grow.

With my debut novella, Escape to Love, it all began with a free-writing session which centered on a woman, a portal, and an unseen man. It took a few days for the seed to sprout but when it did my main characters, Constance Spenser and Lawrence Wilder, came to life, and the main conflict became more than just a portal.

Roots, branches, and leaves grew, producing a tale of a woman searching for happiness, and a man determined to escape the clutches of his life. New characters appeared along the road of creation, the stakes grew deadly, and conflicts blossomed.

The creating of a story, for me, is very similar to growing a flower from a seed. The joy of watching it grow and produce buds is a wonderful feeling. Having others enjoy the sight is absolutely amazing.

Where do you get your ideas?

To learn more about my debut novella, Escape to Love, and read an excerpt from the book, visit my website. To purchase a copy, visit eTreasures Publishing. Take a stroll with me as I move along in my writing journey at my blog, Footsteps of a Writer. Hope to see you there.

Thanks so much for stopping by, Cher, all the best with your new book! So ladies and gents, if you want more information or to check out Escape to Love, here are some links:

eTreasures Publishing

My website

My blog