The thing is, people are NATURAL storytellers, even the planest most uncreative person on the planet knows how a story works if they've every listened to a bedtime story, or seen a TV show. You internalize how story works, and almost anyone can hammer one out. BUT the difference between writers and storytellers and people that DON'T get paid to write, is that you'll find quite a few (I would put my money on most), WRITE ALL OF THEIR STORY IDEAS DOWN. In a single day, the average person probably gets a minimum of three story ideas. Now a caveat, these ideas WILL suck 99% of the time, hardly anyone gets a "OMG! That's the best idea for a story ever!" ideas that totally bowl them over, and that they are supernaturally compelled to hammer out in three days and sell immediately for a million bucks. You might THINK that you have had an idea like that, but I can promise you that's a trick, almost every story idea you've ever had has most likely been roosting in your subconscious for a long time, and you finally put the pieces together in your mind and have the story idea. If you WRITE all of your ideas down, you are able to pick and choose between the best ideas you have, but it lets you get them OUT of your head, so you can step back and really start thinking about the idea. 

 

You need to start building up your ideas, write them down and keep them organized. You also don't know exactly when an idea will hit you so make sure you have some way to record your idea, it doesn't necessarily HAVE to be a notebook, I know writers who have voice recorders, who use their memo function on their phone, or who even write it on their arm when they have nothing else to record on. The important part is getting the idea down, because then it takes the first step from a mental abstract, to something with structure there on the paper. 

 

Putting your idea down is the first step to taking that big scary step, that most people never ever take. Most people think, "Oh hey, Wouldn't it be cool if a Samurai was sent through time and had to fight a Cowboy?", and then forget about it and never think about it again, and it fades into nothingness.

 

At which point you're probably saying, "Well yea, because that sounds like it would suck, and that was totally done in _________ movie, and blah, blah.", To which I would say, YEA it probably would, but you've got no idea what it could turn into unless you write it down, and remember it, really, lets talk about worth here, what's worth less? A bad script, or no script at all?

 

A bad script can be improved, a none existent script doesn't miraculously transubstantiate into a existent script, much less a bad one. So what's better, a bad script you can improve? Or the ghosts of stories that could of existed but didn't?   

 

So here is your first advice, WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN, you don't know how long down the road you might need your treasure trove of ideas, so start storing them away now, a bunch of bad ideas with an occasional one that can turn into a great idea is far better than an no ideas at all. 

 

If you'd like me to join in on the Writers thread over in Mogulville jump right in here. See you next week!