How do I know if my idea is good enough for a publisher to buy it? A better question might be would someone want to read about…? You can fill in the blank space with your story idea. Make it as brief as possible. If you are trying to sell a story about Jack and the Beanstalk, you might write, “Jack has some magic beans that will allow him to enter the home of a giant. Will he try to befriend the giant? Will he steal from the giant? What will he do? Pick what you think is the best story idea and run it by friends. Don’t be offended if someone says, “that story has been done.” Just say I know that, but my story will have these new angles. You will know by how people react to your “new angles” if you have a winning story.
If you find you have the story people want to read, set it aside. See if you can find another two or three new angles people want to read about. You may never write any of the stories, but you have taught yourself how to kickstart new story ideas. Start collecting these story ideas in your journal until one refuses to stay quiet, and you just know you have to write about it – “it was his flip-flops that did it for me.” The more absurd it is, the better it is. Why? You’ll know when you find it!
