How To Choose What to Write Next

I wouldn’t have guessed it five years ago, but there is such a thing as having too many ideas. Writing ideas, at least. It seems to happen to me on a weekly basis now: a fabulous idea for a new novel, begging to be written. This year I’ve felt like I’ve had twenty-two story ideas, seven half-started drafts, and…very little to show in the way of completed books.

Because I’ve discovered I can’t write all of these stories–not all at once, at least. I’ve got to choose which one to focus on at any given time. Maybe you’re the same. Maybe while you’re penning your historical seamonster trilogy, the idea for an erotic Frankenstein fanfic calls your name. And then a horror short story, and a long blog post on chastity belts.

Which project do you work on first?

I’ve created a solution that helps me prioritize projects this year: organizing my many ideas by scoring them on three dimensions: joy/excitement, growth potential, and estimated market value.

How do you try this? First, write down all your current project ideas. You can do this on a simple sheet of paper, or, better yet, index cards for each project. I use the Index Card app  on my iPad Mini, which is fabulous because I can move project cards around and color-code them (the best solutions always involve color coding). Whatever format you choose, just don’t add up the scores on these projects until you’ve rated every idea on these three dimensions.

The first dimension: joy. Look at each project and decide, on a scale of one to ten, how excited you are to write it. Zero means you have absolutely no interest, five means you’d be okay writing it; and ten means you wouldn’t want to do anything else (including swimming in a non-calorie chocolate sea with hot naked lifeguards on watch). Be honest, and right now don’t consider how marketable the idea is, how much your sister loves it, or the amount of work it might take. Think simply about how much joy it would bring you. Gauge your feelings right at this monent– you can change them down the line.

Next, think about how much that project could lead you to grow as a writer. Will this novel expand your skills and experience in ways other stories haven’t? I give higher scores to projects in different genres or different formats. If you’ve only written standalone books, starting a series will grow you as a writer. So will writing a 7,000-word short story if you’ve only written novels. I usually give at least a seven to novels, since I always find them challenging, but your mileage may vary. It’s less important what your rating criteria is than being consistent throughout your scoring. And, yes, half-points are okay.

After this comes the trickiest question: how marketable is this project? Read widely in your genre, talk to other authors, and observe the marketplace to the best of your ability. Are you writing a unique type of story that you’re guessing readers will crave? Or is it another addition to an oversaturated subgenre? Possibly you’re writing in a popular genre, but those books are still selling like hot cakes. Use your best judgment here.

Finally, add up the three numbers under each project to give them an overall score. Then, arrange or color-code your projects with a highlighter to see which ideas have the highest scores. The ideas that come out on top are projects that are your best bets to work on next: overall, they provide the best combination of joy, growth, and marketability of your current ideas. You’re going to get the best juice for your squeeze here.

The results of this scoring may surprise you, as it often does me. Sometimes a project doesn’t seem very marketable to me, but it has so much joy and growth potential, I know it’s something I’d be wise to work on soon. Other times a project has great growth and marketability, and, combined with a decent excitement level, presents as a solid project.

As I alluded to above, these scores change over time. It’s worth revisiting your projects list every few months to consider if the excitement or market worth of a project has shifted, for better or worse.

Which criteria do you use to prioritize writing projects?