What Makes a Good Story Idea? | 5 qualities of a strong concept

[@coreyhuffman7607]

It's a dark night of the soul when you're halfway through a novel and realize the one thing that makes all the logic crumble 😂

[@ShaelinWrites]

Noooo I hope you can find a way to make it work!!

[@coreyhuffman7607]

@@ShaelinWrites This was actually many years ago, shoulda been more clear on that haha. All good now 🙂

[@uglystupidloser]

i think logic is overrated. if we can put up with peter jackson's lotr, then i think you're fine

[@mischarowe]

@@uglystupidloser Logic is actually a useful tool. If you ignore it too much it'll bite you in the butt.

[@SOLIDSNAKE.]

Lmfao

[@leonthelad3208]

I believe in ‘there are no new ideas/every story has already been told’ solely because it brings me comfort. I’m already a perfectionist. I do NOT need the worry of being original tainting my experience lol. I understand the nuance to those phrases, and maybe I don’t believe in them fully, but I need a buffer between my logical brain and creative brain or else I’ll just implode

[@ShaelinWrites]

I think it's one of those mantras where if it brings you comfort then it's great to stand by it, and if it doesn't, then it's great not to!! Personally I like the idea that it's still possible to be original, so I don't really hold that philosophy true for myself, but I think your explanation makes total sense as well!!

[@JC-yy8iv]

I kinda think that some interpretations (in my opinion, the good and useful interpretations) of “there are no new ideas” are compatible with what Shaelin is saying. Something more like “No story is going to be 100% original in every aspect of its concept and execution, so don’t torture yourself trying to eliminate every single little thing in your writing that has an obvious provenance.”

[@lianxie5582]

I mean it’s like saying Beouwulf and Shrek are the same story

[@charlotte-yp7ti]

not related to the video, but i just got my first acceptance to a literary magazine, and i wanted to say thank you for all your great videos on writing craft! your excellent advice has definitely played a huge factor in bringing me to where i am now, and your videos always motivate me to become a better writer :)

[@ShaelinWrites]

omg congratualtions!!!

[@billyalarie929]

The Good Place is one of the greatest shows ever made, top 5 without even thinking about it.

[@RodrickMarsMoon]

My method is always "was this already made before?", and if the answer is no, I just "well, it's mine now!" and start writing as if the world is ending 🤗😄.

[@outdoorscholar6016]

“ hippity hoppity, that concept’s gonna be my property”

[@RodrickMarsMoon]

@@outdoorscholar6016 Haha'. Be my guest 😄🤗.

[@Eluzian86]

Most of the ideas I've developed and love were from filling in areas missing in a particular genre. I feel you can do a lot if the same things common in a genre but make it fresh with 1 or 2 major differences. For example: I want to do a zombie story with the most common kind of zombie, slow movers. If I use a modern setting, then it won't likely feel that different from every other zombie book since the modern day is also the most common setting. Therefore, I change it up by using an ancient setting. My choice is 100 A.D., the golden age of the Roman Empire as well as the golden age of ancient China during the Han Dynasty which were connected by the Silk Road. I would have the outbreak begin in the middle, and write duel stories from each perspective. Another example would be to have a vampire story where the vampires form clans based on blood type. That kind of thing. Basically, you can have a unique story by changing just one or two things from the standard tropes, setting, or characters.

[@one_smol_duck]

This is a great video! There's nothing more frustrating than getting yourself halfway into a project and realizing the core idea just doesn't work. When I'm brainstorming for novels specifically, one extra bit of criteria I use to judge if it's a good idea is how easily it lends itself to side plots. If I'm brainstorming a story and all of my ideas fall in one plot thread, I will usually shelve the idea right there. Maybe it'll be fruitful another time, maybe I'll finally get around to writing short stories and save the idea for that. But for novels, I don't let myself run with a story unless my initial brainstorming starts to fork into different plot threads. To me, that's an indication that the idea is robust enough to support a novel.

[@baxterjaye3984]

I really struggle with the logic parts of stories because 1.) I'm terrible at recognizing plot holes and 2.) what's believable to me isn't believable to everyone else lol

[@cosmicprison9819]

I was working on my old fantasy fan-fiction story for 6 years, which I had pantsed even longer ago. The themes had naturally arisen out of the story, yet once I tried to make those themes consistent, the established plot points started clashing with the themes. Now I’ve been working on my own original sci-fi story for only the last year - this one started with the theme - and I’m already 300,000 words in (260,000 of that in the first book - I hope I can finish the first draft without going beyond 400,000 words, so that I don’t have to shorten too much of it 😂). So yeah, this one writes itself much more fluently, simply because the idea is more consistent. That said, there are still some roadblocks, as with every story. Notably, sometimes you want certain things to happen, but getting the characters there can feel like forcing an outcome. The obvious warning example of this practice is Game of Thrones Season 8.

[@PaulRWorthington]

Yes, I agree the core story ideas are crucial. So many non-selling books have blurbs that make me thing, "Really - you thought that was a book idea that would attract potential readers?" Even if a writer believes execution is far more important than the idea: Okay, but wouldn't that great execution be much more attractive and successful if it built on a great idea instead of a bad one? I forget which story guru it was -- maybe Matt Bird? -- who gave the good advice of: Before spending a year on an idea, tell a 2-3 sentence pitch of that idea concisely to a dozen random people -- in line for coffee for example -- and just see if enough people find it interesting. If no one asks to here any more than your pitch... it's probably not all that interesting an idea.

[@PaulRWorthington]

And yes, The Good Place was an amazing show. Great concept, even better execution, and fearless extension of that idea every season. Plus, a beautiful pitch-perfect conclusion.

[@tomlewis4748]

Execution is absolutely very important. Especially in structure. Often you can improve a scene by 1000% simply by manipulating the order of things. And often, you can do that without changing the content itself, hardly at all. Sometimes a simple change in the syntax or diction can have a surprisingly-positive effect. That said, it's really the content that rules. The core idea. If you don't have a story idea, and a good one, execution means nothing. There are a lot of 'recipes' on the internet, but I've yet to see one that shows how to make decent chicken salad out of chicken s**t. So I couldn't agree with you more. (sorry for the bluntness) I like that you've touched on the concept of preposterousness. I don't think that's binary, I think it exists on a spectrum. There are many things in the popular novel, The Silence of The Lambs, for instance, that are quite preposterous, and there are a number of plot holes (psychopaths smell like goats? Puh-leeez. Disproven, two months after the urban legend originated. If you're Clarice Starling in a basement in the dark having a running gun battle with a psychopath, even if he did smell like a goat-I mean, come on). Yet it's considered a good novel. But plot holes are surprisingly easy to get away with because the reader or viewer is caught up in the fictive dream, where they are not really thinking about logic or the past or the future or how the story fits together-they are caught up in the scene. It still will leave a feeling of incompleteness, eventually. Even if a reader doesn't consciously understand this, that can turn their four rating on Amazon into a three. Or less. Of course, I'm not advocating trying to sneak plot holes by the reader. One of my stories has a sub-story in it about an eight-year-old girl who goes homeless in Boston and fends for herself for seven years. I had to work very hard to make that not sound preposterous. She had to have certain key things happen such as connecting with people who could help her, and she had to be a person who had particular talents in order to make that story seem logical. As far as originality, if the story doesn't have a certain familiarity to it, it will be difficult for the reader to get oriented, or even want to. If it has too much familiarity in it, it will be difficult for the reader to stay interested. So the trick is finding the sweet spot. I think the thing to do is to shoot for a certain level of familiarity in the concept, and then innovate, innovate, innovate. 'Surprising yet inevitable' should likely be the goal.

[@ShaelinWrites]

“Surprising yet inevitable” love that!!

[@angelxxsin]

@@ShaelinWrites I've also seen this described as: "give people what they want, just not in the way they want it", which I've found super useful.

[@maya-gur695]

I'm developing an idea right now, so the timing of this video is amazing.

[@Joe-zk7ps]

This is super helpful. I can generate a lot of story ideas but knowing how to somewhat rate them before I start writing them helps a lot. These characteristics will help me evaluate.

[@cjpreach]

Ideas matter, but they gain value in their development.

[@annaconsta]

I would absolutely love to read something like the distopian novel with the idea you had. It is just my type of book. Distopia is not dead, just YA distopia seems not to be as wanted anymore. But the same concept doesn't have to be YA. Anyway, great video!

[@angelxxsin]

This happened to me and it can be brutal but the sooner you realize that the problem lies at the conceptual level the better--you can then cut your losses. I think I'd made it about 40k into the story before I realized the story just wasn't going to work, no matter how much fairy dust I sprinkled on it. I know this is kind of advanced storytelling stuff, but understanding the developmental stages of a story in terms of idea->premise->plot->story is crucial and I wish more people talked about it. This was a great video. I also disagree that it's all in the execution and that idea doesn't matter.

[@uglystupidloser]

i saw a video... that said have 24 plot points. and, i thought... a book... could have 24 chapters. so you could roughly map out what beats that your story needs to hit. and. you could have 4 acts. and try to estimate where you are in your 40k in the 4 acts. because you could probably just step back and see where you wanted to take your story... and then rip and tear and gut it until it is going in the direction that you think you want. and then... hopefully, repurpose the ideas that you had to take out in another way. because all writing is... is just us talking to OURSELVES. we are... doing a sock puppet show... on paper. so it can definitely be disheartening to backtrack so much and kill so many darlings... but you could probably dissect it.

[@johnhaggerty4396]

@@uglystupidloser The novel as a 24 plot point sock puppet show ? Hamlet has a sock puppet show within its sock puppet show yet says more about existence than any other play unless it's Lear. It may not be all in the execution but technique allied to truth is vital. Solzhenitsyn's Nobel Speech was titled 'One Word of Truth'. *Tolstoy cared about details you couldn't touch, too. Details like a mood, or a blush, or a silence.* Sophie Ratcliffe writing about Anna Karenina in her book The Lost Properties of Love (2019). *In the 847 pages of my paperback he tells us the precise colour of a mushroom, the type of leather on a sofa, and the way it feels to scythe a field of grass. He knows the places people keep their slippers and their dressing gowns, the particular North Sea Coast where their oysters are sourced.* Not puppets, real people in real time who are mixed up and all too mortal.

[@jimf2525]

I love you. Especially for this video, but also for several other great videos. Keep being so beautiful with your mind.

[@hannahnames2239]

I haven't even watched the video yet, but as someone who's been struggling to decide which story idea to write for Nanowrimo, I know this is going to help! Perfect timing.

[@uglystupidloser]

you could put 12 ideas into a bowl, take them out, one by one. and, if you hate the thought of writing about it for a month, then you could shelve it. i saw an asmr video about getting turned into a doll. and it was SO spooky. really got my imagination going. just the idea of feeling trapped, helpless, and in an alien environment. thought it might be a fun idea to tackle. don't know if i want to write about it for a month though. i actually have no idea.

[@____uncompetative]

You were supposed to decide last September, then develop that, and work on plot, characters, etc. through October, then blitz write every day of November based on that outline.

[@hannahnames2239]

@@____uncompetative there's no "supposed to" in writing, it's all about figuring out what works for you and doing that. If you like having things figured out in September that's great, but not everyone wants to do that.

[@wrigleyextra11]

Another stellar video Shae! "A situation not a story" was quite tricky for me, but I had it explained through Film Studies Workshop which somehow made it clearer to me - characters changing was a huge part of my blind-spot.

[@tomaszmazurek64]

Hey, I'm catching up on some of your recent videos and I wanted to say this advice is sooo good. Especially, for quite some time I've understood that there are interesting ideas that don't have "legs", so you can write a cool story about it or two, but it will not be enough to sustain a whole book or a series (in case of comics etc.). Describing this as "Story engine" and "it's a situation, not a story" makes it way easier to put my finger on it and to identify why some ideas or tropes work and are so popular. For example, in Polish fantasy there is a very popular trope of "a professional x", probably inspired by the Witcher series with "a professional monster hunter" (which itself was inspired by detective stories, but I am digressing). I myself wrote a short story series in that style 20 years ago. And looking through that lens, it's obvious that a hero who is "a professional x" can always get a new professional assignment and this will work as a very easy story generation engine. Similarly, school stories are also blatant easy story engines - you can just throw typical (or not so typical) school events at your characters and see how they react to them. And I guess tournament arcs are pretty similar to that. I will probably be thinking of various story engines throughout the day. Another idea I get here is that you can swap the story engine in the middle of the story, or have several - something that incidentally already mentioned Witcher does, when it switches from "professional x" to war and searching for a lost person as a new engine. And the "story vs situation" distinction is also a very useful concept. I've long noticed, that some authors of serialized media are very skilled at tying their episodic chapters in such a way, that they eventually naturally become less and less episodic and more of a coherent story over time, while others just keep writing one off episodes, or maybe arcs, but it never ties into something bigger. My favourite example of this being done well is currently the Kaguya-sama anime (and manga ofc), where after the fireworks episode at the end of first season, it feels like a gear shift, but a very gentle one, into story progression. And looking at this through this lens, I see that a big factor here is motivating the situation by giving the characters the goals and wants and needs that put them in this situation in the first place and allowing them to develop based on those motivations. Other concepts are also useful, but those two things were kind of an epiphany to me as far as evaluating and developing ideas goes. Thanks you!

[@Riurelia]

7:07 "This is not a story, it's just a situation" This resonates with me because I'm a beginner writer and I recently tried to write a story where a woman was sitting outside and the sound of the birds reminded her of when she was young. That's definitely not a story and I'm not sure how to turn it into one.

[@DzisiajwBetlejemSylwiaHazboun]

Maybe by making this memory something compelling, I once saw a movie where a woman threw a small stone in water and she remembered how she did it a few years earlier when she locked a man in a coffin whom she was smuggling pretending he is dead during war and she closed his coffin and the whole for oxygen and while he was suffocating she was throwing small Stones in water (because she stopped a car next to a lake). It's something usual which reminds of a dark secret from the past. Let the birds remind her of a dark secret

[@chaaaargh]

imo smaller more "snippet" like situations like this can often be good starters for short stories

[@heathergonzalez6890]

Fantastic! I like how you scooted up idea towards execution. I especially liked where you said the execution yes come from the writing but what it is built from is the idea. So cool. Have you read “Big Magic” by Elizabeth Gilbert? This video and a couple of others reminds me of that book. I appreciate and learn so much from how you teach-you named the concepts, explained them and their relationships to other elements as well as include examples. Thank you!!

[@-anonymous5408]

Big Magic is a fascinating read!

[@indigo92099]

Thanks a lot for your advice! I really enjoy your videos, every time I watch them, I learn something valuable and fresh (not stuff that has been said in every writing video)! Btw I think my biggest struggle with finding a good story idea is the 'story vs situation' problem... But now that I know that, it might help me to finally fix this

[@rev6215]

Your videos are the highlight of every friday

[@VideoGameRoom32]

I think a lot of good ideas is important but like you said execution is important. You can have a bad script and the director can still turn it to a good movie with some revisions.

[@johnhaggerty4396]

Ideas can be like watching wild animals. They shock and surprise us with their ferocity (komodo dragons) or their beauty (snow leopards). There is a scene in the film *The Last Tycoon* where the Irving Thalberg-like producer (Robert DeNiro) points out what is missing in a screenplay. The Thalberg figure acts out the scene himself, demonstrating the golden rule of holding the audience in suspense : surprise is an animal in motion. Gwendoline Butler's 1973 novel *A Coffin for Pandora* surprised and delighted me with the subtle and believable shifts in character dynamics. Even her opening sentence piqued my interest : *Oxford, like all great cities, is ruined once in every generation.*

[@SOLIDSNAKE.]

You're a genius! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us!

[@lesliemoiseauthor]

One of my favorite books has a great foundational idea, and wonderful ideas for scenes, but is not well executed. That's what keeps it from being a great book, but it's still a great read.

[@modernbuys]

The whole "ideas don't matter" concept comes from the bitterness that writers seem to have when realizing that, yes, anyone CAN have a good idea, but not all good ideas lead to publishable works because translating that idea into a book requires so much work, skill, talent, artistry that ideas on their own pale in comparison of what it takes AFTER you have that great idea to get to a good book. But as you note, ideas ARE a major part of the recipe of a successful book so they are important. Just because random people can have brilliant ideas without knowing a thing about how to translate that idea into a publishable work doesn't mean that ideas themselves aren't important. And, yes, some writers can take "any idea" even bad ideas and make a good book out of them, seemingly proving that ideas don't matter, but I view that less as the idea not mattering and more about these types of writers knowing how to twist and spin a bad idea until it becomes a good idea, but all that still happens in the "idea stage".

[@Amelia_PC]

"Conflict and Tension" over an overpowered protagonist. I immediately think of Saitama, Mob, and Superman (talking about "power" and the juvenile notion of duality and conflict because of "bad and good", you know. Mainstream comics/manga are full of it). Solution. Give powerful characters human conflicts in which their power is rendered useless or even an obstacle.

[@RoseBookblood]

I'm shocked no comment mentions the fact that there actually IS a story where the protagonist is a superhero and he's invincible: the manga and anime One Punch Man. I haven't read/watched it, but from the little I've seen it's a satire of superhero fiction and the protagonist's power is often played for laughs.

[@ShaelinWrites]

omg I didn't know that but that's so funny!! It makes sense that it's a satire though!

[@rachelthompson9324]

Larry Brooks' book, Story Engineering, has a lot of info on this topic

[@nocturnus009]

I wonder just how well this plays with the tools Betty Edwards talks about in the 5 questions of saturation as put forward in Drawing on the Artist Within. The way one would compose a drawing with tangible framing, one can compose a story with tangible [think verisimilitude?] question. The rebar that gives all-weather strength to load bearing concrete.

[@YumEspressoYum]

Hey! Thanks for the consistent, great content! Quick question: because we can't do simultaneous contest submissions, for you, is there an obvious choice between submitting to CBC VS Malahat Open Season?

[@emy4292]

Hey! For your book idea that ‘didnt make sense’. Could work if your main character was fiercely independent and had to learn to work with ppl to get out if prison. Getting help from the inside via guard etc.

[@TheGinnyhp]

One of my favorite fictional character is Rurouni Kenshin. Lots of conflict in that anime.... But I get your point.

[@firstlast-oo1he]

Honestly, IMHO if you think your idea is truly original, you haven't read or watched NEARLY as much as you think you have (not a religious person, but to quote Solomon, there's nothing new under the sun). MOST "original" stories have actually been told, but either long forgotten or executed poorly. Originality isn't about being NEW, it's about bringing your own creative voice to the table. Anyone with a modicum of real success will tell you that ideas are a dime a dozen, _everybody_ has them. But the weird thing is, they're also priceless. But so much of that comes down to execution. Execution, execution, execution. A GOOD writer can make a BAD idea AMAZING and SUCCESSFUL on pure skill alone, just as a BAD (inexperienced, amateur) can RUIN a GREAT idea. It's so SO much more important to be authentic to your own voice, your own quirks, likes/dislikes. There is also the real danger that you can write something so crazy and weird and original that nobody wants to read it (like the ol' addage, audiences want "same but different"). Execution >>> Concept (and by concept, I, of course, mean that very basic seed of an idea before any details are added on (see "Hunger Games" and "Battle Royale", two very very very similar ideas, but the differences lie in the details). This has been proven time and time and time again. I've some pretty strong opinions on this, clearly. Originality is ALL about execution. You can spend YEAAAARRS trying to being entirely original, years that you could've spent writing. It's the PAGE that counts, in the end. If its good, people will love it and may even be successful, even if it partially derivative (which all art IS, to a point). Voice is the key, here. Not the 100% original idea which does not truly exist (100% meaning an idea that has absolutely no resemblance to anything that has ever come before). Your voice, your own "weirdness" is what will make your stories stand out (even on a premise level, of course). Be so, authentically, embarrassingly YOU. This "waiting for the perfect idea" is called _fear_ , and fear has never written one bloody word in its entirely existence. As long as you're not blatantly copying other people, if you're writing something that comes from within, then it WILL be sufficiently original. You just have to LOVE story and trust your creative instincts (also why I find "pantsing" so useful, because it's much easier to write authentically, instead of relying on things I've read in other books or have seen in movies). Reminds of the rumored Jim Butcher thing Brando Sando talked about in one of his "ideas are cheap" lectures (and if someone like Sanderson says ideas are cheap, then they PROBABLY are, at the end of the day).

[@chaaaargh]

i want to copy and paste this comment into my brain lol. really great advice, i think the idea vs execution thing will always be debatable to most, but i 100% agree that the most important thing is really how you approach it.

[@christoffersj7242]

A nice and useful video with important thoughts. However, I think you will want to know that the "Logic" chapter was only black screen (but fine sound) at least for me

[@ShaelinWrites]

Yes I'm aware haha - I just re-recorded it as a voiceover because I wanted to redo the section but didn't have time to film it :)

[@mvphamza3366]

Valuable informations thank you 💙

[@nerdywolverine8640]

thanks for pointing out the situation vs story thing, its one of the things i struggle woth the most when coming up with ideas. does anyone have any strategies you fall back on to give arcs to situations?

[@yonathanasefaw9001]

I am strangely attracted to your voice, even when there was that technical difficulty.

[@sandbagger1912]

In my opinion, you can write a good book with great execution and a ho hum idea. But if you have a good idea that brings everything together and helps the characters grow and/or realize a fundamental truth, you have the makings of a great book.

[@johnhaggerty4396]

A great book is a rarity Ken, and it takes time and the judgement of the finest readers in the writer's own language. Susan Sontag said she knew she did not possess the genius to which she had aspired though she believed Sebald had greatness. Max Sebald's post-Millennial death in a road accident robbed us of the books he would have written but we have *Austerlitz* his last work. Everyone knows Melville's masterpiece got bad reviews with unsold copies in a New York warehouse which went on fire. Doris Lessing thought *The Man Who Loved Children* was an unknown masterpiece; read Stead's novel with the intro by Randall Jarrell.

[@oceanpunch4723]

What if my story is low-stakes and lacks a serious conflict, but is more about a character growing up and the various minor conflicts he faces in life? A central theme would be something about growing up, interpersonal relationships, and nostalgia

[@johnhaggerty4396]

Anne Tyler writes novels in this way though she plants little hooks everywhere to maintain our interest in the story. Those low-stakes turn out to be not so low, as people say in movies 'This is my life we're talking about.' Remember too that the reader has a stake in the story so we suddenly care about these *little paper people* to use Tyler's phrase. I still remember reading *Ordinary People* (a first novel reviewed in Time Magazine) and then wanting to see the movie. As for nostalgia, what is it but Time Remembered (the title of an old Dave Brubeck album) and this is how novelists bring back the Past. Scott Fitzgerald's most famous novel is about a man who is trapped in the past, the world he knew before the First World War. Lost youth.

[@outdoorscholar6016]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but that kind of sounds like a slice-of-life genre that we see in Japanese media (notably anime). So I mean it could work, as long as the character is interesting enough for the reader to keep going

[@sebastjankrek1744]

I don't think your problem was a world building problem, you could've executed that story by introducing some disturbing factors which simply make all those highly advanced military people less concerned about some girl escaping them and more focused on another intrusion/issue that comes up. It also makes the story more layered and interesting because there's more than one conflict.

[@AndroidCovenant]

Thanks, this was helpful. However, time-travel is illogical and yet it somehow works in time travel books and movies. "One vs Many" / "One Person Army" is illogical and yet it works in many action movies.

[@kit888]

Joss Whedon said that because Buffy couldn't be physically hurt he had to hurt her emotionally by physically threatening those close to her.

[@giovannijacobs4496]

Might be salient, bt your earrings are gorgeous and I want a pair.

[@kairemeriniit]

Hmm...My stories start with a good situation and then step two is to try to add a story to that situation. But the situation comes first.

[@jacobpage8028]

I dont need to find a way to make that ivincible plot work, i just have one word for you: Deadpool

[@waykeeperfarmandnerdery]

So helpful, thank you for sharing examples too!

[@ijuka]

Starting with originality even though "boy meets girl" has been written millions of times before and the next one will be just as popular as all the ones before makes it hard to take this seriously. If you think no one's done something before, you just haven't read broadly enough.

[@ShaelinWrites]

I didn't say in the video that an idea needs to be 100% original, just that it benefits from some level of originality, even if the general concept has been done before. However on the note of me having not read broadly enough, I read around 90 books a year and I'd say that if you truly haven't encountered any books with original concepts, then maybe you haven't read broadly enough, because original stories (maybe not 100% original, but original enough to make you go 'woah, I've never seen this before') happen all the time and if you're just seeing the same recycled stories over and over, that's probably because you're not venturing outside those tropes.

[@RainingPouringSnoring]

Your dystopia sounds amazing actually lol I totally would read it. Illogical or not

[@yonathanasefaw9001]

By the way thanks for this video.

[@ThatBoomerDude56]

*Edgar Rice Burroughs* once said, “I made up my mind that if people were paid for *writing such rot as I read,* I could write stories *just as rotten."* 😬😮 😲 And thus, *Tarzan* and *John Carter of Mars* were born. 🤓😎

[@AdamFishkin]

The idea has to have logic??? (Adam promptly implodes)

[@o_o-lj1ym]

Fuck now I wanna watch The Good Place again

[@SoVidushi]

Lmao same. And I will.

[@jamesbok8385]

What if the protagonist can't die but the people around him/her/them can,thus learn they unfortunate truth that immortality is a curse, as they watche the people they care about sift with with societies over and over through the sands of time. I'm sure something like this exists already, but either way it's always good to subvert the "mary sue" if one ends up in the story.

[@e-t-y237]

On the illogical thing, I once heard a story of a good-hearted serial killer. That doesn't work for anyone understanding the principles involved in homicidal maniacs, and every page for such a reader would be filled with a-verisimilitude. Ha.

[@AlohaTrev]

I thought only the query mattered

[@ShaelinWrites]

Haha before you can get to writing s query you'll need a strong book, but an original, well-conceptualized idea is also important for catching an agent's attention in a query letter!

[@pzaypraxis95]

The story you came up with in point 2 is literally just One Punch Man 😂 if you haven't checked it out yet you should.

[@mudskippa8958]

Tell Haruki Marakami this. 😂

[@thesamuraiman]

💜⚡️

[@ChBrahm]

I agree mostly. Even though I still believe execution trumps over idea. The thing is this debate tends to be about “original ideas” vs “author talent”. Where people claim an original idea or an idea that sounds incredible will always win against a cliche that’s well executed. And that’s just wrong. The execution matters. (also marketing but that’s another discussion). But what really bothers me is where do yo draw the line to distinguish the idea from the execution of it. In your example of your dystopian novel. I don’t think you changed the Core Idea itself to fix the narrative. You changed the world. But it still was te same idea. Girl assassin escapes conviction and gets chased. Yeah the background is different but it’s still -in my eyes- the same idea. In that case I would say that you changed the execution but I would understand if someone claims that that’s a change in the idea itself. The line seems kinda blurry imo.

[@ShaelinWrites]

I definitely agree, execution is the most important thing! Sorry if this video made it seem like I was saying idea > execution haha, I think they’re both important and execution absolutely matters most, idea can just set you up for good execution imo. And you’re right in that example it was a flaw more in the world, but in the ordinal draft it made my concept fundamentally not make sense. It was a bit tricky to come up with an example for that point and that was the best I had, the original example I had was for sure more in the core concept than the world but I didn’t feel comfortable sharing it as it was someone else’s idea

[@ChBrahm]

@@ShaelinWrites No worries. I was rushing lunch to get back to work when I watched your video probably missed something at one point or another. And yes I agree that a solid idea can help make the writing process better by providing a good foundation to the story.

[@klulu-kun]

I spend the most time on the concept itself. Almost too much time.

[@Eluzian86]

The movie Skyline has a flawed concept in my opinion. ****SPOILER ALERT **** In the movie the aliens need to take the brains of people or similar lifeforms to become the brains of the bodies of new aliens. However, they don't need anything else because they can regenerate literally everything else and seemly can survive a nuclear blast. The flaw in the concept is just that. Why can't the aliens regenerate a brain when they can regenerate every other part of their body?...It doesn't make sense to me.

[@n0vitski]

If you have a world that completely lacks any sort of legal system, why people there would even bother with the whole "put person in jail, let them escape, hunt them with helicopters"? It sounds like some sort of gameshow in place where world building should be. Although, to be fair, that's the case with every YA dystopian American novel. Regardless, people don't work like this, they would just execute crime suspects. So i think the problems with logic start much earlier than the inherent power imbalance.

[@ShaelinWrites]

the problems with logic in that book are literally endless haha - it's very 2011 YA dystopian "this makes no sense but here it is I guess???" kind of a vibe

[@n0vitski]

@@ShaelinWrites I see. Sorry if the comment sounded abrasive by the way, I didn't mean it to be. It's just that the thing that immediately caught my attention was different from what you focused on in the video, so I decided to comment. I do often envy people who made mistakes and wrote (and learned from) bad works in the past. I myself, after starting to dip my toes in writing around a year ago, got so anxious of it coming out terrible, i hardly wrote anything at all.

[@ShaelinWrites]

Haha it's okay, I wrote that book when I was 13/14 so literally EVERYTHING is wrong with it and since I was sooo young when I wrote it, I wouldn't expect it to be any better lol - I'm definitely not sensitive to critique on it or anything, my response was just to say that there are sooo many issues with it that I just picked one out of many, because to talk about all the problems in that book would take a while haha

[@anwarpsychiatrist4629]

I have an idea of writing a book entirely on the menstruation.

[@johnhaggerty4396]

*Robert De Niro explains the movies - The Last Tycoon.* KZbin. Based on the unfinished novel by F Scott Fitzgerald, the film was directed by Elia Kazan from a screenplay by Harold Pinter.