This is one of the most common questions I hear—especially from writers just getting started:
“I have an idea. How do I turn it into a book?”
First off—congratulations. That idea might not be a novel yet, but it’s where every novel begins. Something sparked. Something took hold. That’s worth something.
But now you’re standing at the edge of a long road, and you’re not sure how to take the first step. So let’s talk about it.
1. Write the idea down.
Not the whole plot. Not a pitch. Just the core of it.
A sentence. Maybe two.
Something like:
“A King has surrendered. The war is over. What happens after the story should have ended?”
“Two people, both broken, both healing. Told in dual first person.”
“An underground city where language has fractured and every word is dangerous.”
It doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t even have to make sense to anyone else. The point is to capture the shape of the idea while it’s fresh.
Because ideas shift. You’ll think you’ve got it… until you try to remember it later. So don’t leave it in your head. Pin it down.
2. Let it breathe.
Don’t force it to become something right away.
Live with the idea a little. Carry it in your pocket.
Start paying attention to what attaches to it.
- Does a character show up?
- A tone?
- A piece of dialogue that doesn’t belong to anything yet?
- A mood that won’t leave you alone?
Write those things down too. Don’t try to organise them yet. Just collect them.
3. Start asking questions.
- Who is this about?
- What do they want?
- What stands in their way?
- What happens if they don’t get it?
- What does this story feel like?
Answer what you can. Leave the rest blank for now.
You’re not building a plot yet. You’re feeling out the shape of a story.
4. Decide how you want to write.
Are you someone who likes structure? Start outlining. Sketch out scenes, beats, maybe a three-act arc.
Are you someone who discovers the story through the act of writing? Pick a moment that excites you and start there. It doesn’t have to be the beginning. It just has to move.
Don’t know which one you are yet? That’s fine too! Pick one, try it on. See what resonates.
You don’t need a perfect plan to begin.
You just need a way in.
5. Don’t wait for it to be perfect.
Books don’t come from great ideas.
Books come from working with an idea until it becomes something more.
That means sitting down, writing badly, trying things, getting stuck, pushing through, and writing your way toward something you didn’t know at the start.
Your first job isn’t to get it right.
Your first job is to find the story inside the idea.
So go find it.
Sometimes, one idea is the start.
Sometimes, it’s all you need.
But often, a single idea isn’t enough on its own—it’s a seed, not a story.
Sometimes you need a second idea.
Something that bounces off the first, or reframes it. Something that adds contrast, or complexity. A counterpoint. A twist. A shadow.
You might have “a soldier with a cursed weapon” as your first idea.
But it’s only when you add “the curse saves more lives than it takes” that it gets interesting.
Sometimes it’s theme. Sometimes it’s world. Sometimes it’s character. But often, it’s that second idea—the friction between two sparks—that sets the whole thing alight.
So if your idea feels flat, don’t throw it away. Write it down. Save it. See what else comes up that might wrap around it.
Try asking: what else could I combine this with?
The story might be waiting in the intersection between the two ideas.