How To Know Your Story is Worth Writing?
I get it. You have this story idea. You’ve been thinking about it for months or even years.
So what holds you back from writing it?
Most likely, you’re worried that no one will like it or read it, and if no one likes it, why write it? What’s the point? Wouldn’t it just be a big waste of time?
While there is no 100% sure-fire way to know if a story is going to be well received there are several things you can do to see if the market will bear your story idea.
Is there anything else like it?
You might be thinking something like this, “I love my story but it reminds me too much of this other story.”
This really shouldn’t worry you. Yes, you don’t want it to be so similar that people view it this way, but think of all the stories we have now that are VERY similar to each other.
In fact, think about it this way.
When you go to watch a show or movie, do you look for movies about stuff you’ve never heard of before, or do you actually grab one because it reminds you a lot of another you liked?
If someone told you a movie they just saw was a lot like one of your favorites are you more or less likely to see it?
Have you ever had a friend tell you, “Oh if you liked that book you should really check out this book!”
The idea is you can look at your story and if it does remind you of another similar story this can actually be a very good thing and you can use that fact to promote your book to people.
In real life, and in forums, you can literally say, “If you liked this book you’ll probably enjoy my latest story.”
Use Reddit and Twitter to test the waters.
There are many places online where you can do this, but Reddit especially has a very vibrant writing and reading community where you can drop ideas about your story and see how people react to them. See what people think of your story idea before you even begin writing.
You can get help with editing scenes or you can just ask and post, “Hey, what do you guys think about this story idea?” Give a good short synopsis and see what people say.
Before you even start writing this is a great way to see if anybody would even be interested in reading the kind of story you want to write.
This might be just the thing for you to get out of your own head and get some feedback right away about moving forward.
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Is it something you want to read?
While this isn’t always necessary (many people write stuff they personally wouldn’t read, so they can still pay the bills) it actually is a helpful question when you are trying to decide if the story is worth your time.
Most often though, if you’d enjoy it, then there are likely at least 1000 other people on the planet that would like it too.
Also, I dare say many authors would say that’s a huge reason to go ahead and write it for yourself so that you can accomplish it and enjoy it.
So what if it’s not a best seller.
In my opinion, writing a story can be a huge endeavor. There are many bumps and hurdles that naturally come along the way.
But will you really be proud that you didn’t write it?
On the other hand, think of all the things you will learn, and the ways you will grow if you do start to write it.
It may not be your first big hit, but SO WHAT?
It may lead to other opportunities and possibilities that you can’t possibly comprehend right now.
The writing of your first story might be the inspiration that pushes you to write your second and third stories. After you’ve written so much maybe one of them will become a best-seller, but that wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t finish the first.
If nothing else, at least make it a short story.
I’m a big fan of first turning any idea we really like into a short story.
If the story sticks with you, you can expand on it. By writing it into a short story you will either start to get more and bigger and broader ideas about it or you will see that it just isn’t ready yet.
Taking the time, thought, and energy to write it out like this gives us a better perspective on the story and how it could turn out.
It’s a great exercise to do with any story idea, but especially those ones that we just aren’t sure if we should write into 60,000 words or more.
It’s a great starting point.
The real question: is it worth reading?
When we are asking if it’s worth writing, what we are really asking is this, “Is it worth reading?”
This is honestly a question we can’t really answer for anyone but ourselves.
Would you read it?
If you saw it on Amazon would you stop and read the synopsis?
If it’s written well and serves a certain market then I’d imagine those people would tell you they would read it.
And then if just one person tells you they like your idea and they would read it… is it worth it to you to write it?
That’s really only a question you can answer for yourself.
If you’re looking for easy money and fame then maybe not. If you just enjoy writing and serving others with your writing then it sounds like it is worth writing to you.
Enjoying How To Know Your Story is Worth Writing? Take a moment and consider sharing this social-friendly image to say thanks and feel free to comment with your thoughts below! 🙂
Want to get paid to write? Check out Writing Paychecks
- There is a simple method over 30,000 people use to get paid for freelance writing online.
- Opportunities can get started in just minutes a day, all from your home couch.
- It’s easy to get started! No previous experience or degree required to start.
- Exclusive job listings for writers, updated daily.
Check out Writing Paychecks to see if you can start getting paid to write today.
That’s all for the moment.
Hope this helps!
Happy writing!
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