Hello, welcome to line number 2 of our free audio series about lies you're telling yourself for why you're not writing your book. Line number 2 is I need a better idea. This is a, this is a really fun one because it sounds realistic. Uh, the truth is, is that, You're never gonna know if you have the idea. You know, the best idea is the one that excites you. And here's another thing. I'm going to talk about 2 things. We're going to go like, there's a practical way of kind of determining what is a good idea. And then there's also the emotional, spiritual way of determining a good idea. So, the 1st the emotional and spiritual. A good idea is the one that excites you. A good idea is the one that you can't stop thinking about. A good idea is not the one that you think, 0 my god, that's gonna sell or that's gonna do this. It's it's not usually. I'm not saying that's a bad idea. It just doesn't usually motivate you. So the best idea is the one that's just like you're obsessed with. If you can't stop thinking about it, go for it. Also, I mean, unless it's directly exactly like another idea that's out there. And it's like word for word, plot for plot, you're not going to write the same book as someone else. So there are so many books out there that sound almost exactly the same that are written completely differently. So your interpretation of it is not going to be the same interpretation as someone else, like 2 different 2 writers can be given the exact same idea. It's gonna be 2 different books. So that's one thing. And now the 2nd thing for how the practical sense of what's a good idea. Now for a book, okay. For a book, the best idea is not the most high concept plot idea, I think. It's the idea that inspires 40 other ideas because essentially when you think about it, a book, any kind of book, even like it's nonfiction, but especially a novel. If it's most novels hover around like 40 to 50 scenes, and so that means you need 40 to 50 little ideas that still express the main idea. So, if your book, if you just like the concept, but it's not giving you any ideas for scenes or what these characters would talk about or what where they're going to go or what they're going to do. It's probably not gonna have a lot of energy behind that idea. So that's how I evaluate whether I have a good idea because there's plenty of times where I go, oh, this would be an interesting book da da da. And then I just run out of ideas for scenes because I just kind of like the the concept of it, but I don't like the execution part of it. So, you know, if you get an idea and you're coming up with, oh, this would be a fun scene, or this could be a fun scene, or then this, and then the characters could do this, and then da da da, and it's like, it's forming. Then practically, You have a good idea because you have the makings of what a book actually needs. A book is not just one idea, a book is several several ideas expressed over and over in different ways, right? So, you know, if it's a romance book, you need many different ways for these characters to, you know, start noticing each other, falling in love, and then they're, you know, what their conflicts are, like all of that has to be baked in. So you need many different ideas. Um, and then, you know, when it comes to the idea in your head that, you know, you're saying, I need a better idea before I can start. There's a lot of that, that could be fear. Because, like, there were always looking, especially if we're doing something new, that there's like a lot of emotional buildup around it. like you like writing. And especially if you've always wanted to write a book, there's a lot of like built-up fear and there's a lot of sneaky ways that that fear tries to protect us. And so it could be saying to you, I need a better idea because it's you're scared to start. And the thing is, is that just start. You need to just commit and just do it, you know, like that's really, the most important thing, there's not really gonna be, I mean, like I said, unless your idea is just not inspiring you and you're not excited about it, then that's different. Okay? You know, maybe you want to look at your other ideas or you want to refine that idea a bit more. But if it's just coming down to, you know, I think that I need to come up with something more exciting or, you know, it's like, I don't think that's the problem. Because one idea for a book, you make the excitement and the conflict and all the things within the structure of the book. And to be honest, even though there are like classes you can take, books you can read, the thing that you're gonna learn from the most are 2 things. Reading, other books. And like reading actual, not like craft books, reading actual, like if you're writing a novel, reading novels. That's what's going to help. You're gonna have a natural understanding of structure. And scene, like you're, you gotta trust yourself on that. If you read enough, you will. And then the 2nd thing is you got to just do it. You're gonna learn so much from just doing it because here's the thing. You don't know yet what you're good at and you don't know yet what you need to improve on until you've actually written a 1st draft of something. You just don't know. You don't, you don't know if you're good at scene structure or if you're good at dialogue or if you're good at character development or if you're good at, you know, plot development or if you're good at, um, you know, uh, exposition or location and and descriptive language, you don't know what your strengths and weaknesses are until you actually do it. It's, you have to think of yourself, even though writing is put on this huge pedestal, you have to think of yourself almost like an athlete or someone learning a musical instrument. That's how I describe it in write that book, my course on finishing your 1st draft. Um, it's you have to recognize that your skill level as a writer will get better. I know people always say, and it's so annoying to me. People always say, every book is so hard. It never gets easier. I think those people lack self-awareness, not to throw them under the bus, but I think they lack self-awareness because there's no possible way that's true. Yes, every book feels like a new idea because it is a new idea, but people, I think, really underestimate how much their skill level has evolved since their 1st like they forget how it was when they were 1st starting because it's obviously flowing a lot differently from book to book. And you do get better and you do improve. It's just, how could you not if you have that significant amount of practice behind you? Like, yeah, does it mean that that book 3 that you write is super easy? No. But that doesn't mean it's as hard as starting and what it's like when you're 1st learning all your strengths and weaknesses as a writer. And so, you know, when you look at like, if you if you look at writing under in the same sense of like, you know, practicing a sport. Okay, someone has like natural athletic ability, that's one thing, but they're not going to be able to read or think about what they're good at until they actually like get on the soccer field. Right? Like they have to learn what they're naturally good at, and then what, and then what you're naturally good at, you can like improve upon through technique and skill. And then they have to learn what their real weaknesses are and then they have to improve upon that. Writing is the same thing. I just cannot stand how people don't talk about this enough, who are writers. Writing is the same level of precision. It's the same level of practice. It's the same level of, you know, once you just doing it more helps and improving a, like until you get on the soccer field, you have no idea how's anyone going to be able to coach you. How's any book going to be able to help you? How is any bit of advice going to help you? Besides this kind of mindset advice, which is, I think, the most helpful at this stage. That's why I didn't do a book. I didn't do a course about like, oh, writing the book. It's like, you know, in technical skill because I'm like, I just don't even think that's the point yet. You know? And so that's why when you're kind of focused on what's the best idea, the best idea is the one you want to write. If you haven't written a book yet, the best idea is the one you want to write. The one that gets you excited. The one that you're obsessed with. That's the best idea. Just write it. I mean, most likely, even if for some reason that that book, the 1st book that you ever write in your life gets published. Say, it will go through so many revisions, you're not even gonna recognize it, really. You know? It's just what happens. Any good book does that. You know, it needs to be revised and refined. And that's okay. You know, that's that's completely okay. So let it be messy. Let yourself learn your strengths and weaknesses. Don't get tripped up in, you know, it has to be perfect or it has to be this, like, let it just be what it needs to be. Learn how learn the process of your process of writing, learn what makes you excited, learn what flows for you, what your strengths and weaknesses are, and get the practice in, put in the reps. Take shots at the goal. And then you can know what you need to improve on or what you need to learn. Like I didn't even know what I needed to learn as a novelist until I wrote my 1st novel, which I call novel 0, that sits in a drawer somewhere and will never be seen. I did not know what I was doing, but it was the best learning experience to learn what I didn't know and what I needed to know. And so, it was the best practice, because if I hadn't done that, I wouldn't have had the nerve or the courage to learn what I needed to learn to become even better. And to eventually start writing with more confidence. All right, that's our live for today. Hope I debunked it.