Recognising a good idea when you see one

[John Dean]

Writing a novel is a big undertaking and one that will take up many, many hours so how do you know that it’s going to be worth all that effort? How do you know that the idea ‘has legs’? That you are not going to reach the end and have produced something that does not quite work?

For me, it’s simple. If you have an idea that only mildly occupies your mind then it’s probably unlikely to work as a novel. If, on the other hand, you have an idea that grabs your attention, that won’t let you go, that throws up permutation after permutation, that has you constantly reaching for scraps of paper to jot down new thoughts, then the odds are that you have an idea that is worth persevering with.

The thought comes to mind because I am working on the latest DCI John Blizzard crime novel for my publisher The Book Folks and the idea in question has grabbed me and keeps throwing up plot twists, new scenes, lines of dialogue, extra characters.

But what do you do with them all when you have them? Well, I think it’s best to think of writing as creating layers. You build the story layer by layer, going back to slot in additional passages as the ideas occur to you.

If four months into the writing, the story is still fresh and vibrant despite all the many hours you have spent honing it, if it is still throwing up those layers, then you’ve got an idea that is worth its place on the page.