How Bad Ideas Create Good Stories

Sometimes writing can be like dating: the grass always seems to be greener at another table with a fatter wallet or bigger boobage.

One of the biggest fears at the beginning of a writing project is whether or not a story idea is any good. Sure, the flash of inspiration you experienced last night while slamming down tequila shots with friends seemed solid at the time; however, that was before you woke up this morning without your underwear, the video of you slaughtering “Ice, Ice Baby” at karaoke appeared on Facebook, and you actually started fleshing out the idea at your laptop with a hangover.

Is this idea THE ONE?

It’s hard for most writers to think of a good story idea. But I’ll let you in on a secret: It’s easier to come up with bad ideas than good ideas.

Um, yeah … that’s really helpful, Jef.

But bad ideas are actually helpful.

In his book Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need, Blake Snyder shares a simple exercise to generate good story ideas by purposely focusing on coming up with bad ones. You simply make a list of ten of the worst story ideas you can think of and inevitably a good one appears in the list.

For example, your list might look like this:

1. A slice-of-life drama about an art restorer with no interests or social life who throws herself into her career gently blowing dry newly retouched paintings by the Dutch Masters
2. A pedophile special agent must protect a nubile minor in the witness protection program (Think Kindergarten Cop meets Lolita)
3. A young woman must stay on hold with Comcast customer service or else her cable box will blow up and destroy her entire apartment building
4. Two rabbi’s with southern drawls and speech impediments engage in a lengthy Torah debate
5. Paula Dean wakes in an alternate universe where butter does not exist
6. A Jehovah’s Witness loses his arms in a freak accident and must find the courage and a way to return to knocking on doors
7. A vegetarian lands her dream job of working on the assembly line of a tofu factory
8. During a drought, a young wife and mother is forced to use her own spit to make instant (just add water) potatoes
9. An interior decorator with Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS) relives every instance of her career in detail where she incorporated beige into her color palette when she longed to add a splash of chartreuse
10. A widow experiences love at first with the mortician she hires to embalm her late husband in spite of her family and community’s disapproval

Of all the ideas I brainstormed as quickly as possible, the last one actually has potential. Just from the description, a reader can infer the conflict and promise of the story.

Take a moment to make your own list and see what good idea you discover.