How to know which book idea to start writing?

Everybody always goes on and on about finding enough book ideas to write, but you struggle with the opposite problem… You have too many ideas! How can you determine which idea has potential and which one you should start with? In this blog post, I’ll give you some things to consider.

1. How excited are you to begin with this idea?

The general rule when writing is:

Write what you want to read.

Don’t start a mystery novel if you don’t enjoy reading those type of books, because believe me, you’ll lose your motivation and you will have spent time writing a book that never gets finished.

Instead, think about which genres you like and stick to one of those. For example: I like to read Fantasy and Romance and my WIP (work-in-progress) is a fantasy novel with a hint of romance.

2. The paradox of originality

Sometimes hearing hard truths is necessary: everything you could write has already been written.

When choosing which idea to start with, don’t stare yourself too blindly on the originality of the idea. Somebody else might already have had that idea before you, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t use it!

The uniqueness of your story lies in how you, as author, writes the story. Every writer has a different writing style, a different approach or perspective. Give two writers the same prompt and you’ll get two entirely different stories.

So, your story is worth writing, even if you feel like it could be more original.

3. Do some research!

If you have no idea which genre your book should be, do some research into the book market. Which long-term trends with regards to genres are you noticing? Fantasy and YA have become increasingly popular, also thanks to the influence of social media like TikTok, or ‘BookTok’ as the book section on the platform is called. However, genres such as contemporary romance and mystery novels continue to be high in demand.

The next element you can have a look at is tropes. You’ll probably already be familiar with what this means, but to be certain, a trope is when an author uses a particular theme in a book and that theme isn’t necessarily fixed to a certain genre.

Some examples of tropes often found in:

• Romance: enemies to lovers, fake dating, opposite attracts, grumpy/sunshine, …

• Fantasy: chosen hero, magic, mentor wizards, medieval Europe, Dark Lord, …

• Mystery: misjudged death, blackmail, amnesia, light bulb moment, …

Maybe an idea you have contains one of your favourites tropes? Let them guide you in your decision.

Let’s summarise

There you have it! Some tips to help you choose which idea you want to write with next.

For easy reference, I’ll summarise briefly what we talked about:

1. How excited are you to begin with this idea? And remember: write what you want to read!

2. Everything you could write has already been written. Originality is a paradox.

3. Do some research into the book market. Which genres and tropes are popular?

Finally found your book idea?

Start your writing journey here!