• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About
    • About WHW
    • Press Kit
    • Resident Writing Coaches
    • Contact Us
    • Podcasts & Interviews
    • Master Storytelling Newsletter
    • Guest Post Guidelines
    • Privacy Policy
    • Charities & Support
  • Bookstore
    • Bookstore
    • Foreign Editions
    • Book Reviews
    • Free Thesaurus Sampler
  • Blog
  • Software
  • Workshops
  • Resources
    • List of Resources
    • Recommended Writing Books
    • WHW Descriptive Thesaurus Collection
    • Free Tools & Worksheets
    • Grab A Free Show-Dont-Tell Pro Pack
  • WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®

WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®

Helping writers become bestselling authors

How To Avoid A Half-Baked Idea

June 16, 2020 by ANGELA ACKERMAN

Half-baked ideas are everywhere in the spec pile. But what does ‘half-baked’ mean? After all, whether a script reader, agent’s assistant or intern LIKES the idea behind a story is another matter. Let’s look to the dictionary to agree on a definition …

Half-Baked

Adjective. Not fully thought through; lacking a sound basis.

“a half-baked conspiracy theory”

Synonyms: undeveloped, unformed, not fully developed. 

So, we agree we are not talking about personal preference. Instead, when we say a story has a ‘half-baked’ idea, we mean it is ‘not fully thought through.’ Like a cake recipe, something got missed out … It’s lacking, not quite whole.

Why Does This Happen?

Half-baked ideas happen in stories happen because writers frequently dive straight into drafts. They might have an idea for a character, story world, theme or even just a feeling and begin writing. But going back to my cake analogy, it’s like shoving in the flour, butter, water … but forgetting the eggs.

Don’t get me wrong: free writing is a legitimate writing tool, plus writing for writing’s sake can be beneficial for confidence. If you need to write like this to get started, be my guest.

But do NOT send these drafts out. Like the cake with no eggs, your draft will not be the best representation of your talents. This is because – you guessed it – those drafts will contain an under-developed idea.

This is a problem. Okay, sometimes cakes without eggs are vaguely edible. So yes, the person reading that draft might be able to pick out *nice bits* of your writing (such as the aforementioned character, storyworld, theme or feelings).

However, a half-baked idea means the draft will not hang together coherently.

Quite simply, just like a cake, a story is the sum of all its parts!

How Do I Develop My Idea?

I believe our idea – aka concept, premise, controlling idea, ‘seed of the story’ – is one of the foundations of writing craft. (This is why it’s module number one on B2W’s free online mini-course. You can grab yours free by clicking the link).

i) Recognise!

First, recognise the idea behind your story needs to be ROCK SOLID. A little thing perhaps, but it means everything. Once you recognise ideas need to be developed and worked on as much as the rest of your writing craft, you know where to begin.

ii) Write A ‘Baseline’

Next, write what I call a ‘baseline’. This is a short pitch or summary that describes what’s going on in your story. It doesn’t have to be amazing … It’s a kind of ‘note to self’ if you like: ‘This is the story I started with.’ This free cheat sheet will help you with this.

iii) Now ‘Break Story’

Now it’s time to ‘break story’. I like to do this by asking myself 5 ‘W’ questions …

  • Who are my characters?
  • What do they want? Why?
  • Where are we? (storyworld, genre, tone)
  • When are we? (time period, non linearity, story strands)
  • Why? (writer’s voice, theme, message)

But you can do it anyway you want. (This is nice and easy to remember, though).

iv)  Compare & Contrast

Next, go back to your ‘baseline’. Compare it with your answers to the ‘W’ questions. Do you have a different view of the characters now? Maybe you have added more detail, or have a better sense of the tone or genre. Or perhaps you have made a realisation … your character doesn’t have enough to do, or maybe too much!

v) Create Your Foundation

Keep tweaking your baseline until it reflects what you WANT it be. You don’t need it to have every single little thing in from your ‘W’ questions, you can save some of those thoughts for the actual writing. Whatever happens, you now have a powerful foundation to start from … And your idea will no longer be half-baked!

Good Luck!

Lucy V. Hay
Resident Writing Coach

Lucy is a script editor, author and blogger who helps writers at her site, Bang2write.com. To get free stuff for your novel or screenplay, CLICK HERE.
Twitter ǀ Facebook ǀ Instagram

ANGELA ACKERMAN
ANGELA ACKERMAN

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Character Arc, Focus, Plotting, Resident Writing Coach, Revision and Editing, Story Structure, Time Management, Writer's Attitude, Writing Craft, Writing Lessons

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. ANGELA ACKERMAN says

    June 16, 2020 at 4:29 pm

    Such great advice. I do subscribe to the believe that the more we capture about an idea, the easier the story comes out and the less structural revision will be needed. 🙂

    • Lucy V says

      June 17, 2020 at 4:55 am

      Totally agree, Angela. I believe every great piece of writing starts with a BOMBPROOF central idea.

      • ANGELA ACKERMAN says

        June 17, 2020 at 12:03 pm

        Bombproof! Love that!

  2. Jemi Fraser says

    June 16, 2020 at 10:16 am

    Great tips. I wish I’d learned this years ago – as is, it took me way too long to realize how important that core conflict is to creating a readable story. Writing that pitch at the beginning works well for my brain

    • Lucy says

      June 17, 2020 at 4:56 am

      Mine too! Good luck with your projects

Trackbacks

  1. Writers, This Is The Very Least You Can Do - Bang2write says:
    September 14, 2020 at 1:45 am

    […] A road-tested concept that is not half-baked  […]

  2. How To Avoid A Half-Baked Idea – by Lucy V. Hays… | Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region! – Additional survival tricks says:
    July 6, 2020 at 7:42 pm

    […] Continue reading HERE […]

  3. reflection of writing for interactive media – Sheila K Miller's Mastery Journal says:
    June 28, 2020 at 8:44 pm

    […] My personal goals in this class included grasping the mechanics of storytelling, identifying story ideas and development using storytelling processes, and changing the story structure based on multimedia platforms. In addition to the goals set, there were three strategies, as seen in the visual above, I employed to help obtain those goals. This month my Feedly news feed helped to achieve my goal of developing story ideas, especially an article titled How to Avoid a Half Baked Idea. […]

  4. Top Picks Thursday! For Writers & Readers 06-25-2020 | The Author Chronicles says:
    June 25, 2020 at 1:01 pm

    […] Florence Osmund advises authors to write/right for the market, and Lucy V. Hay goes into how to avoid a half-baked idea. […]

Primary Sidebar


Welcome!

Writing is hard. Angela & Becca make it easier. Get ready to level up your fiction with game-changing tools, resources, and advice.

Follow Us

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Subscribe to the Blog

Check your inbox to confirm! If gremlins tried to eat it, you might have to check your spam folder.

Read by Category

Grab Our Button

Writers Helping Writers

Software that Will Change the Writing Game

One Stop for Writers

WRITERS HELPING WRITERS® · Copyright © 2023 · WEBSITE DESIGN BY LAUGH EAT LEARN

Cookies are delicious and ours help make your experience here better. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with our cookie use. Cookie settingsGOT IT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. More on our Privacy Policy here.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT
 

Loading Comments...