The Renegade Writer Blog

The author of this guest post, Elaine Appleton Grant, is a former editor at Inc. magazine and is now the health and science reporter at New Hampshire Public Radio. Elaine teaches the Renegade Writer e-course “Magazine Writing Basics.” Her next session begins Monday, May 18. For more information on the course, click here.

One of the biggest obstacles writers face is nailing down a solid story idea. You may have a good topic, or at least one that you’re fascinated with. But is it a topic, or is it a story? There’s a world of difference between the two. Here are five clues that you don’t yet have a dynamic story idea – along with some solutions that will have you coming up with more terrific story ideas than you know what to do with.

1. The “About” Problem.

Do you find yourself saying, or writing, “I plan to write about golf, or sex, or fishing, etc.? That word “about” is your tipoff that you don’t yet have a story idea – you have a topic, and probably a broad one, that interests you. Because it is so broad, it won’t interest anyone else. And if some naïve editor actually assigns a story like this (it happens) you’ll have one hell of a time trying to write it. The solution: research, research, research. Get specific – about a person doing something interesting, a problem in need of a solution, or an issue that outrages you.

2. It’s not timely.

Do you have a news peg? Say you want to write a story about the topic of alternative energy. What’s going on with solar technology – has someone invented a new technology that the general public doesn’t know about yet? That would make it timely. Is Congress considering legislation that might give a boost to renewable energy? Timely. Has some local con artist just ripped off some naïve green customers? Timely. Do you know someone who’s built an off-grid house, using inventive technologies and ideas? Could be timely, depending upon the market. (When you’re querying a monthly magazine, make sure that your story idea will still be timely in four to six months.)

3. There’s no tension.

The best stories are about a problem or a conflict. It can be internal or external. For instance, weight loss stories are all about an internal conflict: I want to get thinner but for whatever reason – whether it’s a losing battle with potato chips or a thyroid problem – I can’t. Or it can be an external problem: local activist is trying to save groundwater from being poisoned by Corporate Polluter Inc.

How do you find great complications (and thus, great story ideas)? The great narrative nonfiction journalist and teacher Jon Franklin says in his book “Follow the Story” that newspapers are full of them – but that newspaper reporters usually write their stories after the subject has already resolved his problem. Consider, for instance, the local piece about someone who’s received an award for ten years of volunteer service to an organization that helps foster kids. The story’s about an award (yawn). But your story could be a profile of that person, who, you learn upon interviewing her, started out as a foster kid herself, faced down numerous obstacles to achieve a happy life, and then overcame more obstacles in the service of foster children. (I’m making up this example, but you should get the picture – the complications are there, in local newspapers all over the country, for you to mine.)

4. You haven’t focused in tightly enough.

Can you “tiny-fy” your story? At the public radio station where I work, I have a colleague whom I admire greatly. Like all of us, he writes about issues. But rather than simply talking with the policy makers, he looks “underneath” the policy speak to find the regular person who’s affected by that policy. So for a recent story about how schools will use stimulus money for special education programs, he interviewed a high school student with Down’s syndrome. Instantly, that relatively boring issue became compelling.

5. You’re bored with your own idea.

If you’re going to write a magazine feature, chances are you’re going to live with this story for quite a while. If it doesn’t compel you now, it probably won’t later. At this early story idea stage, it’s just as easy to throw it out and look for an idea that you love. Believe me, months down the road when an editor is asking your for revisions, you’ll be glad that you did.