How to Tell if Your Creative Idea Is Great

Humans have the crazy capability to come up with stupendous ideas. As someone who loves cinema, I always had a habit of coming up with plots for movies. It wasn’t until last November, when my curiosity peaked and I started writing a feature length screenplay. It was also around that time when I realized that not all of my Academy Awarding winning ideas were actually Academy Award winning ideas. It’s easy to think an idea is good until you act on it. So, I started using a method that helps me filter out the ideas that are subpar. This comes with a caveat because it’s risky but also high reward since it solidifies that your idea really is memorable.

Don’t Write It Down

Whenever I have an idea, I wait three days until I write it down. If it’s any good, I would definitely remember it after a couple days. I used this method for my screenplay. It came into fruition when I visited LA around summer last year and I was on a tour bus when I had one of those stupendous ideas. Usually, I would have written it down somewhere, but I did something risky instead. I used this method. I let it linger in my mind for a couple days and I if remembered it, it’s memorable. That’s exactly what it turned out to be. Think about your favorite childhood memory, it has been years and you still remember it. It’s similar to this approach, it had been days, but I still remembered it clearly enough to write it down a couple days later. This method takes a little longer and also a little risky, but it surely worked well in my case.

This is definitely a great use if you have time to think of an idea or if it’s just a shower thought, but riskier if you are on a time constraint. Next time you have a random idea that you think is cool, give this method a shot and see if it’s truly worthwhile.

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