How To Write a Concept For Your Novel Idea

And why you need a concept that looks like something that has come before.

Photo by Nong Vang on Unsplash

A lot of stories start with an idea — but usually, there’s not enough there to begin writing a story.

Today we’re going from idea to concept. Here are a few examples of ideas that eventually became stories in our modern culture:

• Two powerful wizards who battle it out for control of both the magic and muggle worlds
• A group of friends in their 20s-30s living in New York City
• Two male vampires fall in love with the same human girl

All of these ideas are extremely popular stories in today’s culture, and two of them have spawned multiple franchises. What does this mean? Is there value in an idea alone if it can spawn multiple huge franchises, none of which are infringing on another’s copyright?

“A concept is an idea that has been evolved to the point where a story becomes possible. A concept becomes a platform, a stage, upon which a story may unfold. A concept, it could be said — and it should be viewed this way — is something that asks a…