There are stories I’m writing. There are stories I’m planning to write. And then there are the stories quietly living in the back of my brain, taking up space and apparently making themselves comfortable until I finally pay attention to them.

Those might be my favorite kind. Because for me, a story rarely begins when I open a blank document and type Chapter One. Usually, it starts long before that. Sometimes it starts with a character. Sometimes it’s a place I can see so clearly in my head that I immediately want to know who lives there. Sometimes a random scene shows up out of nowhere while I’m doing something that has absolutely nothing to do with writing.

And sometimes it’s just a question.

What if…?

Those two words have caused me a ridiculous amount of trouble over the years. Because once my brain asks the question, it doesn’t always let it go.

Before There Are Chapters

This is probably one of my favorite parts of creating a story. Before there are chapters or word counts or deadlines, there are scraps. Notes scribbled in notebooks. Random lines saved somewhere because I don’t know what they mean yet, but I know I don’t want to lose them.

Pinterest boards full of places that don’t exist.
Character names.
Songs.
Pieces of dialogue.
A coffee shop.
A house at the end of a street.

A character standing somewhere in my imagination, patiently waiting for me to figure out what exactly happened to them. None of it looks much like a book yet, but somewhere in all those little pieces, a world is beginning to exist.

Some Stories Are Louder Than Others

I’ve also learned that stories don’t arrive in order, which would be incredibly convenient, by the way. I can be completely focused on one project when another story decides this is apparently its moment. (This is happening to me right now, like as I write this post kind of right now.)  Suddenly there’s a character, then there’s a scene, then I hear a song that fits them a little too perfectly. And now I’m supposed to pretend I’m not thinking about an entirely different book while I’m trying to finish the one in front of me.

This is how plot bunnies happen, people. 😂

I used to think I needed to do something with every idea immediately. Now I know better; some stories need time. So I write the idea down, and I collect whatever pieces come with it. Maybe I create a Pinterest board. Maybe I jot down a character name or a scene. Maybe it gets nothing more than a paragraph in my notes. Then I let it sit, because I’ve realized that not writing a story doesn’t mean I’m doing nothing with it; sometimes I’m still getting to know it.

The Story Is Growing Anyway

That’s the strange thing about being a writer. A story can grow while you’re busy doing something else. Characters get clearer. Connections appear that weren’t there before. That random scene you wrote down six months ago suddenly makes sense. (This happens to me all of the time!)  You finally understand why a character behaves the way they do. A place that was once nothing more than a small town with a coffee shop starts getting streets and businesses and people who have known one another their entire lives.

Eventually, you realize you’ve built an entire world without ever officially sitting down to build one. That’s happened to me more times than I can count. *cough* Waldon Springs started this way. Maybe that’s why I love looking back through old notebooks so much. I’ll find a tiny note about something that eventually became an entire book, or discover an idea I’d completely forgotten about and immediately think:

Oh.

I’m not done with you yet.

Not Every Story Is Ready to Be Written

This might be the biggest thing I’ve learned. Having an idea doesn’t mean I have to turn it into a book right now. Some stories arrive ready. Others need to follow me around for a while.

They need more pieces.
More questions.
More life.

Sometimes I need more time before I’m the writer who can tell them properly. So I keep them. In notebooks. In folders. In Pinterest boards. In ridiculously long notes on my phone. In my Notion plot bunny section, and, of course, in that slightly chaotic corner of my brain reserved specifically for fictional people who refuse to leave me alone. They’re not abandoned stories. They’re stories waiting for their turn.

Maybe That’s Where Stories Really Begin

Not with Chapter One. Not with a perfectly plotted outline. Not even with the moment we decide, I’m going to write this book. Maybe they begin much earlier than that. With the first question. The first image. The first tiny flicker of curiosity that makes us stop and think…Wait. There’s something here. And then we carry it. Sometimes for a few days. Sometimes for months. Sometimes for years. Until one day, the story we’ve been carrying quietly taps us on the shoulder and says:

Okay. I’m ready now.

And hopefully, when that happens, I can remember which notebook I wrote it in or where I put it in my Notion; hopefully it’s sitting in my Plot Bunny Registry. Cross your fingers for me. 😂

From the Atrium

I would genuinely love to hear about this one: Do you have an idea, creative or otherwise, that’s been quietly following you around for a while?

Tell me about it in the comments. I think some ideas need somewhere safe to exist before we’re ready to do anything with them. 💜 (I use my Notion Plot Bunny Sanctuary for this. If you want to know more about my setup, let me know in the comments as well. 😉)