DON'T Write Your Ideas Down. Not yet.
True ideas survive the test of time. Don't feel bad if it doesn't. It's memorable for a reason.
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Hello! Welcome to my weekly newsletter!
Enjoy a dose of my playwriting process,
writing confessions, and all the mess in between.
Simon Stephen, British-Irish playwright said,
“When you get a formless hunch,
the most important thing to do is just leave it alone.”
When we get a genius idea, our instinct is to quickly act.
Write it down.
Flesh it out.
Start the draft.
Turn it into something immediately.
But here’s the truth: an idea is only brilliant… if it stays brilliant with time.
If it’s a truly good idea, it’ll haunt you. It’ll cling to your brain for weeks. Months. Maybe even years.
And you MUST let it.
Let it simmer. Let it boil. Let it steam. Let it do whatever it needs to do. It may be quiet, it may be noisy, but let it just be in the background.
When you’re in the shower.
When you’re commuting.
When you’re eating.
When you’re watching a movie.
When you’re about to fall asleep.
When you’re dreaming.
If the idea keeps showing up? You’ve got something golden.
I have a musical I’ve been quietly holding in my head for five years now. I know the opening scene. I can almost hear the orchestration. But I haven’t written a single word down.
Why? Because I know, in my gut, the time isn’t quite right. Not yet. It’s still cooking. The characters are developing, the plot is thickening, the scenes are shaping.
So the next time you get a wild, wonderful idea…
Don’t rush, don’t panic. Don’t open a new Google Doc just yet.
Let it roast. Let it grill. Let it deep-fry.
If it’s still there after all that, if you can hear the characters, see the scenes, feel the tension in your body, then it’s finally time to sit down and write.
Because that is when the time is right.
Do you have that ONE idea for months/years that is just haunting you?