8 Tests to Know If Your Idea Is Worth Writing

I love the excitement of having a new idea. For me, it's usually a concept or a premise, and then I come up with characters who would play well in that space. But there are a ton of ways to come at it—maybe you imagine a kooky character and decide to send them on an adventure. Maybe you just want to write in a specific genre.

Whatever your path, it's an exciting time in your writing. But many would tell you not to just open Final Draft and take off.

Do you have enough story to get you to around 100 pages? Are you excited enough to spend potentially several months on this idea?

Writing instructor John Matthew Fox (who runs Bookfox, a resource for fiction writers) recently shared eight tests for validating novel ideas that can also be applied to screenwriting.

Fox says these tests help writers "figure out whether your novel idea is good enough." If you fail any of these tests, don't give up. It just means that you need to keep working at it until you find the way in that does work.

Watch his video here.

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1. The Pitch Test

Fox calls this the "dinner party test."

Get some friends together and casually mention a script you've been "reading" with your premise. Don't tell them it's your idea. You're trying to get unfiltered reactions.

Practice beforehand. You need a one-line pitch or elevator pitch that hooks people. Fox warns against just describing what your story is about.

"A girl participates in a competition to the death. I mean, yeah, that's what The Hunger Games is about, but I don't think that makes anybody want to read the book," he says.

Think of the themes and bigger plot elements that make your story unique. If it's The Hunger Games , you would emphasize the dystopian setting and the reasons Katniss volunteers for the deadly competition.

Your goal is to get people asking what movie you're talking about. Would someone be curious enough to seek out your project? Then you can tell them it's yours.

For more on crafting effective pitches, check out our guide to writing loglines that sell.

2. The Right Person Test

Fox says you should ask yourself, "Am I the right person to write this novel?"

You might love hard sci-fi stories, but are you good at science? You might love period pieces, but do you know history? Fox says he'd "have to do some serious, serious research, almost transform myself into a different person, so I could pull off writing one of those books."

Separate what you enjoy watching from what you should write. They're not always the same.

What are your strengths? Fox once edited someone who excelled at small details and interior character moments but struggled with plotting. She probably shouldn't have written a big, commercial, action piece.

Also, how many screenplays in your genre have you read? Fox says, "If you haven't read 30 books in your genre, then you really don't have any business writing this novel."

The same applies to scripts. Read screenplays. Know the genre. Learn what's already been done.

Greig Fraser on set of Dune: Part Two Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.

3. The Wow Factor Test

Fox asks about your "wow factor." What makes your script stand out? What makes someone want to spend two hours watching it?

He identifies five wow factors. You don't need all of them, he says, just one or two to carry your entire screenplay.

Premise

Do you have a high-concept premise that grabs attention immediately? In film terms, think Inception 's dreams within dreams or Looper 's time-travel hit men.

Plot

A massive twist or reveal can power everything. Fox mentions Gone Girl. Same with The Sixth Sense or Parasite.

Setting

An inventive world can float your script. Think Spider-Verse 's multiverse or the galaxy far, far away from Star Wars.

Character

Do you have a charismatic, memorable protagonist? Maybe it's John Wick. Or it's Jessica from Dune or George Bailey from It's a Wonderful Life. (It's probably not Joe Schmo, unless the point of the character is that they're aggressively average in a ridiculous situation.)

The point is, are they well-developed, with a clear goal we can rally behind?

Style

This is having a distinctive voice or visual approach. In screenwriting, this might be Shane Black's parentheticals or Aaron Sorkin's walk-and-talks.

4. The Weight Test

Fox asks, "Does your book have weight?"

Weight comes from personal connection. Fox says if you recently got divorced and you're writing about divorce, "naturally, you're going to feel super invested in that subject matter."

When you connect your screenplay to a personal __wound, audiences feel it.

Weight also comes from topics you just love. If you care deeply about something, that energy powers you through to the end of your screenplay.

Your screenplay should have enough weight that you could dedicate months or years to working on it.

Learn more about finding your personal connection to material.

Steven Spielberg directing Liam Neeson and Ben Kingsley on the set of Schindler's List. Credit: Universal Pictures

5. The Scope Test

Fox calls this "the town versus the brick test."

You don't have to write Gone with the Wind or Giant or Hamlet on your first go out. Maybe you scale it back. Focus on one bit of a grand story, or one character.

"The more complex it is, the more chance there is for a lot of stuff to go wrong," Fox says.

His advice is to go smaller and tighten your scope. Go narrower. Tell a smaller story inside your grander universe.

I think an excellent example of this in action right now is A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, the Game of Thrones spin-off currently airing on HBO.

It is so much smaller than what we're used to seeing in Westeros. It's not about grand armies or different houses fighting or complicated histories (well, a little, but not at the same level). It's about one guy trying to become a knight and win one local jousting tournament. And it is so good.

If you find yourself overwhelmed in your writing, Fox says, stop trying to describe the whole town.

"Instead of describing a town, why don't you go just to the main street and describe that?"

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Credit: HBO

6. The Comp Titles Test

Fox calls this the "common denominator test." Are there examples of scripts or films similar to your idea?

You do want to be original, but you don't want to be so original that no one knows what you're doing or where to put you.

Often, script analysts like me have to provide a list of comp titles to execs, because execs want to know what a script is similar to, how much the comps were made for, and what those movies made back at the box office. It's a business, after all.

Making movies is a big risk. If you can't point to anything like your script idea, it's going to be hard to sell it. Simple as that. You need to know how to market your script.

Your concept probably fits inside a category. You might have a new twist, and that's great. But you probably haven't invented a completely new genre.

Find your comp titles. They don't have to be exactly identical. They just need to share enough in common that audiences who liked them would also like yours.

7. The "Forget About It" Test

Can you forget about your screenplay idea? Fox says if you can, you probably should.

Your idea should be so exciting that you can't help but mull it over. You're thinking about your characters and what they would do in different situations. You keep planning different moments in the story. A song will play, and you'll add it to your writing playlist. You can't stop thinking about it.

To test this, you can leave your idea alone for a few weeks. If it keeps coming to mind, that's your subconscious voting yes.

You can also keep a running list of ideas, Fox says. Check it every few months. Some will seem terrible in retrospect. Others will still excite you. Those are the ones with legs.

8. The Scene Test

Fox's final test is: "Can you list five scenes from your as-yet-unwritten novel that you are super excited to write?"

He's not talking about the big, obvious beats like the inciting incident or climax, which you probably already know as you get started. He means other specific scenes.

I love this test. I have those scenes in mind as I get started and use them as waypoints in the writing process. I'm writing toward them, getting more excited the closer I get. Usually, they are moments of important dialogue or confrontation, or a big reveal or visual moment.

If you can't come up with at least five scenes of your own, you're not ready.

What are the moments you're dying to write? Those moments will sustain you through the harder sections.

If you don't have them yet, continue developing your characters and their story. You will get there!