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Imagine you decide to create a story and during the brainstorming phase, you come up with too many ideas you’d like to incorporate in said story. After taking some time to think about it, you deign to drop some since they don’t jive with the vision you have for the plot. And yet you just can’t seem to let them go, leaving you with the question of whether you ought to use these rejected story ideas.
There’s a number of reasons why you originally dropped these story ideas. It could range from just having too many ideas to your changing your mind about what you want to explore in the plot. Rejected story ideas can still be useful in terms of the plot and can strengthen it if used in the correct way.
There are downsides about relying on said story ideas. For one, they could deter from the message you want to convey, the thing you want your viewers to think about. They could also make your audience feel like there’s too many storylines for them to keep track of which will dampen their experience, making it unlikely they’ll want to spend more time in your world and with your characters.
What if you like a particular idea but you rejected it and you cannot help but feel like you can still use it but you’re not sure how to make it fit in your tale? There’s one way you can make it happen and it would be to rework it. Modifying it to make it work is easier said than done and you have to do it with finesse. You don’t want to make it feel like you shoehorned it in but it ought to fit seamlessly with the overall purpose of the story.
This is the eighth article in The Sunlit Hearth series. If you want to see what else we have, you can find a ton more on our blog page!
The brainstorming phase is where you just jot down all sorts of plot-lines you’d like to explore. This phase can span from a number of days to weeks and months, depending on how expansive you want the story to be. Generally speaking, the more plot-lines there are, the more you have to juggle and keep track of. This could lead you to decide to omit some for the sake of simplicity.
What do you do with these rejected story ideas? Sure, you could choose to not use them at all and consign them to the dustbin of history, forever as ideas that failed to come to fruition. However, there are some you feel can still work which also vibe with the spirit of the story. This is the time to think about the ones you still want to work with.
Only focus on the ones that you know in your heart will be beneficial to the overall plot, not hinder it. They don’t necessarily need to take center stage; they can serve as brief detours that pay dividends later on. For instance, instead of moving on his adventure, your protagonist could spend time in a town, helping its residents fend off a monster incursion that is eventually revealed to be part of a larger campaign to cause mayhem and chaos across the world, prompting one of the residents to join the protagonist when he departs the town. This detour becomes part of the main plot with the added bonus of your audience spending more time with the protagonist and the residents of the town.
Be conscious when integrating these rejected story ideas into the main plot. You don’t want to harm its pace and make your audience wonder why they’re there. Rather, they ought to make the world and your characters more interesting by introducing new elements or insight into them. Showcasing new aspects of their personality or places that hold a special meaning to your characters’ hearts can solidify your audience’s connection with them and make them enjoy spending time with them.
Sometimes going with a story idea you dropped only to use again later on can work against you. It’s as if you had a good idea at first but when you actually executed it, you realize it wasn’t actually as good as you originally thought. Depending on how much it impacts the plot, you might be able to salvage it but the damage will be done.
Every story has a core message it wants to convey to the audience. As such, everything within it must be part of it and it especially applies to that of the ideas. What hurts it is incorporating ideas that deter from it which only complicates things and makes your audience unsure of what the message you want it to tell. Only use those that articulates the message in the correct fashion.
Another disadvantage of using rejected story ideas is that they can hurt a character’s arc. As a creator, you have a general idea of where you want your characters to end up and sometimes integrating one such idea can steer the involved characters off the path you want them to walk on. To avoid this occurring, have them be involved in the plot-lines that make sense for them to be in.
Having too many plot-lines can be caused by bringing in originally rejected story ideas. Doing this makes it more difficult for your viewers to keep track of what’s happening. People don’t mind complex plot-lines as long as they can follow it but they particularly dislike having to remember what’s going on if there’s way too much going on since it’s easy for them to forget who is involved in what activity or action. Strive to have a certain number of plot-lines and stick with it. You can use the story ideas still sitting around at a later time, in the sequel, or somewhere else.
What if there’s an idea you like and really want to use but you aren’t sure where you can fit it in the tale? There’s one way to remedy that and it’s to rework it. Now, this is easier said than done but if you do it the right way, you’ll make it work and it’ll serve the plot well.
Rejected story ideas can range from characters you chose not to bring in, plot-lines that delved into a different part of the world, those that added lore and context to what’s going on in the story itself but just didn’t seem like it could work anywhere. You are going have to roll up your sleeves and work on fine-tuning it if you really desire to have it play a role in the story.
One way to make some meaningful changes to these story ideas is to break them down into smaller pieces. Doing this makes it easier for you to find a good spot to put them in somewhere in the plot though ideally you’d like to slot them in areas that make the most sense for them to be in.
Another way to incorporate rejected story ideas is to have them be occur in certain points of the plot where their entirety can span these points without slowing down the overall momentum. One could take place at near the beginning and be resolved by the time the plot moves into the middle phase or another could be established at the middle point and come to an end before the climax. In some cases, they move in tandem with the main plot or at their own separate pace and they don’t take too much attention away from the central drama.
There are a ton of fantastic story ideas but it is impossible to put them all together in one story. Sometimes there is one you originally rejected you find yourself thinking about and how you’d bring it into your tale. As long as it enhances the main plot, and not hinder it, and you take the time to work on it, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t use a rejected story idea in the one you’re creating!
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