That’s how it goes, doesn’t it?

The start of a new story.

You write some notes, partial-ideas, and a whole lot of nothing.  Give up and watch tv, go to a movie, or play video games telling yourself that it’s “research.”

Then, hours, days, or even weeks later, you’re starring at a whiteboard half full of a bad outline that goes nowhere.  When you sip your drink, wondering if it’s too early to go to sleep, and

SNAP

There are the characters, the conflict, and an outline suddenly in your head.  Now it’s race to get it down on paper before it evaporates from you forever.

From here on, it’s a question of craft – the ability, the sheer skill, to plane out this rough idea into a story – but man, do I ever hate starting a new story.

This is somewhat analogous to what television writers call “breaking the story,” and it has a well known rule of thumb:

You break the story, or the story breaks you.