How a Tiny Idea Turns Into an Entire Book (Featuring Naked Brainstorming and a Lot of Self-Doubt)

I just put a sci-fi romantic suspense novella up for pre-order. Which is wild, because I haven’t written this genre since 2016, when I released my first novel and absolutely no one read it.

To be fair, it was about clones. Apparently people don’t want to read about clones. Who knew?

Anyway. I wanted to walk you through how a tiny, half-formed idea becomes a story with a mind of its own — because the process is equal parts exciting and unhinged, and I think you’ll relate to at least some of it.

Step One: The Shower

Most of my ideas come in the shower. I genuinely wish I could bring my laptop in there. I would. Zero hesitation.

This one hit me while I was shampooing my hair.

What if, in the future, they wipe your memories as a form of rehabilitation for crimes you committed? Is it nature or nurture that wires you to be bad?

Then immediately: That’s dumb. Why would they release someone with a clean slate when they were dangerous? That’s not punishment.

Then immediately again: But it IS punishment. You forget everyone you loved. Who you are. You give it all up. It’s like dying. The old you is gone.

Then: Ooh. There’s something emotional there. Pause. But it’s sci-fi romantic suspense. I don’t want to write that genre again.

Then, while drying off: What if she had her mind wiped, but knows something? Left herself a message?

Then, while getting dressed: something else entirely that I’m not going to spoil.

By the time I was fully clothed, I couldn’t wait to get to my computer.

Step Two: The Spiral (The Good Kind)

I opened a blank document and just… started asking questions. Where does the story start? Who is the love interest? What’s his secret — because he has to have one, all my love interests do. I brainstorm a handful of options. I pick the one that sounds like the most fun—and probably the most difficult to write.

And then I hit the wall.

The antagonist.

I always struggle here. I have a hard time figuring out who wants something so badly they’d hurt people to get it. So sometimes I put the story idea to rest. File it away. I have dozens of unfinished stories sitting on my hard drive — great sparks, no villain. Or a villain who’s too weak to carry the weight of the story.

So I let them go to sleep—for as long as they need to hibernate.

Step Three: The Answer (Also: The Shower, Again)

The next morning, shampooing my hair — I had my antagonist. At least a spark of an antagonist.

Someone from her past. Who wants something from her.

And while rinsing: And her love interest should also be from her past, because…

Here it was. The big ah-ha. The theme of the whole story. The reason I couldn’t stop myself from writing it:

Your past forms who you are, but you don’t have to let it control you. You can choose differently any time you want. Without a memory wipe.

That’s when the story was born. Not the idea — the story. There’s a difference.

Step Four: The Outline (The Part That Looks Like Controlled Chaos)

I plot sitting at my desk or on my sofa at 4AM with a cup of coffee. I break the story into 4 acts — 25% each structure, since I found early on that three acts at 33% each made Act 1 drag.

My starting points always come easy: the hook and the inciting incident. The rest requires more thought. More showers.

For this book, Act 1 looked something like this:

Hook: She wakes up strapped to a table. No memories. They call her “Prisoner.”

Inciting Incident: She’s taken in by her future love interest — a man who’s volunteering to let her live with him while she reintegrates into society. While going through her paperwork, she finds the first clue. Dismisses it.

First Plot Twist: Someone from her past recognizes her. The love interest helps. Or saves her. (I wrote out ten “what if” options here and picked the one that excited me most.)

That’s as far as I’ll go — no spoilers — but this ended up as a six-chapter Act 1 at 6000 words, making me realize that this little stray shower thought was turning into a novella.

And if I let it, it would claim more. But remember, I was absolutely not writing another sci-fi romantic suspense novel again. But a novella? That’s different, right?

What Comes Next

Drafting. Editing. More editing. Taking naps to replenish brain power. More editing.

But that’s a whole other post, because if I try to cover the full writing process here, we’ll be here until July. Which, coincidentally, is when Erased, Not Gone releases.

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