Story Development, Part 1 : Capturing Your Ideas

When you have a great idea for a screenplay, you need to get it out of your head and write it down.

Every day we face a tsunami of information and media flooding our brains. We get inspired by a spark, a thought, an experience, but forget it moments later. If you want to write screenplays, then you don't need ideas, you need lots of ideas.

So how do we record our inspiration, assess it, and choose the best candidate for a story?

Today we will discuss a system that will record your ideas and help you assess them, so you can write your next screenplay.

The Limits of Human Memory

A screenwriter shouldn't rely on memory to record ideas.

You are travelling to work and a great screenplay idea comes to you. Inspiration hits and your mind floods with ideas and story possibilities. You are on fire and dream of your Oscar acceptance speech.

Ten hours later, after a stressful day at work, you cook dinner and put your kids to bed. You finally sit down at your laptop but your mind is blank, the inspiration is gone, and you can barely remember what you had for breakfast.

Your story idea is gone.

There is a simple solution to this problem.

Capturing the Seed of an Idea

Story inspiration can arrive anytime, anywhere, day or night.

When an idea comes, you want to get it out of your head and record it. This should be easy, quick, and accessible. Your phone is the obvious choice.

I’m using Apple Notes with this workflow:

I have an idea, I take out my phone, and I click my Apple Notes shortcut.
I create a note and start writing.
Once I’ve got the idea down, I think about folders, headings, etc.

You can use any note-taking application, audio recording, or video on any device to do this. Apple Notes or an iPhone is not required. A notepad and pen can be just as effective.

The key is to record an idea quickly and easily when it comes. This simple exercise might seem obvious, especially if you are doing it already, but it didn’t occur to me until much later.

Build this habit until it becomes second nature and your inspired ideas will be safely stored for later.

Idea Review and Development

Your ideas won’t go anywhere unless you take time to nurture and develop them.

If you are like me, with kids and a full-time job, then I recommend blocking time in your calendar for idea reviews. There are so many distractions and important priorities, it is easy to push. It’s more likely to get done if it’s scheduled.

I review my ideas in Apple Notes and transfer them to a dedicated Notion page.

Notion is free, and allows me to quickly create, organize, and navigate my ideas. Again, like Apple Notes, you don’t have to use Notion, and should use whatever application you like.

The key takeaway is that applications like Apple Notes, Voice Recording, or Video won’t help you expand and develop your idea.

There’s a clear distinction here between quick capture and story development.

Free Flow Idea Exploration

The spark of an idea is a very exciting time for the writer.

At this point in the story development there are no constraints, so it’s a time to trust your gut instinct and let your imagination run wild. Don’t edit, filter, or critique your thoughts. Everything and anything is valid, so just write it down.

I will also have, at any time, multiple pages with story ideas active. Free of boundaries, I enjoy exploring, researching, and developing my story.

A natural process happens where I gravitate towards certain story ideas.

I do ask myself one very important question: why does a story idea interest me?

A Simple System for Capturing Ideas

Below is an outline of the process I use to capture my ideas. I know everyone works differently, so experiment and customize as needed.

I’m doing something, somewhere and an idea comes to me.
I open Apple Notes on my phone and write it down.
I’ve blocked 30 minutes in my Calendar the next day for idea review.
I review my story ideas and transfer them to a dedicated page in Notion.
I make bullet notes about the idea.
I repeat this process at my scheduled idea reviews.

So let's apply this system to a real example.

Case Study : The Last Supper

Here is the output of applying this story capture system to an idea:

I was reading an article on the New York Times website while taking a train and found it interesting.

Apple Notes

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/10/business/last-supper-joseph-awuah-darko.html

A man asks the world to invite him to dinner before he commits suicide

Notion

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/10/business/last-supper-joseph-awuah-darko.html

A man asks the world to invite him to dinner before he commits suicide

I’m interested in this story idea because I want to know why this guy is doing this (motivation) and what is going to happen?
There is a certain irony in the setup: people are drawn to him because they find social media fake, but it’s unclear whether his motivations are authentic.
There is a backlash from parents whose children are bipolar, and don’t view suicide as a treatment for the disease.
Joseph has moved to a country where there is no chance he will qualify as a candidate for assisted suicide.
There seems to be very little conflict or drama in this story.
How do I tell a story or write a screenplay about a man going to dinner with different people?

Until Next Time

In this first part, we’ve focused on the importance of capturing and developing your story sparks before they slip away. With a simple system—whether through notes, voice recordings, or digital tools—you can build the habit of collecting inspiration and keeping it safe.

In part two, we are going to answer an important question in the story development process: Are you a Pantster or Plotter?

Until then, start small: capture one idea today, review it tomorrow, and see where it takes you.