An idea is not a play, nor is it a book, nor a screenplay. You have to write it. I don't care if you have hundreds of pages of random scenes, put into a word document that takes up 50 MG of digital space. Just because you've spent hours doing research does not mean you have anything...yet. Those notes are not your "book," or "script," so please don't use these more definitive nouns to describe your unfinished work. Let's be real and call that your book PROJECT. Or your script IDEA. No matter how brilliant it is, it is still just an idea, until YOU make it otherwise.
I am all for positive, in-the-moment, "I am so happy and grateful now that…" affirmations, but let us not LIE to ourselves about what an unfinished thing really is when communicating with each other, or ourselves, just to make ourselves feel good, or look good. Because if you believe that lie, then you will begin to believe you don't have any WORK to do, and that is the biggest lie of all.
"But I've got a book in me!" No you don't - unless it's been surgically sewn into your abdomen.
Believe me, I speak from real experience. This kind of self-talk is dangerous. I have spent countless hours doing research, jotting ideas on stickies, watching reference films, making lists, making outlines, reading "how-to" books, and yadda, yadda, all the while claiming that I'm "writing." Heck, I've even gone so far as to say that I'm writing when I am doing the dishes or taking a shower! Sure, I get great IDEAS in the shower, but since working in there on my computer would likely get me electrocuted, I cannot possibly WRITE in the shower.
"Oh, stop being so literal! We all have to start somewhere!" you say to me. I totally agree! And usually that includes some copious note taking, reading, dish washing, and shower taking. But if you have spent more than a couple of weeks doing this, and still haven't "put pen to paper," as it were, than what you're doing is simply PROCRASTINATING.
So let's stop talking about writing, or saying we have a "script" when we don't, and just WRITE. That's when the best ideas come. That's when the Universe tells us secrets we didn't even have to look up. Because writing is an ACTIVE thing, and the Universe LOVES feeding action. Action as a writer means producing hundreds of PAGES made up of many, many lines, sentences, and words that tell your story. It means paring those pages down by at least 25%, then writing MORE pages, and paring AGAIN. That is the WORK of writing. It can be magical, but it is WORK.
And when you have a complete draft with a beginning, a middle and an end, feel free to call it a book. :)
