Decision making

how to decide what to write a novel about

Staring at the blank page and asking yourself “how to decide what to write a novel about” is practically a rite of passage for every storyteller. The good news? You don’t have to wait for a lightning-bolt idea. You just need a simple, visual way to compare all those half-baked notions buzzing around your head. That’s where StaMatrix comes in—think of it as the decision-matrix side-kick that turns “Um, maybe?” into “Yes, this one!”

Why “how to decide what to write a novel about” feels so paralyzing

Ideas are like stray cats: the minute you feed one, seven more show up. You fall in love with the glittery premise on Monday, hate it by Wednesday, and suddenly remember the orphan-princess-space-opera you abandoned in 2014. Without a filter, you’re stuck in an endless loop of what-if and meh. A priority matrix (a.k.a. Pugh matrix) lets you weigh each concept against the stuff that actually matters—marketability, personal passion, how long you can stand to live with these characters—so you can pick the winner without second-guessing yourself into oblivion.

Step 1: Brain-dump every shiny story spark into a decision matrix

Open StaMatrix, click “Create New Table,” and list every premise that’s ever kept you awake at 2 a.m. Don’t censor yourself; even “Victorian vampires open a coffee shop” is welcome. Each premise becomes an “Option” row. Now you can see them side-by-side instead of jostling for space in your skull.

Step 2: Choose the criteria that will decide how to decide what to write a novel about

Here’s where you get brutally honest. Add columns like:

StaMatrix lets you assign each criterion an importance score 1–10. Passion project? Crank Excitement to 10. Paying rent this year? Reader Appeal gets the heavyweight spot.

Score each idea like a judge at a talent show

Click into every cell and give your vampire-barista saga a 1–10 for each parameter. No math headaches—the matrix auto-calculates weighted totals. Suddenly the answer to “how to decide what to write a novel about” isn’t a mystical whisper; it’s a clear green bar on the right side of the screen yelling “Pick me!”

Pro tip: let StaMatrix’s AI jump-start your matrix

If you’re so stuck you can’t even list criteria, type your plight into the built-in assistant: “I’m torn between a cozy mystery set on Mars and a YA ghost story in a boarding school.” The AI spits out a pre-filled table with sensible parameters and placeholder scores. Tweak, don’t re-invent.

How to sanity-check your matrix before you commit

Even after the numbers crown a victor, sleep on it. Revisit your weights: did you over-value market trends and under-value fun? Drag the sliders, watch the totals shift. If the same premise keeps landing on top, congrats—you’ve cracked how to decide what to write a novel about without tarot cards or coin flips.

Real-life example: from 27 concepts to 1 in 15 minutes

Last month, fantasy author Jenna S. dumped 27 half-scribbled plots into StaMatrix. Her top row: “epic trilogy with sentient storms.” After she weighted “Personal Obsession” at 9 and “Shelf Space for Maps” at 3, the storm book crushed the competition by 12 points. She’s 40 k words in and still psyched—proof that a priority matrix beats anxiety every time.

Common traps when you decide how to decide what to write a novel about

Ready to stop staring and start writing?

Hit the bright green button on StaMatrix, title your table “Next Novel,” and let the grid do the grudge work. Ten minutes from now you could be outlining chapter one instead of doom-scrolling Reddit threads titled “how to decide what to write a novel about.” Your future best-seller is waiting—give it the green bar it deserves.