"I'm afraid someone will steal my idea ... "

I give ideas away all the time to my friends.  When I'm in "Brian Mode," I often tell anyone who'll listen that they can probably use those ideas more than I can.  Besides, giving away something good could potentially balance out my karma, which requires it more often than not.

Ideas are like clay.  Malleable, easy to locate (see my 4/23/2012 blog entry on Ideas), with lots of creative potential, ideas are the foundation for writing ... but by no means the most important part.

Too many people clutch their ideas like a passenger aboard the Titanic might grip a floatation device.  They believe this precious brain child could be The Next Big Thing ... and it could be.  However, someone else has already invented Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, Superman, Dirk Pitt, whatever.  Get over it!

What really matters is execution.  Take the idea of star-crossed young lovers.  In one version, you have Romeo and Juliet.  Toss them into the New York barrio and it becomes West Side Story.  Push your tongue firmly into your cheek, get some attractive young actresses to run around with a minimum of clothing (and a maximum of piercings) and it's Tromeo and Juliet. 

It's been said that just about every story boils down to around seven plots and they'd all been used by the time Shakespeare took quill to paper.  But what will make your story different is the descriptive power you bring or the flourishes to the tale that you alone will apply.  Want to write a tale about a pre-programmed espionage agent?  One way makes for a Raymond Shaw, another for a Jason Bourne.  But the stories each character can facilitate differ greatly.  No doubt, you can find a third set of writing choices.

Even when it comes to nonfiction, almost any interview subject has been interrogated before you even found their e-mail address.  However, what can make your article stand out is the perspective you take to the subject at hand.  Also, try to think of two or three questions that the person may never have been asked.  Or attempt to think of a new way to ask them something you know they've answered before.

Ideas are never to be discounted.  However, they're plentiful like corn in Illinois after the Fourth of July.  Take some time and come up with your own recipe for them, okay?