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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/18119
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

To be honest, until a story passes a certain threshold of completeness I don't think it can be determined if it is worthwhile or not. Pretty much every awesome plot can be summarized in a way that sounds dumb, and every lame plot can be made to sound interesting; so the storyline alone is not enough to decide. In fact, I think that none of the other elements of a story such as characters, dialog and narration alone are enough to determine the potential. It's the tuning of each of them to the right balance that makes it good.

A good writer can make a silly idea entertaining and a bad writer can turn a genius idea into a slog that only those I-have-to-finish-this-book-because-I-started-it people will ever complete (you know who you are). So I say start all your ideas and really flesh out the story and characters. Once you've gotten into it a ways, you'll know which ones are keepers and which ones are the stinkers.

But how do you know which one is the best one to spend time fleshing out? Just go with your gut. You probably already have an idea of which one is your favorite. ;)

Original score: 13