I have often wondered when you should make the decision to pursue an idea you have for a story. I assume that this is probably one of those questions that there is no definitive answer to, and it is probably down to personal choice. Does the idea sound good to you, can you run with the idea and develop this into the bones of a story. But then you spend hours and hours tapping away at the keyboard only to decide its not going anywhere. This is where the frustration sets in and this is where I struggle in deciding whether to pursue the idea knowing I might waste time and energy. But then there is the idea you have for a story and after asking a few selected friends decide to pursue this story. I suppose the question I am trying to get an answer to is can you get feed back on an idea without the risk of somebody stealing it. which would help you by testing the field before taking the leap. Can you copy write an idea for a story.
For me it was definitely a need for me to tell my story.
I don't know if I was lucky or not but I had an idea and the time to put pencil to paper (that is right, I use a pencil) and sure enough within 5 weeks I had 30,000 words and I was hooked.
I think that even if I thought my story was nothing I would still have finished it. The sense of achievement is amazing and I hope to carry that feeling forward to my next project.
I would suggest you start writing, even in rough form. See where you go from there, if you feel you must finish the next chapter and the next to identify what happens at or place or to a character then I think you have found your idea.
You are your first fan, the one you have to please first
There's no copyright on ideas - I wish there was :(. I'd say if you're not sure the story will work then it won't, whatever anyone else says. You have to WANT to tell it enough, and at the moment you don't.
Write it down and put it away somewhere safe. Maybe you'll go back to it; maybe you won't. Perhaps you'll think of another story which your original idea will fit inside. If your story's fated to be told then it will, eventually.
I bet loads of us have ideas for stories which never come to fruition - that's one of writing's frustrations. I have one particular story I want to write, of two families, spread over three centuries. But at the moment I can't write it. Not well enough, anyway - I don't think I've the experience, or skills, even. So for now I'll stick to adventure stories, which I can write...I think. ;)