Then I'll go back and put that up to picture. If it's the right idea but needs editing, that's easy. In the early days I was thinking and writing too pianistically. As time went on I learned to think more about texture, and trying to find a musical expression that was less dependent on the melody. To do that I wrote more to paper, which helped internalize the idea of texture.
Ideas have to be chased, the counterpoint has to be worked out on paper, and so on.
With Snow Falling on Cedars I worked so hard writing things out. I spent weeks working on the string counterpoint. Consequently it's some of the least 'James Newton Howard' sounding music I've ever done. If I wasn't living in a Hollywood world I'd do more of that. I've found that even a bad idea can lead to a good idea.