There is such a thing as collaborating with a fellow writer on a story. Royalty sharing for such endeavors can be arranged in the publisher's contract or by a separate contract between the parties doing the work. The share levels are determined by the amount of input of the parties. If it's just an idea, ideas really aren't worth much even when they're yours, so payment for the trigger to your writing would be something of a token or a mention in the book to make the idea birther feel good.

@Lincoln55 -- ROFLMAO spread evenly over your entire comment.

I agree with you gents. And, to date, I haven't found a nice way to tell a wannabe writer they should be on. Have you ever gone down memory lane looking at your writings from decades ago and wondered if you wrote better then, than now?

@westvir -- No. I wrote some awful crap back then. Looking at some of my recent stuff I noticed that I still have the talent to produce crap, so now I feel better.

@David_Cooper -- Understood. Now, as for there being any organized grouping of folks who write for/with others (ghostwriters), there are a few. Here's one for an example: [associationofghostwriters.org]

I do ghostwriting from time to time and have also engaged in the nefarious "novel factory" trade, but I don't advertise the latter. I have not joined any of the ghost organizations because that's not how I want to make a living. I know, I said I do ghostwriting occasionally, but I am really picky and the associations don't like that too much.

What genre(s) are you talking about and how much work has been done on your ideas at this point?

@Lincoln55 -- We need to talk. Not yet, but I'd like to message you sometime soon, if that's okay with you.

@David_Cooper -- It's not quite that simple, particularly not for film. The film industry is highly unionized and anyone who is slightly interested in making a living in it is a member of one of the unions governing scales and responsibilities. Most of those who work the ghostwriting scene outside of the organizations operate on share of royalty + an advance to cover basic cost of writing in the first place. This can be a fair chunk up front as well. It is, after all, a business and few are willing to work spec in such a fickle and uncertain field. Perhaps you don't understand what is meant by ghostwriting, so I'll give a brief description.

Someone has an idea for a fiction book. Someone wants to write their memoirs. Someone needs a science paper/essay/thesis/textbook written. The list includes anything that someone wants to have written and they either need it done to achieve a goal (doctorate/maintenance manual/etc.) or sell for profit. In all these cases, the initiator doesn't have the time, or talent, or experience, or whatever to do all the work themselves so they look to hire a writer. The writer who does the work normally gets no recognition for the work. The paycheck is their reward while the one who initiated the work gets the byline, any accolades it generates, radio/TV time, and all the royalties/advance it accrues. Obviously, the ghostwriter is not going to work for pennies.

What you are apparently looking for is someone who is willing to share the royalties on a book they have written based on one of your ideas. This is fraught with myriad problems. First, as I said, ideas are not a problem for the creative writer. The problem is finding the time to write them while keeping Bush's Baked Beans in the cupboard. Second, how on Earth are you going to approach anyone and have them willing to enter into this buddy bond business without giving them one of your ideas up front to show them it's worth making a deal? I mean, writers who lack ideas are usually not the most talented/experienced in the world, so if you find such a person, your idea is going to be at their mercy.

On top of all that, there are hundreds of places where anyone can get ideas free of burden with just a couple of clicks. Your ideas will have to be orders of magnitude better than what is available on the Internet, and if they are, why wouldn't you take the time to learn the craft and write them yourself? You did say that there are a lot of bad ideas out there, so even if your writing was not the greatest, the story can carry the writing if it's all that good.

@David_Cooper -- Handier yet would be to find a mentor willing to spend the time. A caveat here; mentors usually appear after they have seen your work and decide you have promise. Example: One of my early mentors contacted me because the acquisitions editor at the magazine showed him one of my efforts and suggested I might be someone to watch. That I haven't exploded on the scene with a dozen bestsellers already is not to say that they were wrong -- they just aren't right quite yet.

Another thing to bear in mind is that when I started there were only a few hundred authors in the industry spread over all the genres. Just doing the work was enough of a deterrent back then. With the advent of word processors and later the Internet and electronic publishing/printing/distribution there are now several hundred thousand in each genre, every one of them thinking they are the greatest author that ever was, and each vying for an infinitely thinner slice of a small pie. Had I been born twenty years earlier, I could have gotten a chunk of the golden age of Science Fiction and escaped the bullshit we now face.

I'm not saying it's too bad and one shouldn't try. I think everyone should have the opportunity to get recognized. To shine. What I am saying is, it is one hell of a lot more difficult today than it was twenty years ago, and several orders of magnitude tougher than it was when I started. I consider that since I've made a fair amount of dinero in this industry, that is the closest thing there is to real evidence for the existence of miracles. I wish you the best, my friend.