I can have the most incredible idea on paper … and then, when I start to try out the scenes, the characters, or whatever, maybe nothing feels right. There’s no excitement, there’s no drive, there’s no flood of creativity.

Because I’m a fan of and not afraid of hard work, I take this pretty seriously. I stop to question whether there’s no green light for a reason.

I’m pretty vocal about my faith, so for me, I often equate this with a supernatural redirection– but even if you’re not religious, you might still believe in ideas like kismet or gut feelings and intuition.

So, what about when you have an amazing idea and no green light? Then what? Do you go with an idea that seems “lesser” but has a green-light excitement and feel to it?

I think so.

I hope so.

With faith.

Now, note that I’m not trying to discourage hard work. I think it would be a horrible idea to give up on a great idea simply because it’s hard. By this green light idea, I’m talking merely about setting aside a great idea because it’s wrong.

Writers, any thoughts on this? How hard do you push an idea that doesn’t “feel” right? Does this green light concept ring a bell with you or am I totally talking nonsense?