Imagine, if you will, that you get a great idea for a character. You put them into a situation in which you know they will thrive. You even give them an emotional conflict and perhaps even an external one.
This all sounds like the perfect start to writing a great book, doesn’t it?
If you’re a plotter, like me, you next begin plotting the story, coming up with the major turning points and thinking of the scenes you’ll need to write to get your character to each beat and on to the end. You’ll write out detailed character sheets figuring out all the things about your character that make them fully developed and believable, leaving room for that all-important growth and how and whether they’ll attain their goals—or, at least, you’re trying to do this.
Or, if you’re a pantser, you would dive right in and begin writing. And maybe you’d get the first fifty pages done, but then ideas just begin to peter out.
This movie simply isn’t playing in your head. You can’t see the character, you can’t hear their voice, feel what you’d expected them to feel.
The magic just isn’t there.
Some writers in this position would go for a walk, spend time in nature, or go to the gym to see if they can’t refill that creative well. Others would seek out other writer friends for help, support, or guidance. Some authors might even seek out professional help, hiring a book coach.
But no matter what you do, that spark, that vision, that magic just isn’t there and this book just doesn’t feel right.
What are you going to do?
Well, I do hope that if you find yourself in this position, you haven’t spent too much time on this book. If it doesn’t work, odds are it won’t.
Some ideas simply aren’t right.
If you don’t feel it, see and hear it, then you can’t force it. That movie needs to play in your head in order to write the story. Does this mean you have to scrap the whole thing? Not necessarily. Sometimes just putting it away for a few months or years and coming back to it when it starts teasing your mind again is the best way to go.
Another option is to keep the parts that work—perhaps your protagonist’s external goal, but not their internal one—and put what doesn’t feel right into a folder to use in some other, future book. There is really no point in throwing away good work. It may not be right for the book you’re writing right now, but it may be for another.
Then, once you’ve separated out what doesn’t feel right from what does, sit with the parts of your plan that do feel right and rebuild from there. Your book will work and you will be able to write it, it just may not be what you originally envisioned.
Be open to change—everything from the character’s personality to the plot you thought would be so good. Don’t give up. Be open and it will all come together and you’ll know when it’s right.