Write It, Or Don’t. But, Stop Talking About Your “Killer” Idea
If You Hate the Writing Process, You’ll Never Succeed.
Let’s start with a truth that’s as uncomfortable as it is universal:
Nobody in any professional storytelling field is buying your “killer idea.”
Not in film.
Not in television.
Not in publishing.
Not in theatre.
Not in comics or graphic novels.
Not in games.
From New York publishing houses to Hollywood studios to independent comic presses, the reality is the same: ideas have zero transactional value until they’re executed at a professional standard.
I can’t count how many times I’ve been approached — at a festival, at a conference, online, just out in public — by someone who says they have “an amazing idea for a story” and just need “someone to write it.”
Here’s the hard truth: in this business (and by “business” I mean all story industries), an unwritten idea is a stack of blank paper. It’s not an asset. It can’t be optioned, sold, licensed, or adapted. Until it’s written, refined, and delivered in a form the industry can use, it’s just potential — and potential that isn’t acted on has an expiration date.
And let’s be clear about something else: the fantasy of “getting someone else to write it” is just that — a fantasy. Hiring a true professional to write your story is expensive, and rightly so. You’re asking them to spend hundreds of hours of skilled labor to make your vision market-ready. I don’t know a single real pro who wants that gig unless there’s serious money, rights clarity, and industry upside involved. And those who offer a suspiciously low price and an unrealistically fast turnaround? They’re not professionals. They’re predators. They make their living by feeding on your hope, taking your cash, and delivering a draft that’s unusable.
If you have an idea you want to see realized, you have to do the work. Or at least be a true creative partner in the work. If you’re not willing, move on — stop talking about your “great idea” — and go do something you actually enjoy.
This is the first principle of the STORY AFTER HOLLYWOOD philosophy:
We don’t live in an era where you “sell” an idea and walk away rich. We live in an era where the execution of an idea is the only thing that can open doors — and only if you can execute repeatedly, with skill, under pressure.
THE EXECUTION TEST: Is Your Idea Worth Anything?
Before you start celebrating your “million-dollar concept,” run it through this filter:
Is it written? Not a synopsis. Not a “story bible.” Not a loose pitch deck. A finished, revised, market-ready draft.
Does it work on the page? Would a stranger understand and feel what you see in your head?
Has it been tested? With professional feedback from people who aren’t invested in sparing your feelings.
Is it industry-ready? Meaning it’s aligned with where the market actually is — not where you wish it was.
If you can’t answer “yes” to all four, your idea is still worthless. The good news? Writing fixes that. Execution fixes that.
THE PROCESS IS THE CAREER
Which brings us to the real point: if you don’t love the work — the process of writing — you will not last.
It doesn’t matter what medium you work in — film, books, plays, comics, or games. If you hate the day-to-day act of crafting story, you will eventually stall out.
Your career starts with a finished work.
That work starts with a first draft.
And that draft starts with you embracing the messy, frustrating, imperfect, chaotic work of making it real.
If you hate the process, you’ll leave your projects unfinished. You’ll burn out. And you’ll watch the storytellers who do love the process leapfrog you in skill, output, and opportunity.
And let’s address the AI fantasy while we’re here. If you think the solution to your lack of focus, discipline, or interest in learning the skills of storytelling is to have AI “do it for you,” answer me this: If you — a green, unskilled, and undisciplined writer — can use AI to make a story, what makes you think everyone can’t do exactly the same thing? The truth is, they can. And they are. Which means the world is already drowning in hollow, homogenized, uninspired material that reads like it was built from the same template — because it was.
AI cannot do the one thing your career depends on: it cannot be you. It cannot wrestle with your unique obsessions, your lived experience, your specific lens on the world. The only work that will stand out in the next decade will be the work that could not have been written by anyone else — including a machine.
The only real solution is to do the work yourself. Discover and develop a unique narrative voice. Write the stories only you can write. That’s the career. That’s the competitive edge. Everything else is noise.
WHY SO MANY STORYTELLERS HATE THE PROCESS (AND HOW TO FIX IT)
Here are the four most common creative roadblocks — relevant across every storytelling field — and how to dismantle them.
1. Fear of Failure
“What if this sucks?”
“What if nobody cares?”
Where it comes from: Perfectionism. Unrealistic expectations. The belief that your work has to be flawless before it exists.
Fix: Make your first draft goal about output, not quality. You can’t improve what doesn’t exist.
Pro move: Tell yourself: Today’s job is to get it written. Tomorrow’s job is to make it better. And don’t think you can “AI your way out” of fear. All that does is outsource your growth to a machine, ensuring you never learn the skills that make your voice distinct — which is the only thing that gives you a career.
2. Writer’s Block
Blank page. Blank brain. Endless procrastination rituals.
Where it comes from: Trying to force a story into its final form before it’s ready.
Fix: Lower the stakes. Write a side scene you’ll never use. Explore a character’s childhood in a throwaway paragraph. Anything to get moving.
Pro move: Remember: Writer’s block is nothing more than isolation. Talk it through with another creator. Say the scene out loud. Let someone ask questions. The block will break. And no — letting AI “generate something for you” isn’t breaking the block, it’s replacing your imagination with something generic. That’s not solving the problem; it’s deepening it.
3. Imposter Syndrome
“I’ll never be as good as them. Why bother?”
Where it comes from: Comparing your rough work to someone else’s polished, finished product.
Fix: The only comparison that matters is between you today and you last month.
Pro move: Before each session, list three things you do well. It’s not ego — it’s orientation. You belong here. And here’s the kicker: AI will never erase imposter syndrome, because it will never make you better. Only doing the work, over time, will replace doubt with earned confidence.
4. Disappointment from Slow Progress
You’ve been working for months — maybe years — and you feel invisible.
Where it comes from: Believing overnight success myths.
Fix: Celebrate the micro-wins. Finished a draft? Win. Tightened a scene? Win. Cut a clunky line? Win.
Pro move: Weekly micro-goals keep you moving forward without depending on miracles. And if you think AI is going to fast-track your career, remember: fast-tracking the wrong skills only gets you to irrelevance quicker.
THE BOTTOM LINE
In any professional storytelling field, there are only two kinds of people:
The idea dreamer who talks about their concept for years and never executes it.
The working storyteller who shows up, wrestles with the draft, and finishes the damn thing.
Guess which one producers, publishers, directors, and editors call when they need a project delivered.
So ask yourself: Which one are you right now? And more importantly — which one do you want to be?
You can keep chasing the shortcut. Or you can start building the skill set that makes you irreplaceable.
If this article hit a nerve, good. It means you care enough to stop spinning your wheels and start building the habits, skills, and narrative voice that will set you apart from every other “idea dreamer” in the crowd.
That’s exactly what I do with storytellers inside Writer Igniter — a place built for people who want to make the leap from “I have an idea” to “I have a finished, market-ready story.”
If you’re ready to find out what it takes — and more importantly, if you’re ready to do the work — contact me directly via jordan@writer-igniter.com and let’s set up a free consult about what you want to achieve and how I might be able to help. No selling. No obligations. Just a friendly and franbk conversation about goals.
Your story isn’t going to write itself.
