Do you think when you finish a story would change the outcome?

[lovecraft68]

Meant to post this when it first occurred but kept forgetting about it.

I think its fair to say if you began a story say a few years ago, dropped it, then got the urge to go back and finish it that it would not come out the same as when you initially started it. A lot can happen over time, the idea changed, your feelings changed, you went through a bunch of crap etc...

But I'm talking a short period of time as in a few days.

These days I generally do most of my writing on the weekend and in general have not been as productive as I had been. Life can take a toll and all that. But a few weeks ago, I had an idea hit me hard, hard like the good old days. Hard like 24k over a weekend. That Monday as tired as I was, I was surprised to feel the call to write for the first time during the week after work in months and banged out another effortless 6k or so before I couldn't see straight.

The next morning, I woke up with the story flat out burning in my mind. Thought, sure, it's here now but when I get home...

Then I said, know what? Fuck it, I've waited a long time for the muse to really be fired up, so I called out and used a personal day. Went downstairs and over the course of the day had a 15k burst and finished the story.

Found myself thinking, what if I'd followed my pattern of the last few months and after Sunday didn't touch the story again until the following weekend. Would a few days have changed the outcome? Would over those days I lose the feel, would I get some idea to make something different? But mostly I imagine the story would follow the same path because I had that firmly in my head of where it was going, but...

How much would the journey have changed? There was multiple drama filled confrontations along the way, would those have changed? Would the dialogue have come out differently, would I have captured the same exact tone? How much difference would there be in writing it 'hot' or having a few days of cooling off? How consistent would the writing be in the minor details? Let's face it, we know that one line can completely change how a reader views the scene or conversation. A different paragraph can make or break a chapter if it's at a critical juncture.

Do you think a few days can alter your WIP, or are you someone who can always pick it up the exact way you left it?

 

[SimonDoom]

It's hard for me to say, because these days MOST of my stories take a long time to finish. As in, months or even years. My norm is to start a story, drop it for a while, and take it up again later. So I'm not sure how it might be different if I just cranked out stories in week. I used to do that more often.

I'm a plotter, and I almost always have my ending figured out soon after I begin a story, so delay probably affects my story writing less than it would someone with a pantser style of writing.

 

[THBGato]

Do you think a few days can alter your WIP, or are you someone who can always pick it up the exact way you left it?

Definitely! Especially with long stories - you start writing thinking you know what's going to happen, but by the time you get to the end things have changed.

My most recent story "Forty" was going to be relatively straightforward, maybe 30,000 words. I started it last summer, got 14,000 words into it. Then Proseinagarden sent me this story (not on Lit) called "warm milk" and it blew me away and I was like "I want to do that!" But it threw me off. It took until February this year before I felt I could pick it up again (and I had to write 3 prequels and side story first!) and by then the story had changed massively.

 

[StillStunned]

For me, and I've used this analogy before, stories are like pottery. They can change right up to the moment they go into the kiln.

When I'm not actively writing, I'm still thinking. I think about what might happen based on what I've already written. I think about whether I need to change what I've written to accommodate a new idea. I might change a name, or add a detail, or delete a detail.

And when I'm actually writing I might decide the scene needs something stronger. For "Red Hot", which I wrote last week, each new tease of Myrna's came to me in the moment. Last night I wrote 4k words of a sword & sorcery story, and it took me in an unexpected direction. It might not even make it past Lit's rules about sex and violence. I hadn't seen that coming at all.

The story I plan to write and the story I actually write are both completely different and yet one and the same. Parallel universes, perhaps, that touch each other in some places but never fully overlap.

 

[Erozetta]

If I don't finish it in one sitting then the end is definitely not gonna be what it would've been if I had finished it in one sitting.

 

[TiberiusPrime]

Most of my stories I know exactly where I am going to end up in the end, especially the multi-parters. Only one have I changed, slightly. One of my stories featured the death of a character. It was going to be someone different, but as I was writing it, it didn't feel right, so I changed it. I have a few WIP where I know the ending, but it's the middle stuff I'm struggling with in some cases.

I'll also add this: I thoroughly despise comments on my stories that say, "Hey, you need to do a different or alternative ending." No, I won't. Every single story I've written has ended the way I wanted with no regrets and no "hmm, I wish woulda done this..." ideas in my head.

 

[lovecraft68]

I thoroughly despise comments on my stories that say, "Hey, you need to do a different or alternative ending." No, I won't. Every single story I've written has ended the way I wanted with no regrets and no "hmm, I wish woulda done this..." ideas in my head.

I hear that, write your own story is what I always think with those

 

[lovecraft68]

Definitely! Especially with long stories - you start writing thinking you know what's going to happen, but by the time you get to the end things have changed.

My most recent story "Forty" was going to be relatively straightforward, maybe 30,000 words. I started it last summer, got 14,000 words into it. Then Proseinagarden sent me this story (not on Lit) called "warm milk" and it blew me away and I was like "I want to do that!" But it threw me off. It took until February this year before I felt I could pick it up again (and I had to write 3 prequels and side story first!) and by then the story had changed massively.

I learned a long time ago that I can't read anything or even watch something while in the middle of a story. Other ideas and voices start getting into my head and screwing with me.

Best example was in my Erotic horror series I feature a witch who owns a fetish club/brothel and is into women. The Emerald City show comes out and I check it out. That's when they introduce "West" a witch who owns a whore house and enjoys women. It took me a month to get that out of my head before I could get back into my story,

 

[RejectReality]

My endings tend to stick to the original plan even when it takes bloody years to get there. Lowborn and One Whore's Town both had years-long dead spots in the middle waiting for an epiphany, but it was about single scenes/transitions. They both ended pretty much exactly as I'd originally planned.

The next Magic of the Wood is probably going to end up back to the original plan. I felt like it mirrored Heart of the Wood a little too much with the original idea, and didn't delve deeply enough into some of the lore I'm wanting to introduce with this one. So, I rewrote it to concentrate more on the lore and changed the major inciting incident. I've been near the end for a while, and there's something off about it. Part of that is a touch of "this is a completely different story at the end". And honestly, it's mirroring Heart of the Wood again, in a completely different way. LOL This one seems to want to echo, so I'm going to go back to the original plan, and I'll find a way to weave in more of the lore.

Fortunately, I copied what I slashed out of the document during that major plot shift, so I don't even have to start that from scratch. There should be some stuff I can pull out of the current version for the lore-strengthening as well. I'll almost certainly steal the idea of Dale asking Xantina to magic him so he can speak Spanish. She tells him "You're not gonna like it!" but he insists, so she does.

Now imagine you're thinking in English, but you're speaking Spanish. It's like being possessed. Lips, tongue, lungs... All doing something different than what your brain is expecting. It's horrifying, and he decides it would probably be best to learn it the hard way. LOL

 

[KittyOfSteele]

Do you think a few days can alter your WIP, or are you someone who can always pick it up the exact way you left it?

If I don't leave any notes, it may not change the ending, but it may change the journey towards it. If I leave any notes, the probabilities of me ignoring my own notes and changing things around are the result of a coin toss.

I mean, I don't even need days for my WIP to be altered. There were times in which I had to stop writing for a few hours because either work or something else came their way, and when I came back to it, it took an unexpected turn. Granted, I write through short bursts that are up to 40-minutes long because my ADHD gave me a much shorter attention span.

 

[sweetnicole]

I have not posted anything on Lit yet, but I have been writing for a while now.
I somehow struggle to pick up from where I had left off, and I tend to start from chapter one. Usually, my stories gain more depth and development. I prefer to take a month-long break while working on a longer novel. Usually, that helps me develop the plot better.
So yes, specific to your question, my stories tend to grow and drastically change from the original plan after the break.

- Nicole.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Heck, I rarely finish something precisely how I envisioned it even if it gets done quickly.

 

[rteny3245]

In my experience, even a few days away can definitely alter how I continue a WIP, especially for my more loosely-planned series where I have just a few plot points I want to hit. During breaks, my subconscious keeps working on the story, and I often return with new ideas for plots and subplots (which sometimes get edited out in revision).

For my more structured series where I start with the ending in mind and plan chapter counts, I find it easier to pick up where I left off without major changes to the overall direction, but the exact dialogue and emotional tone of scenes can still shift based on my current mood and perspective.

I think OP's question really highlights how writing is this fascinating blend of conscious planning and subconscious creativity. The 'hot' writing they described often has an energy and flow that's hard to recapture after a break, even a short one.

 

[Izanami9]

For me, and I've used this analogy before, stories are like pottery. They can change right up to the moment they go into the kiln.

When I'm not actively writing, I'm still thinking. I think about what might happen based on what I've already written. I think about whether I need to change what I've written to accommodate a new idea. I might change a name, or add a detail, or delete a detail.

And when I'm actually writing I might decide the scene needs something stronger. For "Red Hot", which I wrote last week, each new tease of Myrna's came to me in the moment. Last night I wrote 4k words of a sword & sorcery story, and it took me in an unexpected direction. It might not even make it past Lit's rules about sex and violence. I hadn't seen that coming at all.

The story I plan to write and the story I actually write are both completely different and yet one and the same. Parallel universes, perhaps, that touch each other in some places but never fully overlap.

This is incredibly relatable for me, especially the pottery analogy and the whole last paragraph. Biggest difference is I’m not half as cerebral as this about my WIP, although I do *feel* the story grow and change.

For me it really is the imaginative version of pregnancy and parenthood. The story gestates in unexpected ways, my characters don’t do what I ask and go off in completely bizarre directions, and I do my best to keep up.

 

[StillStunned]

This is incredibly relatable for me, especially the pottery analogy and the whole last paragraph. Biggest difference is I’m not half as cerebral as this about my WIP, although I do *feel* the story grow and change.

That's probably the first time anyone's called me cerebral.

 

[Izanami9]

That's probably the first time anyone's called me cerebral.

By my standards it’s well-deserved!