The I should have/ why didn't I syndrome

[lovecraft68]

We've all been there. We write a story that we worked hard on, sweated through to get as right as we could, then publish it.

Then, either right away, or somewhere down the line we have that forehead slapping epiphany of "WTF? Why the hell didn't I do this? It would have made everything so much better! Or maybe it would have explained something better, made the rest of the story or even a potential sequel easier and more interesting etc..

You should have done it, and why didn't you?

I'm not sure on the answer other than as time passes our minds are in different places, our focus is off the story and that's when this "Shit!" moment comes from. Best analogy I've come up with is its like you lose something, look for it, can't find it, but when you give up on it and are no longer trying, there it is in front of you.

In my experience, and from what I've gotten from other authors when this has come up, this tends to happen in a story that might be a bit weaker, something we knew wasn't "Oh, yeah, I nailed it," more like "Well, its a story and its not awful." Then we realize what we could have done.

The other day I thought about a sequel (something I have only done once in my 15 years of writing and that was this year) but this story is a flat out monster success. It's numbers are insane in every stat and I don't think it could do any better here in anyway. Really quick, the story is a photo shoot a brother is conducting for his photography class that he wanted to be erotic and his model falls through and his sister steps in to simply take a few shots in lingerie so he doesn't get a failing grade.

Of course, porn absurdity kicks in and she gets into being in front of the camera and gets wilder, he gets into watching her and...you know where it goes. Okay, fine, fun story, a monster hit. I never looked back on it, until I thought of the follow up which would have him showing the pics to his teacher. This was addressed in the original with the sister saying she didn't care because none of his class had ever met her nor had the teacher, so don't worry about it. Now if I take this further I'm thinking Hmmm, that is risky a realistic way-as real as you can make I/T stories. Not that she's naked in them or engaged in anything with him, but still, taking pics of your younger sister rolling around on a bed in lingerie and looking seductive is...weird to say the least.

Then it hit me so hard, I swear my head jerked up from pillow.

"Why the fuck didn't I have her wear a mask during the shoot?" Seriously, I generally try to make things real and cover "what if" so why didn't the question ever come to me about her taking no chances on being recognized as his sister? Making it worse, the sister loves to make clothes and jewelry for her Etsy store and sure as hell could have designed a fashion style mask at some point.

My only guess is I never write sequels so the follow up of the brother needing to show some of the pics to his classmates wasn't that strong in my mind. I just wanted the initial story and scene and leave what happens next to the reader.

But now, looking at it even in the one shot, I should have done this and it seems so fucking obvious now, I want to smack myself.

What story/stories did this happen to you with?

 

[Plathfan]

What? Just let him use Photoshop to add a mask. Hell, with AI he can give her a whole new face if he wants to.

 

[lovecraft68]

What? Just let him use Photoshop to add a mask. Hell, with AI he can give her a whole new face if he wants to.

That has become the device I may have to roll with, he is going to be doing this for a living at some point, Its just not as organic and doesn't cover up the obvious miss in the first place, which is kind of the point of the discussion.

My wife always comes up with "You're too hard on yourself, no one thinks of everything."

I respond with "Whatever, if I were good enough, I'd have thought of it."

Half full and half empty are always at odds in my house.

 

[Plathfan]

That has become the device I may have to roll with, he is going to be doing this for a living at some point, Its just not as organic and doesn't cover up the obvious miss in the first place, which is kind of the point of the discussion.

My wife always comes up with "You're too hard on yourself, no one thinks of everything."

I respond with "Whatever, if I were good enough, I'd have thought of it."

Half full and half empty are always at odds in my house.

I get the point of the discussion; you just provided an easy-to-solve example.

As a planner/tailor/goldsmith, I don’t face these issues.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

This hasn't ever been an issues for me because I am patient almost to a fault.

My stories go through multiple trusted beta readers who provide input and suggestions. Multiple edits will bring any valuable changes to the forefront before publication.

 

[Voboy]

Not really. I'm essentially a pantser, but I don't dwell. When my stories are finished, they're finished and I'm on to the next one. Honestly, there are stories from years past that I've written whose contents I truly don't really remember well, certainly not well enough to regret not adding a story element. If I publish, it's because I believe that story's as good as I can make it.

The closest I come to this, since I write interconnected stories that re-use characters, is a fleeting wish that I'd written a minor character differently so that I could capitalize on that character later. But it's never a big deal. I can work within the limits my stories set for myself.

 

[SimonDoom]

We've all been there. We write a story that we worked hard on, sweated through to get as right as we could, then publish it.

Then, either right away, or somewhere down the line we have that forehead slapping epiphany of "WTF? Why the hell didn't I do this? It would have made everything so much better! Or maybe it would have explained something better, made the rest of the story or even a potential sequel easier and more interesting etc..

You should have done it, and why didn't you?

I'm not sure on the answer other than as time passes our minds are in different places, our focus is off the story and that's when this "Shit!" moment comes from. Best analogy I've come up with is its like you lose something, look for it, can't find it, but when you give up on it and are no longer trying, there it is in front of you.

In my experience, and from what I've gotten from other authors when this has come up, this tends to happen in a story that might be a bit weaker, something we knew wasn't "Oh, yeah, I nailed it," more like "Well, its a story and its not awful." Then we realize what we could have done.

The other day I thought about a sequel (something I have only done once in my 15 years of writing and that was this year) but this story is a flat out monster success. It's numbers are insane in every stat and I don't think it could do any better here in anyway. Really quick, the story is a photo shoot a brother is conducting for his photography class that he wanted to be erotic and his model falls through and his sister steps in to simply take a few shots in lingerie so he doesn't get a failing grade.

Of course, porn absurdity kicks in and she gets into being in front of the camera and gets wilder, he gets into watching her and...you know where it goes. Okay, fine, fun story, a monster hit. I never looked back on it, until I thought of the follow up which would have him showing the pics to his teacher. This was addressed in the original with the sister saying she didn't care because none of his class had ever met her nor had the teacher, so don't worry about it. Now if I take this further I'm thinking Hmmm, that is risky a realistic way-as real as you can make I/T stories. Not that she's naked in them or engaged in anything with him, but still, taking pics of your younger sister rolling around on a bed in lingerie and looking seductive is...weird to say the least.

Then it hit me so hard, I swear my head jerked up from pillow.

"Why the fuck didn't I have her wear a mask during the shoot?" Seriously, I generally try to make things real and cover "what if" so why didn't the question ever come to me about her taking no chances on being recognized as his sister? Making it worse, the sister loves to make clothes and jewelry for her Etsy store and sure as hell could have designed a fashion style mask at some point.

My only guess is I never write sequels so the follow up of the brother needing to show some of the pics to his classmates wasn't that strong in my mind. I just wanted the initial story and scene and leave what happens next to the reader.

But now, looking at it even in the one shot, I should have done this and it seems so fucking obvious now, I want to smack myself.

What story/stories did this happen to you with?

I'm not so sure I agree with you about your story. Many readers might have thought the image of the sister wearing a mask was unappealing or unsexy, even if it made sense plot-wise. In the case of that story, it's hard to argue with success, isn't it? It's been one of the most successful stories in the site's history. You don't want to mess with that. I think you kind of hit the sweet spot with that one.

I don't recommend writing a sequel to it. It's just right as it is.

I don't have too many regrets, because my usual attitude when I discover, or when somebody points out, a mistake in my story is "I'll try not to do that the next time."

My biggest story regret was not to write a longer and more satisfying conclusion to my 8-chapter hot mom story. Some readers thought the last chapter, and the sex scene, were too abrupt, and they were right. I put a lot of effort into that series and I think I was tired of it and rushed the finish.

I regret not having finished two of my series, but I'll finish them eventually.

Other than that, I don't gnash my teeth over published stories. When I find errors in them I try to file them away so I don't repeat them with the next story.

 

[lovecraft68]

Not really. I'm essentially a pantser, but I don't dwell. When my stories are finished, they're finished and I'm on to the next one. Honestly, there are stories from years past that I've written whose contents I truly don't really remember well, certainly not well enough to regret not adding a story element. If I publish, it's because I believe that story's as good as I can make it.

The closest I come to this, since I write interconnected stories that re-use characters, is a fleeting wish that I'd written a minor character differently so that I could capitalize on that character later. But it's never a big deal. I can work within the limits my stories set for myself.

I'm the same, write it, publish it, move on to the next. The only reason this hit me is because for some reason I was hit with the idea for a sequel which is unusual for me. Otherwise I'd have never had that moment.

@Plathfan is right, the solution is easy enough, have the brother dwell on this issue in the beginning of the next story and shop something in or use a filter etc...not hard. Or have her say I should have worn a mask and they have a second quick shoot. It's not hard.

Pantsing BTW does create the ability to adapt and make changes on the fly rather than have to go running to an editor like the super professional writer above you does.

The point was just getting those Oh, man, I could have...that a lot of people get to various degrees.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

I haven't read your story, @lovecraft68, but you could just have the brother mention this to his sister, and she explains that part of the thrill for her is the risk of being recognized.

-Rocco