Argh!!! Making a big change...

[JoNightshade]

Anyone else hate getting halfway through a draft and suddenly realizing that if they made this one big change with billions of little repercussions the story could be SO MUCH BETTER?

:Headbang:

I SOOO don't want to do this!!! And yet I know it's for the better...

Le sigh.

[Kisatchie]

If it would dramatically improve the work, I would do it.

[The Lonely One]

Sorry, Jo! I haven't gotten there yet (halfway through a novel, that is). I'm sure one day I'll be hitting my head on a brick wall, too.

If it's the right thing for the story you'll look back on it as such once you've put in the work. I'm sure it's worth it.

[TheIT]

Been there, done that, beat my head against the same wall. That's why they call it a "rough draft". Think it through before you go through with the chainsaw and start over.

[Parametric]

Been there, done that. And it's pretty heart-wrenching to have to basically tear up everything you've written and rethink everything. I nearly ditched my novel unfinished because the changes were just dauntingly huge. (Glad I didn't.)

Sympathies, and best of luck. :)

[ChaosTitan]

Been there, done that. Made the story better by leaps and bounds. :)

[JoNightshade]

I'm mainly beating my head against a wall here because I know it would strengthen my climax, which could use some help - but I'm not sure how to rearrange things up to that point, and I'm reluctant to go ripping things to shreds when I'm not 100% sure.

Sooooooooo maybe I'll just skip to the climax and see if I can make it work. If it's brilliant, then I keep going. ;)

[TheIT]

In my first NaNo attempt, I realized 20K in how to make the beginning more interesting, but I didn't want to go back. I wrote notes about the changes I wanted to make, then continued as if those changes had already been written.

Maybe that technique would help you. If you're not sure about the changes yet, you might not want to commit to writing them out thoroughly, but it might make sense to work through the rest of the story as if the changes had already been made.

[Wayne K]

Copy and paste it into a blank document and tear it up. If it doesn't work there's a delete button.

[Mumut]

It's a real ripple effect, isn't it. You have to look earlier in you work so it can be seeded or to check the change won't conflict with other things you said earlier. It can also affect how a sub-plot fits in. So, yes. It's a real problem. In my case it was worth the extra work, though.

[Perks]

Anyone else hate getting halfway through a draft and suddenly realizing that if they made this one big change with billions of little repercussions the story could be SO MUCH BETTER?

:Headbang:

I SOOO don't want to do this!!! And yet I know it's for the better...

Le sigh.I had to rewrite an entire book after I'd finished it, because I realized I'd missed a trick.

[barnicus]

I had to rewrite an entire book after I'd finished it, because I realized I'd missed a trick.

I don't feel so bad now. I'm only rewriting 30,000 words in my WIP.

[fringle]

I'm in the same situation. When I realized how much I need to go back and change, I was so overwhelmed that I decided to spend hours watching HGTV instead of writing. I feel better now, so onwards I go.

[Topaz044]

Here's some advice-back-up your work before you make a dramatic change. That way, if you're not happy with it, then you can go back. :)

[virtue_summer]

I just got 25k through my novel and realized the POV was wrong, that I've been writing it in multiple third person but it really needs to be written in first. So yeah, it happens, but you know in the end you have to do what's best for the story.

[Raphee]

I do this all the time, and it's killing me.

[The Lonely One]

Oops, sorry, I think I've stumbled into an AA meeting! No, wait. Just writers. :)

[BriMaresh]

I finished a novel, edited it, wrote a rockin' query letter with an awesome voice (oh, for Forever Fifteen! It went through QLH here, and it may not have actually rocked, but don't burst my bubble) and then realized that the whole thing happens due to a stupid easily avoided coincidence and plot-induced stupidity, whereas if I made it deliberate, sure it would change oh... the whole book, but it would really make it a lot stronger and a much better read.

...so I'm rewriting. Because even if it's a big change, if it'll make the story work better, it's probably worth it. And if you noticed it, so can the readers.

[BlueMouse]

Been there, done that, got two t-shirts.

First time, I wrote a 76,000 word book in first person. Finished the book, found AW, read the forums voraciously, decided the book needed maaaaajor rewrites. Went through the whole thing and tore it up, dumping entire passages and inserting more all the way through.

A couple of months later, after still more research and studying, I decided that the book would be much better in omniscient third person than the first person it was in.

Yes, I went through the entire (now 82,000) damn thing and changed every single I, me, and myself. I thought my fingers would fall off.

But ya know what? That second rewrite I found still more things that needed fixing and improving, so even though I was supposed to only be changing the POV, I ended up editing in a major way, and my book is miles better for it.

So yeah, it's a lot of hard work. And it's daunting and exhausting and frustrating. But it is work well worth the finished product.

You kin do eet!

[motormind]

Anyone else hate getting halfway through a draft and suddenly realizing that if they made this one big change with billions of little repercussions the story could be SO MUCH BETTER?

Just finish your draft. You could add a comment about the changes you might want to make. Once you finish you can see if you still agree with it.

[maestrowork]

Many times. I just put notes all over my WIP and told myself to come back later. Then I changed the rest of the story to match my "revelations." That's part of the fun of writing by the seat of my pants. I actually enjoy that. It's that kind of changes that make the writing and the story so much better.

[KTC]

Anyone else hate getting halfway through a draft and suddenly realizing that if they made this one big change with billions of little repercussions the story could be SO MUCH BETTER?

:Headbang:

I SOOO don't want to do this!!! And yet I know it's for the better...

Le sigh.

Yes. I wrote a novel where at the beginning I make mention of a sister dying...but the mother 'sees' her. I completely planned to have the sister appear as a character to the mother throughout the book. But I went off on different tangents and never really incorporated the dead sister character. I feel like she is obviously missing from the story. Her ghost is a ghost in the novel...she should be there appearing to the mother all the way through....but she isn't. If I went back and did a major re-write to incorporate her it would be so much better. But I don't wanna!

[Lady Ice]

Anyone else hate getting halfway through a draft and suddenly realizing that if they made this one big change with billions of little repercussions the story could be SO MUCH BETTER?

:Headbang:

I SOOO don't want to do this!!! And yet I know it's for the better...

Le sigh.

Yes, you must! For the good of the novel!

[SarahMacManus]

Look at it this way, better than never seeing what you need to do to make it a lot stronger and walking away with a lame manuscript, right?

[Telstar]

No. That's why I outline.

It happened in the outline phase (more than once). At a much lesser degree happens also when I write, but nothing that required as much rewriting as a couple thousands.

[James D. Macdonald]

Anyone else hate getting halfway through a draft and suddenly realizing that if they made this one big change with billions of little repercussions the story could be SO MUCH BETTER?



Yes! While in the car with the manuscript on the way to New York to deliver it to the editor the next morning!

(Why deliver it in person? Because that way the editor buys lunch on the company dime at one of the top restaurants in New York City, that's why....)

Re-wrote and printed out the entire book that night. Barely made the train, and tore the edges off the fan-fold paper on the way to Grand Central.

[ccarver30]

I finished my novel, started querying then realized it sucked. I changed about 50,000 words. It made the story better but I am still in query HELL.

[Mara]

It's frustrating, but it's usually worth it.

[yttar]

I'm pretty much in the same situation now. My WIP was originally set in the modern day, now it's set in the future. The first version had some unnamed villain, this version has my MC's brother (who didn't even exist in the first version) as the main villain. Now I'm deleting a character. The process is incredibly frustrating at times, but I work through each change believing that my story will be better because of it.

Yttar

[Phaeal]

No. That's why I outline.

It happened in the outline phase (more than once). At a much lesser degree happens also when I write, but nothing that required as much rewriting as a couple thousands.

I agree. This is why I do outlines that amount, in the end, to a super-rough first draft, complete with fully delineated scenes and dialogue. Just the other day, my research informed me that my Puritan minister couldn't marry the woman he needs to marry due to their ideas about consanguinity. Would've been nasty midstream. Now I just change his relationship to her in the outline, and, Serendipity be praised, the new relationship makes for even better plot developments.

But, you know, it all works out about the same in the end. The outliners do a lot of pre-draft work, while the nonoutliners may end up doing a lot of post-draft or mid-draft work.

Outline or not, according to your temperment. Either way, though, you gotta get it right in the end, no matter how painful the process may be. ;)

[JoNightshade]

Okay... hissy fit over. I started making some changes and it looks like it's going to work out without putting too many ripples in the pond. Whew. Also, I think it's going to make some other scenes much stronger, not just the climax so... yay!

Also, outliners? Bite me. :e2teeth:

[Libbie]

Anyone else hate getting halfway through a draft and suddenly realizing that if they made this one big change with billions of little repercussions the story could be SO MUCH BETTER?

:Headbang:

I SOOO don't want to do this!!! And yet I know it's for the better...

Le sigh.

Yeah.

The one big change caused me to rewrite the entire book, and it was scads better when it was done. So DO IT!!

And for the record, I do outline, but obviously, as described above, it's understood that the outline is extremely flexible. :D

[Matera the Mad]

A-a-a-a-all the time. My writing history leaves a bloody trail.

[Fenika]

I've done that, to a degree, but it was a huge relief as the novel did not want to budge forward with the awkward Major Detail in place.