I’m attempting to organize my story ideas again. I tried last year, but was overwhelmed by all the notebooks, slips of paper and computer files. I’m a pack rat when it comes to my writing stuff. 😳
Anyway, I was reading the early notes, outlines and scene ideas I made for my rom com (the story I’m working on now). It’s like reading about a totally different story. My heroine was melodramatic and had stalker tendencies. I had a geriatric villain. And a secondary, who was murdered with a hygiene product.
The current plot of the story has none of those things. My heroine is more paranoid and doesn’t have stalker tendencies. The geriatric villain is now a vague crime syndicate. And the secondary who was murdered has a strong role in the current version and will be in one of the later books.
I am marking stuff (like the geriatric villain) to use for other stories.
How has your story changed since you first started it? How has it stayed the same?
Tales from the Crit 
I really saw Ashley as a prima donna, very “where is my drink, peon?” Somehow, she’s not coming across that way. She’s much more loyal than I expected and almost parental in a weird way.
Later, she’s supposed to evolve into more of a leader but in the first third, that’s not how I wanted to portray her personality. So I’m fighting it right now.
I love it when my characters surprise me like that.
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my story has changed drastically in the last month. it was going to be in his part of the world in just the first chapter, then spend the rest of the time in her world. now at least half the book is going to be in his world.
what is this thing called “notes?” 🙂
i’m teaching myself to save in drafts. i’m not a packrat–i’m a thrower-outer. so having a cluttered file system is anathema to me, and i’m always saving over old drafts… and losing stuff i liked but edited out for strength. i’m trying to tell myself it’s ok to have more mess, because i’m saving the ideas for the future.
I have to make notes because my mind is bad. I have forgotten too many good ideas.
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me too. Sometimes the ink washes off before I get the thought down. *sigh*
My plot vanished. I think I’m happy. I won’t know until it’s done, though. 🙂
If I had decent handwriting, I’d use myself as a notepad more often.
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Death by hygiene product would have been HILARIOUS! I hope to see that one in a story sometime soon.
And the biggest change for my story has been setting. I initially thought I was writing a historical. Then it morphed into steampunk, which terrified me. And now it’s …sci-fi-ish? I’m just going with it for the moment.