Friday, December 7, 2012

Not what I thought it would be

Thanks so much for the sympathy yesterday! Luckily it seems that I'm going through more of a cold than a flue, so it's a bit more manageable now that I have the medicine I need to keep it under control. 

In the mean time, I have something else niggling at me. I mentioned that I started another WiP after finishing the draft I'd picked for NaNo. It's another story I dreamed of way back while I was still drafting Doorways. I did some writing, and loved it. 

The voice was so good it felt and sounded as if someone sat next to me, telling the story. I put it away in the second chapter, though, because I was still writing Doorways and learning what it takes to finish a story. Other stories came after I completed the Doorways drafts, so this one stayed shelved. Still, I kept wondering if I shouldn't get back to it. 

So when it was the only story left available for me to NaNo, I decided to just write and learn what I could. Good idea in theory, but something odd happened. The characters did their own thing. The story veered in a new direction. 

And I don't know if I like it. It's just... so different from what I thought it would be. For one thing, it's no longer YA. For another... my strong female character managed to get herself enslaved to a guy of very dubious morality. 

Especially the latter has me seriously wondering what the hell is happening to my story. My gut says I should go with it and see what happens. After all, that's what pantsing is about. 

But I don't know. It's... just... not what I thought it would be. 

Anyone else go through something similar with a story you wrote? What did you do? How did it turn out? 

26 comments:

  1. My last one went off in a direction different from the outline, but I decided I liked it. Maybe yours will grow on you.

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    1. I hope so. Now I just need to sit down and write it.

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  2. Misha, I too have both the flu and writer's confusion where choosing which manuscript to work on is concerned. Don't worry it will all work out.

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    1. You have my sympathies. Hope both get better soon!

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  3. I can't wait to see Doorways published! I have all kinds of stories kicking around my word processor.

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  4. It happens. You finish it up then come back to it for a revision and find that other things inserted at just the right place can have the story looking more like what you expected - or better than expected.

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  5. Go with it and see what happens. If you don't like it, start from the point where it all went wrong and try again.

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  6. Th exact same thing happened with what I wrote in Nano. I didn't hate it but it wasn't what I wanted when I started out. Now I'm editing though I'm adding one little thing that makes me like it more than the novel-it-could-have-been.

    Also, feel better!

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  7. I had a similar experience with a story. I trusted my gut and the story went to amazing places. I hated it while I wrote it, but fell in love with it by the end.

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    1. I suspect this might be the case too. I just need to stick to it.

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  8. My MG book has done that a couple of times. Unfortunately, the sneaky 12-year-old MC is NOT taking the story where I want it to go, so my almost-awesome almost-book is currently a mess. :*(
    erica

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    1. Awe! I'm sure it'll work out perfectly in the end.

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  9. Not to the extent you have. I have, however, had what I intended to be single scene characters become major, characters I'd intended to be major become minor, and a few that just morphed into other directions with motivations I'd not envisioned, etc. I suppose the question comes down to whether or not they change in direction alters where you'd intended the story to end.

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    1. I love it when characters grow on their own. It's really special. :-)

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  10. Definitely keep going. You may love the result, but you'll never know if you give up. If you hate it in the end, that's what the editing process is for.

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    1. "You'll never know if you give up." <--- perfect summery of the reasons why I'm going to go on. Thanks!

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  11. Hi Misha. If it's a cold, the only thing you can do is alleviate the discomfort, the cold has its own schedule.
    But you probably know that.
    Regarding your writing dillemma, I would go with my gut (or my heart). Stick with it and then use your head to refine it.
    Whatever you've written, it has value, use both resources (gut/head).
    Best of luck.

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    1. Thanks Anthony. That's the most frustrating thing about a cold, drawn with the frequency of me catching one the moment I try to become fit or eat better. :-/

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  12. Listen to your gut. Write it first, get it out on paper, and then let it sit and see if it still bugs you down the road. You can change it at that point if you need to.

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  13. Listen to that inner voice and follow the path it's chosen. It will be the story it's meant to be.

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