The evolution of a story

[HornyKip]

I have written several stories. When I start, I have a fairly clear picture of where I want the story to go. I don't write ideas down, much, but I run through the plot in my head for however long it takes to get it on the computer or, paper. I have heard of authors outlining their plot, so they don't lose the basics from the beginning. I have never done that.
Recently, I have written a couple stories, in fact the one I am writing now, that have skewed from the original plan. It seems as though, I start writing, the words are flowing, and then the plot goes in a different direction than I had originally planned. In the first instance, I let it go and the storyline failed from that point. I have since edited it, but it seems to be a reoccurring phenomenon.
I am now working on one that skewed much the same way. However, this time, I went back and rewrote the direction to where it was originally supposed to go. I guess you could say, I forced the story to go where I intended, rather than let it evolve on its own. Does than make any sense?
I have a question for other writers. Does this happen often? Do your stories ever evolve away from the original intent? Will allowing it to evolve that way always ruin an otherwise good story? Should I write both scenarios and shake out the garbage?

 

[sr71plt]

Yes, sometimes my stories evolve from the intended path. When they do, I just go with the flow.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

Happens all the time to me.

When opportunities come along to make a story better I seize the opportunity.

 

[RetroFan]

Sometimes, it comes out of necessity.

For example, I recently wrote a lesbian story that was to be about two very different young women - an irresponsible dumb blonde bimbo gold digger, and an intelligent, responsible brunette. However, halfway through writing the story it became obvious that the semi-literate blonde was just too stupid to make a move on the brunette, and the brunette was too inexperienced and too far in the closet to make a move on the blonde.

I changed things around to bring in a third girl - a streetwise, cynical redhead who is a friend of the blonde - to get things happening, and ended up with a blonde, brunette, redhead lesbian threesome, which readers seemed to like.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I have a question for other writers. Does this happen often? Do your stories ever evolve away from the original intent? Will allowing it to evolve that way always ruin an otherwise good story?

Always. It's my fundamental writing style - I rarely plot other than a very loose outline. Sometimes it's a tiny scene as a starting point, or a moment in the middle of a story, or even the very last sentence; but it's very rare for me to have detail in my head before word one.

I then just write; the next character will turn up sooner or later, and if I like them, they start to write themselves and the plot evolves from there. I'm usually dragging stuff up from my subconscious or my fantasy worlds, but rarely know in advance what's going on.

I'll often start a paragraph with no idea of where it will be three sentences on. Some of my best plot turns show up on the page, and I'll wonder, where the hell did that just come from? It's why I enjoy writing so much, I never know what's going to happen next. Some of my favourite characters have just "arrived" in a story, I've thought, "hey, I like you," and they get flesh and their own bones.

 

[Voboy]

For me? Always.

Writing is a sautée, not a soufflé. Meaning, there's no need to slavishly follow a recipe. If that way works for you, cool. If not, also cool.

In longer-form works, though, there does need to be some sort of immutable outline in order to maintain continuity. But even that can be a bare-bones series of notes or bullet points.

 

[NotWise]

I keep the end in mind and don't let that drift about. How I get to the end can change as the story evolves.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

I've been known to start posting before I know the ending. So far it hasn't caused problems.

 

[sr71plt]

I've been known to start posting before I know the ending. So far it hasn't caused problems.

I think there are a lot of people who do that on Literotica. They don't seem to realize it's a problem either--and often they leave readers high and dry or they produce a real mess.

 

[SimonDoom]

I think there are a lot of people who do that on Literotica. They don't seem to realize it's a problem either--and often they leave readers high and dry or they produce a real mess.

That's my fear. I prefer to plot and outline my stories before I start writing them, and to have a pretty good idea how I want the ending to go. But it's hard not to get impatient and to just go ahead and post the beginning chapter before I've finished the end. I've got two series going right now, and I'm pretty sure I'm not going to leave readers high and dry, but it may take me longer to finish writing and to publish the endings of them than I expected. It would be better not to publish anything until the series is done, but I don't quite have the patience or discipline to do that.

 

[CeasarBoobage]

I can't even count how many times I've started a story with an ending and middle in mind, only to have some "twist" near the beginning derail the whole damn thing. Majorly way off course, like ending up with a domme training her sub boy-toy at a fetish club when the original plot had two shy and inexperienced 18-year-old kids hooking up in the stock room of the grocery store.

Don't fight it. Let the story happen. Let your muse write what she wants, and if you really want that original idea again, then write a new story. Plot shift happens, so deal with it and move on.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Majorly way off course, like ending up with a domme training her sub boy-toy at a fetish club when the original plot had two shy and inexperienced 18-year-old kids hooking up in the stock room of the grocery store.

Wait, what? Isn't that how everything always starts?

 

[dlcalguy]

Don't worry about it. Just go where the story takes you. If you really have an end in mind, wait until your meandering brings you back onto the path. If you diverge so far that it becomes impossible, then enjoy the new journey. Your original tale will still be in your pocket for next time.

 

[TxRad]

Characters evolve. Plots evolve. An idea is just that until things change. It starts with the idea and then you throw a couple of characters out on the table. After that, they more or less run the show as they evolve into real people.

For short stories, I wing it. For novels i keep a set of running notes on where I want the book to go and how to get there but even that changes over the course of writing.

If you were not crazy when you decided to write, you will be after a while. The voices never go away.

 

[Kantarii]

I used to have this same issue about the direction a story of mine was taking. For me, it all came back to dialogue between characters. One character will say something and the other character would respond and/or reply in a certain way. I have to have an idea of what each and every character in my stories will say/do based upon my perception of the character. If I didn't, the characters would run off doing things they wouldn't normally do. That simple observation put things in perspective for me. Just like in real life, I'm not going to run off and go skydiving or have sex with some random person who wants to hookup with me.

I guess what I'm trying to suggest is that knowing one's characters and having strong character developement helps to keep a story and plot somewhat in check.

 

[AwkwardMD]

The emotional journey of the story is the point of what I do; writing a story that tells a very specific kind of tale. My character creation then works backwards from that, where the characters are designed to suit the needs of the story.

If you are creating characters that go in the wrong directions, then your imagination is making you work harder than you need to. Don't be a slave to your imagination, make it work for you!

 

[NOIRTRASH]

I often see posts at AH so fucking psychotic I wonder how the poster survive s.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=entertain


Stories are entertainment...period.

And entertainment is trance induction and maintenance....period.

 

[AwkwardMD]

Hard to tell if that's aimed at me or not, but I can tell you that your premise is faulty from the start. My stories are therapy.

#NotAllStories

EDIT: To clarify, I have about 500,000 words in 61 chapters/stories posted on Lit. I also have a little more (somewhere around 650,000 words) not posted anywhere, as well as a fully completed short story, 41k words in length, that will never be posted to Lit.

Those aren't eye popping numbers. They're only shared to give a scope to what I share of my own work vs what I don't. I enjoy sharing work that fits what Lit caters to, but the readership has no voice when it comes to what I do.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

It would be better not to publish anything until the series is done, but I don't quite have the patience or discipline to do that.

Oh, I don't worry about that. For me writing is an occasional hobby, and if it takes me six months to post again, yay. I'm not really writing for current readers; I'm writing for the people who will show up in a couple of years and find completed stories. If you want timely stories, pay me more than I make at my day job and we'll talk.

While my hat's off to people who make money on this junk, and while maybe someday I'll have a go at that, this place is strictly for fun, and you get what you get when I get around to it. My numbers don't suck so it all seems to be ok.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

Hard to tell if that's aimed at me or not, but I can tell you that your premise is faulty from the start. My stories are therapy.

#NotAllStories

EDIT: To clarify, I have about 500,000 words in 61 chapters/stories posted on Lit. I also have a little more (somewhere around 650,000 words) not posted anywhere, as well as a fully completed short story, 41k words in length, that will never be posted to Lit.

Those aren't eye popping numbers. They're only shared to give a scope to what I share of my own work vs what I don't. I enjoy sharing work that fits what Lit caters to, but the readership has no voice when it comes to what I do.

Don't get me started on MDs. All modern MDs know to do is bill. And if insurance/Medicare wont pay you cant get the illness.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

I often see posts at AH so fucking psychotic I wonder how the poster survives.

We wonder that about you too, sometimes.

Stories are entertainment...period.
And entertainment is trance induction and maintenance....period.

This is dead on. In erotica - in any non-technical writing - the goal is to pull the reader into a state where the outside world doesn't intrude, where you play their emotions in a way that makes them want more, deeper, dreamier. Play it right and the reader is gripped by a kind of sadness when they hit the last page, knowing the dream is about to end and they have to wake up to the real world soon. When they start reading slower at the last few paragraphs, you know it's worked - they don't want to leave the trance.

The trick is to feed them and starve them and tease them and suddenly pounce on their emotions, over and over in the right pattern, to bring on the state where they just give in and and become entranced. Entranced, Entrained, Entertained - all words with roots in holding and dragging. That's the ticket. All your emotional responses are belong to us...

 

[AwkwardMD]

I just play one on TV.

(Also, the username DrAwkward was already taken)

 

[NOIRTRASH]

We wonder that about you too, sometimes.



.

I'm the sanest person you'll ever know. That said, plenty of folks devoutly believe I'm mad and alcoholic etc but test scores are always close to average. Where I differ from all is my anxiety score, its at the 1st percentile, only dead people worry less than me.

I mean, you and half the males on this board pretend to be girls.

 

[sr71plt]

I'm the sanest person you'll ever know.

Yeah, yeah. All attention whores like you think that.

 

[Kantarii]

I put a lot of time and effort into developing one of my supporting characters in my main storyline. Aside from the fact that she's in the storyline for comic relief at various points, her friendship and loyalty to the transvestite protagonist had to be made believable. I use her supporting character role to keep my protagonist steered in the direction I want my story to go.Kant