When your own story makes you go...huh?

[MattblackUK]

http://www.literotica.com/s/out-of-the-mouths-of-drunks is an example of this.

My original idea would be for a heartfelt reconciliation with several twists on the way.

But somehow I could not hear the voice of the character Steve. The idea came into my head that Steve had died.

But how could I write the death of Steve, when I had not warned the reader that he was even ill?

Then I thought: "Hang on!" I read back and found this line: "She kissed his forehead and squeezed his hand. She was worried. He felt cold and clammy. Like he was ill, or something."

So, yes, I'd placed a clue there. He had been ill. And fatally, too.

Has this ever happened to you? A story suddenly and completely changing?

 

[lovecraft68]

Many times I've wanted the story to go a certain way and as I've thought about how to do it, I realized that as you mentioned, I had planted a clue.

This, in my mind, is never coincidence, it is subliminal. It's my belief that all my stories are already written and I just have to "tap them"

 

[Cruel2BKind]

I had a story that I wrote in three days.

It wasn't a short story, or a lazy story either.

It was a dark complex dystopian future about a young man in jail, being tortured for information and recounting the events that had led him to that point. (Falling in love with another young man, a spy for a warring faction) Very dark, very depressing, not a ton of sex. It flew from my fingers to the computer, I turned it in and it's a fan favorite.

I say that because it is a favorite of my hardcore fans. I don't think that any of my fair-weather fans enjoy this piece.

 

[sr71plt]

Yes, I find my mind has set all sorts of foreshadowing clues that I didn't realize were going to be important to the story--until they were.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I must write different from all others, cuz the plot is THE PLAN and characters do not fuck with the plot. My writing isnt some Hillary Clinton It Takes A Village clusterfuck that LIT writers cum over. When I got my character down in the gravel pit, and the Nazi Order Police are poised to send her to be with Jesus, she does not suddenly recall that she learned to fly when she was 12 at summer camp, and fly away.

 

[sr71plt]

The early clue you didn't know was a clue at the time can deal with plot as well as anything.

But, yes, JBJ, I think others probably do write different from you--that they actually get it written down rather than just letting it spin around in their heads just for the time it takes to write the forum posting and then it's off for a beer and a belch.

 

[MattblackUK]

The reason why is because

My day job, writing factual articles, pays the bills, puts food on the table.

My fiction writing is my fun time, when my imagination is allowed to run riot. There's no place for imagination in factual writing, so it is allowed out when I write fiction.

 

[TxRad]

You mean like, when you get to chapter five of something that was supposed to be a short story and suddenly realize that chapter five needs to be chapter one and your short story is now completely out the window. Two hundred and eighty five pages later...

And that was the first thing I ever wrote.

 

[sirhugs]

I'd say about 3/4 of my stories end up twisting in directions I never expected.

 

[SweetMaj]

http://www.literotica.com/s/out-of-the-mouths-of-drunks is an example of this.

My original idea would be for a heartfelt reconciliation with several twists on the way.

But somehow I could not hear the voice of the character Steve. The idea came into my head that Steve had died.

But how could I write the death of Steve, when I had not warned the reader that he was even ill?

Then I thought: "Hang on!" I read back and found this line: "She kissed his forehead and squeezed his hand. She was worried. He felt cold and clammy. Like he was ill, or something."

So, yes, I'd placed a clue there. He had been ill. And fatally, too.

Has this ever happened to you? A story suddenly and completely changing?

Whenever I try to write a story, that happens a lot to me.

Even the erotic poem I'm writing on changes a lot.

 

[MattblackUK]

That's what poems do, often.

 

[jomar]

Mostly stuff I write goes according to the general outline, but I have been surprised when a story spun in a different direction. It was my choice to let it run, but it was better for it.

 

[RodenAddison]

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