Dealing with changes and how to overcome it

[shamguy4]

so I am writing lets say chapter five, when it hits me that I should mention xyz earlier on in the past few chapters because springing it suddenly on the reader just doesnt feel right.

So a part of me wants to go back and write it in and any changes that come along with it to pst chapters. The other part of me says, no, just make a note of the changes and keep wokring on chapter 5 as if the changes were made.

But this is hard to do because one change can have a butterfly effect, which it usually does and, characters react differently anda lot of things change. Going back and rewriting/wokring in the new plot will result in a better chapter 5, but will make me go back and if I do this too many times… well thats why I am still at chapter 5 right?

So what the heck am I suppose to do? How the heck can you move forward when plot pieces change or you decide not to introduce Aunt Gertrude just yet, which means the last two chapters she doesn't exist and well… butterfly effect!!

 

[crystal haven]

And that’s why, in one of my chapters, I’d left a horse two chapters back, even though my character was still riding it.

I think it depends on how huge the plot change is. If you keep going over the same chapters, then you might always think of a new way for your plot line to go, or a better place to introduce that new character. At some point you have to say this is how it is and keep going – right to the end. Then go back and start again, with notes of things you thought of and realised might make things better, things that can be addressed on the next draft, start to finish.

Unless they are big changes, and they will need addressing, then personally I would say keep going. It’s so tempting to just go over and over those few chapters finding different, but not necessarily more interesting ways of changing your story.

This is just a suggestion. It doesn't mean it's right for you. But it's the way that works best for me at the moment.

 

[tinkerdan]

You can pretty much do it whichever way works best for you.

But there are different changes that might need handling in different ways.

Let's say that something occurs; but you realize now that there are a sequence of events that have to happen for that to occur. It might be possible to pull this off without advanced warning to the reader. Sometimes they don't really need to know all of that unless there are developments within that thread that are important to some latter date.

Let's say for instance the main character's friend is raped (because these days people hate the rape trope) the reader might not need to see that; they can take the friends word for it. You might not need to fix that. Unless you're looking for a gratuitous rape scene. But let's say the main character's other best friend is the rapist. The reader might not need to know that until the main character does unless you as the writer want the reader to know (perhaps to build some sort of tension in the reader who is wondering when this will all come out.)

You may even want the rape scene earlier because the rapist takes something from the friend and the reader doesn't know who the rapist is and the object is an important eye opening moment.( so this could be that butterfly effect thing going here) Still I think that getting closer to the end will only enhance when and where you write that part.

On the other hand lets say you have this character has powers and you've shown a few - he can fly and is strong and has acute hearing; but now you realize that he has x-ray vision. This is the one where you probably should go back to the place you explained some of the powers and organically wedge that x-ray vision thing in so it doesn't just pop out of the woodwork as a convenient power even if when all is said and done it really is. But once again you could just make a note for later and then be sure you make it fit organically into whatever scene you put it into.

 

[Brian G Turner]

So a part of me wants to go back and write it in and any changes that come along with it to pst chapters. The other part of me says, no, just make a note of the changes and keep wokring on chapter 5 as if the changes were made.

Just add a note to the top of the chapter in question, so you can come back to it later. If this is a first draft, then chances are you'll need to rewrite later anyway - so better if you have everything mind, otherwise you end up rewriting your rewriting or your writing unnecessarily.

 

[Loren]

I write a lot of engineering documents, which go through a similar process.

If something changes you need to mentally categorize the impact. Formally, we create an Impact Analysis document for any change that has any significance to make sure we are capturing all the "butterfly effects".

The impact analysis tells you everything that is effected. Then a discussion is made if the change is warranted given the amount of work.

That's probably overkill for a novel (I don't do that for my novels), but the same technique applies informally. I just do this in my head — take a break or lie down and think about.

If what you are writing now is important and you don't want to loose your momentum, then make a note on a piece of paper and go back when it is convenient to make formal notes or actually changes.

My editor has a formal notes column to the right of the document where I write this stuff in and I highlight the sections in the chapter that are relevant be changed.

Before I make the changes I save my document in a new folder so I have an archive if something goes wrong. Then I begin changes. I keep a change log at the end of my novel that doesn't get published, but it summarizes the changes I just made in a sentence or two and lists the chapters the changes were made to. I bump the revision number of the document and move on.

That log helps me keep things straight in my head so I know if I have actually implemented changes I considered earlier.

Lastly, if you find you are needing to do this often, then maybe you need to create an outline of your story and its plot to sort these things out before you actually start writing.

I do a lot of seat-of-the-pants writing, but sometimes creating an outlined structure is necessary.

Another tool to outlining is called a Thought Map or Mind Map. Google that term and see if you like it. I find it best to do one with paper and pencil as it is faster and easier.

 

[LittleStar]

Agreed wit the information here, I regularly change things or realise there is something missing, I will make a note (bold and caps right in the text where I think it might fit best or just where I am at that point, with a please added more often than not) and continue on with the story as if the change was already made. Any subsequent changes have the same dealing, unless I think of them in time, in which case I add them in.

If this is catching you on a single chapter, I definately suggest moving past it and coming back to your notes after your draft is done. Write first, patch up later

 

[shamguy4]

@Loren
Yes I have to sit in a dark room and go through the book from where the change is made to where I am up to and see how much damage I have done.

I did spend a lot of time outlining the plot but found myself stuck on some of the details that take place in the middle of the book and I decided it was time to just move on and hopefully ideas will come as a write.

It's just really hard to keep it flowing when changes are not committed to the book but are in my head.

 

[The Judge]

Personally, I usually go back and change it right away, because if I don't it niggles me, and it's easier just to get the damn thing done and over with. Certainly if it's an important point I'd want to do that, and then make the necessary changes in all subsequent chapters, because otherwise there might be some consequential changes which I hadn't anticipated which affect how future chapters will need to be written -- ie if I hadn't gone back, I'd have ended up writing stuff which would have to be dumped, which I hate doing. I'm not a go-with-the-flow writer, though, but slow-and-steady, so going back to make amendments of that kind would rarely disrupt forward momentum.

 

[Loren]

@Loren
Yes I have to sit in a dark room and go through the book from where the change is made to where I am up to and see how much damage I have done.

I did spend a lot of time outlining the plot but found myself stuck on some of the details that take place in the middle of the book and I decided it was time to just move on and hopefully ideas will come as a write.

It's just really hard to keep it flowing when changes are not committed to the book but are in my head.

Copious notes can be your friend.

 

[J Riff]

Logical consistency strikes again, probably why edit-as-you-go makes a lot of sense.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

I have this sort of thing pop up regularly, and fixing it immediately is the only way I can cope. And often it's very minor. For example a lot of my space operas have a whodunnit element to them, and as I put in sudden twists and turns into the plot I have to go back and foreshadow certain things in a way that people will remember but won't understand the significance of until that moment when everything turns. And it's absolutely critical to get everything right.

So in my view it's not a choice. You have to do both. So when you come across something like this, make a detailed note of the change, where in the book you decided to introduce it, then add that to your character's bio / plot line and go back and change every line in the first part of the book leading up to the change to match. The reasoning is simple, continuity errors are a disaster in a book, and leaving this to be fixed in edit is a recipe for forgetting to do it and thus making one. So make the corrections while the need to make the change is still fresh in your mind, and then be prepared to edit for it later as well just in case.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[StuartBurchell]

Sometimes I go back and write it in, sometimes I leave a note to put it in, or note to look something up.

 

[shamguy4]

thanks for all the responses.

Interesting cause I know many people who say to just keep writing and not go back…
I guess it depends on the size of the change to be introduced.

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

I'm a go-back-and-fix person too, but I write quite fast and profusely so it doesn't usually hold me back much.

If it's more complicated than adding a few extra paragraphs in an earlier chapter, then I'll leave a placeholder in the form of a comment under review - track changes. That means my page shrinks and narrows to accommodate the comment in the margin (because I have it set to show all), which irritates me to bits, which means I never leave it too long before sorting properly.

At the beginning of each day's writing, when my mind is fresh and I'm not yet totally absorbed by my world, is when I usually sort these niggling issues out. Then my conscience is clear and I'm ready to motor on with the fun stuff.

Each to their own.

 

[James118]

Tough call. I tend to leave a note at the bottom to put it in... If I were midway through a chapter, I'd make the note, finish the chapter, then go back to where the new part should be and carry on from there. Yes, I'd have to go back through what I recently read, but it'd be fresh enough in my mind (I'd hope), that it would feel like just another reread.

 

[Loren]

Tough call. I tend to leave a note at the bottom to put it in... If I were midway through a chapter, I'd make the note, finish the chapter, then go back to where the new part should be and carry on from there. Yes, I'd have to go back through what I recently read, but it'd be fresh enough in my mind (I'd hope), that it would feel like just another reread.

Welcome to the madness, I mean forum, James!

 

[MemoryTale]

I can certainly sympathize. I got 3/4 through a WIP and realized a serial killer had to be a completely different person from who I'd originally intended them to be. I did some quick rewrites, but it'll need a thorough going through once I start editing to make sure all the plot holes are tarmacked over.