Big Story, Little Details

 I’m plodding ahead with my science fiction book and discovering that the further along I go, the more I end up going back and changing things. 

As my story progresses and my characters grow, I’m finding things that no longer fit or make sense at the beginning of my story. There are more plot twists and turns than I ever imagined I’d have. Something that made sense at the beginning of the story no longer makes sense. Or I have to fix the continuity of a plot thread because the logic or rationale has changed so drastically that it just doesn’t make sense in its original context.

I’ve had to reign myself in when I realized I strayed too far from an established trait of a character. 

It’s sort of like imagining the drawing of a landscape, painting it, then stepping back to look at the progress only to notice how much it doesn’t look anything like what you imagined. It’s recognizable as a painting, but that’s about all it is.

Another way of looking at it is by imagining constructing a building. You have an idea of what it’ll look like and what you want to put in it. But getting the plumbing, wiring, heating, and other components right, then figuring out what to do when you run into a problem is the challenge.

Solving all of those issues is what makes the task at hand challenging and fun.

I can’t wait to find out how my story continues to unfold.