An interesting idea that perhaps is no longer neccessary

[JamesTFHS]

So i have been working on my fantasy world for a decade now and this particular story for about seven years and i had this really great idea that involved a set of magical objects. Now over the years they went through some changes yet so has the mythology in which they are a part of though they have not changed to fit with the new lore. I really liked this idea cause as of recently they have become more or less a symbol for human traits that are both good and bad. Such as desire. Desire for love(Good we all want love who says love is bad). Desire for power(starts off with good intentions rarely stays that way. there are others that continue this duality of qualities in which we value so much. now here is the problem. I cant really find a place for them in my story that fits. they seem to be just something i threw in there for the fun of it. Originally they were super important to my black and white good versus evil plot but now as the story has become more grey i dont know what to do with them. I want they to be powerful and a part of the story just not its focus. Any suggestions would be nice.

 

[ArielFingolfin]

I'm having a hard time understanding exactly what the situation is, but I guess my advice would be to grey the desires as well. Love may be a pure emotion (debatable), but the desire for love can cause people to do some pretty messed up things. But could you explain in a little more detail?

 

[Penpilot]

The thing about writing something over a long period of time is people change. The person you were when you started that story of yours is no longer the exact person you are now. Just as you change and grow so does the story. You become a better writer and things you thought were important about the story when you started may not be any longer and things you thought weren't important at all become very important.

Be careful not to get caught up with the way things were supposed to be at the beginning. For example, if memory serves, Luke Skywalker's original name was Luke Starkiller, Han Solo was originally some green lizard alien, and in one of the drafts Obi wan didn't die.

Take stock of the way things are now, and if these objects don't fit any longer set them aside. Save the idea for another story. Who knows, maybe as you continue writing the story, you'll figure out a spot for them or maybe not.

You can always just test things. Remove the objects from the story and see how it unfolds. If it's not to your liking, put them back.

 

[Ghost]

You might want to let it stew for a while. Sometimes the solution for how to incorporate it comes along like lightning out of the blue.

It's more likely, though, that you'll have to tweak something. Taking out the interesting idea isn't bad. To me, it means you have to come up with a more interesting idea to fill the void and keep you excited about the project, one that suits the new direction. You might be able to salvage scraps of the original idea. It helps me to divorce the idea from its original purpose so I can see where it would fit in the new scheme. Sometimes I'll see an unrelated gap in the novel where I can reuse the old idea in a new way.

For example, let's say I had a religion that had five true sins and I decide to scrap that religion. I also have a group of villains who haven't been fleshed out yet. I might add a sin to each of the villains to give them distinctive personalities. The original idea isn't the same, yet it's still hidden in there. It's not a good example but something along those lines.

If it doesn't work, you can always incorporate it in a later project. You can uproot that idea and plant it somewhere else where it will grow healthy instead of stunted.