Writing More than One Path

[Philip Overby]

So I had what I thought was a productive night of writing before I went back and looked at it and said "Huh?" I mean I understand that just going forward with something is usually the best thing, but this particular section I wrote just flew in the face of my outline and everything I'd been setting up beforehand. However, it could still be a way to take the novel in a new direction that might make it more interesting in certain aspects.

My question to all of you is do you ever write multiple paths for your novels? Like you write two or three versions of one chapter before continuing on? This isn't something I want to make a habit or anything, but if anyone has tried writing multiple versions of a chapter before going forward, I'd appreciate any insight.

Thanks!

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

I have, and do, write multiple versions of chapters. This usually happens on the first chapter, the first chapter for a particular POV, or any chapter where some pivotal event occurs....and of course endings.

For me, I'd rather have something crucial done right before I move on. I don't fully subscribe to the "write without worrying about what you've written" philosophy. Rather, I try to get each chapter done to the best of my ability. I'll polish each a bit too. However, once I move on to the next chapter, I won't go back to revise prior chapters. Instead I'll take revision notes.

But yes, there are times where I'll write two or more versions. It's time consuming perhaps but if it makes for a better story, and that's your process, so be it.

 

[Penpilot]

Yeah, sometimes I rewrite a section several times. BUT it's only when there's a critical plot point that's tremendously broken; how that critical point plays out can change how the rest of the story unfolds. If I don't come up with an obvious answer, I take the options I've come up with, bad or good and write those out, sometimes fully and sometimes in point form. Usually one of the options will lead me to an AHA moment. If it's an early draft, I write it until it functions. It may not be efficient or pretty, but in the big picture it works. If it's a later draft, I polish it until it matches the rest of the writing.

To elaborate on what I mean by 'functions', I define it as when a scene deals with all the plot elements I want it to and moves them ahead a desired amount in a sensible manner. The prose may be awkward and description and characterization sparse, but as long as it advances the story from point A to point B, I know I can come back and make it pretty without it affecting the rest of the story.

 

[Chessie]

Phil, I wrote the last scene to my current chapter four times. I thought I had it down the first couple times but then I got another brilliant idea. The last one was the best though and so then I moved on to the next scene. I had fun with it because its not something that usually happens to me.

 

[The Dark One]

When planning the novel just published (Straight Jacket) I couldn't decide between two alternative endings, so from the very start I was setting up both. When I got to the end, I had this huge epiphany and came up with a much better third ending. This meant that the reader is being pushed towards expecting one conclusion, but begins to suspect a different conclusion, and then is smashed between the eyes with something no-one has yet see coming. It works so well purely because of my own uncertainty and having set up two endings from the start, which still had a third ending lying dormant in the story's DNA.

I happened upon this technique by accident, but will certainly use it again.

 

[Philip Overby]

Thanks everyone so far. I decided to rewrite the section and save the other version just in case. I felt like this other version basically rushed a storyline I felt like I wanted to get to more quickly, but it sort of sapped the tension out of the story. So I decided instead to go a less dramatic route, but with some kind of Inglorious Basterds kind of tension. If you've seen the movie, you may know what I'm talking about from the first scene.

 

[Svrtnsse]

I'm fairly prone to trashing my scenes and starting over. I'll have a vague outline of what the scene is meant to be about and I start writing. If the scene doesn't turn out the way I wanted it to I'll trash it and start over. Depending on how the first attempt turned out I'll have a much better idea of what's supposed to happen and can make a better second attempt. I may also write up a more detailed outline of the scene if I feel I'm straying too far from the plan too easily.
I will of course save the previous versions and can copy things over if I feel the need to.

 

[Feo Takahari]

Writing two paths may be overly time-consuming, but it can be advantageous to project two paths. Don't even go so far as to formally outline them--just work out a general if-then on a broad scale, determining roughly where each path might end. Then go for the path whose ending you like. (In general, quick projections are useful at points that define the story's moral--for instance, if you're writing about revenge, and the protagonist is in a position to exact revenge but may or may not be emotionally capable of going through with it, you can project what will happen either way and decide which outcome has more meaning.)

 

[Helen]

My question to all of you is do you ever write multiple paths for your novels? Like you write two or three versions of one chapter before continuing on? This isn't something I want to make a habit or anything, but if anyone has tried writing multiple versions of a chapter before going forward, I'd appreciate any insight.

Thanks!

Variations of sections, yes. All the time. Each section has a purpose and I'm always trying to find the most effective version. So I'll try it out, for example, in a burning building with these characters or trapped underwater with another set of characters.

But always within the boundaries of playing with the theme(s) I've set for that story.

Each is a situational variation of the expression of the same thematic arcs.

I won't vary the themes, because then that really is playing with another story.

 

[skip.knox]

I never know how a scene works until I write it. I can outline the thing, but the outline doesn't catch the details, and both gods and devils hide therein.

Does Character D go with Characters A, B and C? Well, eventually he does, and that's the way I wrote it. But it felt too easy, even though he had to be talked into it, and he seemed to abandon his other obligations too readily. So I re-wrote it with him refusing to go. Much better, but it now creates additional plot logistics because somehow I have to get him away from those other obligations and figure out how he hooks up with the other three. If that turns out to be too contrived, I'll have to go back to the first version.

This is why I don't spend a lot of time polishing (or even finishing!) scenes. I've learned half of them will never see the light of day. They weren't so much writing as it was me shooting a take. So I get down the essence of the thing and go on. Over time, that scene will survive and get fleshed out, or it won't and no tears shed.

I do not, however, write whole story arcs deliberately. It's more a case of there being more than one way into or out of a specific scene, and the only way I can decide is to write the thing. Somewhere in the dialog or the description or the narration, I find the one that seems to work. I do think about other story arcs. I imagine what would happen if I had only one lead MC instead of four, or if gnomes don't figure into the story at all, that sort of thing. But I don't write down that road because it wouldn't be this story, it would be another story.