A Scary Moment
I was heading toward the close of my first chapter of The Guardian's Son (Yes, the first one. Don't judge.) when I reached the point where I get the ball rolling on the plot. That's when I hit a snag and realized some of the details hadn't been worked out as well as I thought. There were a few plot holes that needed to be filled before I could decide on my characters' next moves. No problem. I took some time away from my writing (minutes, not days), tumbled some ideas around in my head while I did dishes, then sat down and sketched them out in my notebook until I had something that worked. Good job! I stopped there for the night believing when I got a chance to sit down to write again, I would use these notes to move forward. I was pretty pleased with myself.
The thing is, the main plot of my novel is based in principle on an old storyline that's been around for, well, forever. I have heard before that there is no such thing as a new story, just a new spin on an old one. This is true, and that's exactly what I had, the framework of an old story with an awesome new twist that would thrust my character into several riveting adventures. (Ok, I might be overselling it a bit. But that's what I'm shooting for, anyway.) My twist had a few kinks, but I got them straightened out and was good to go.
So, a couple days later, I decided to go see a certain unnamed movie with a friend. It happened to be based on a version of the same old story I'm using as a framework for my novel, except it had its own twist. But I knew what that twist was, and it was completely different from mine. So, I had nothing to worry about, right? Well, it's a good thing I hadn't gotten very far in my writing. That twist wasn't the only one in the movie. As the movie reached its climax, it seemed like it was going to end very similarly to the old version. Then they did it. They threw in a bonus twist, the same one as mine...
My heart sank. I tried to enjoy the rest of the movie, but it was a struggle with my mind racing the way it was. Is my novel doomed? Do I have to throw away all that work I've done so far? Will this story that has been stirring around in bits and pieces in my head for the better part of a decade just die there? Was all the research I've put into it for nothing??
I didn't say anything to my friend about it. We just agreed it was a good movie, and I went home. Then I put my thinking cap on. Certain conditions have to be met for my novel's plot to work at all. Using the mechanism in this old storyline was the simplest and most obvious way to accomplish it. (There are at least two unrelated stories I can think of that use the exact same mechanism.) But this mechanism was no longer an option for me, at least, not with that particular twist. I had to think, THINK, how else could these things be accomplished?
Well, I'm happy to announce that I did work out a new way to meet the necessary conditions of my story by using a different means. It loosely uses the framework of another old story or two (remember, the premise of my novel is that there is some truth to all myths and folklore.), and it's actually a little more imaginative than my original idea. What originally seemed like the beginning of the end of my novel actually forced me to be more creative, and I believe the novel will be better for it. And it happened early enough in the process that I didn't have to go back and rewrite anything. See, procrastination does pay off.
And she lived happily ever after.
THE END