DWinchester
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Mutating Plot Lines
🕑 Added 2023-02-10 19:02:05 +0000 UTCIt's funny. All my stories start with a pretty strict outline, and they rarely deviate from it. Letter of the Law has gotten compressed slightly as my writing has tightened up, but none of the events or the order that they've occurred has changed, Death After Death ended one chapter longer than the original goal, and Re-Entry is one chapter away from ending right on target. Tenebroum though - it is definitely in the process of mutating into something more.
The original end is currently chapter 39 (you'll know it when you see it) and the second arc was just a couple ideas for what I would do next until the story started to garner a real readership. So, am I just adding random bulk in? Keeping the chapter count up?
Of course not. The original version covered the canal and all of that in a chapter, and the next decade over a few chapters of climax. The biggest changes were the expanding of the goblin role (originally, they were in a total of three chapters) because people missed the lizardmen so much and giving Krulm'venor a more detailed backstory/bigger role.
Now, with the chaining of the water dragon, there are two powerful spirits beholden to him, which defines things further (because some of the second arc ideas make more since in the first arc and they've spilled over). Where is that going? I'm not going to say much in that regard except to say that I love when henchmen have backstories and character arcs.
Consider Overlord - how much interesting would it be if every lieutenant got more than a couple minutes for the audience to know why they should care.
Chapter 34 certainly hints at the next element to join the four unwilling horsemen of the apocalypse, but... we'll I think a deeper dive into Krulm'venor's history might have to come first.
We will have to see, my outline keeps changing the last couple weeks as I add in more details, and we move closer and closer to the climax of the first act.
My question to you: does any of what you've read feel tacked on? Would you know some aspects of the story were in flux in my mind if I didn't tell you about them here? Any particular plots/chapters I should flag for extra editing when I get to that point eventually?
